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Thread: Longmire V Roos

  1. #1
    Veterans List aardvark's Avatar
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    Longmire V Roos

    Does Horse have to win the GF to be considered to have surpassed Roos or has it already happened? Personally I think Horse is the better coach but feel free to disagree.

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    Never really like head to head comparisons when the circumstances are so different. I don't think there is any question that the 2012 team was better than the 2005 team in terms of evenness of ability across the team. And 2014 is a couple of steps up again. Longmire hasn't done it all alone (as Roos didn't, of course). He's certainly been aided by a determined and risk taking executive who were quick to recognise the opportunities offered by the Tippett and Buddy situations and find ways to make it work, list wise. Obviously the introduction of free agency was a significant factor here too.

    I do get a feeling of steeliness and ruthlessness from Longmire that was maybe not as evident in Roos, at least publicly. His handing of the ROK situation this year is a case in point. While many of us would love things if they had played out differently - ie ROK been able to be a part of this awesome side - but Longmire's conviction that he needed to play the likes of Cunningham and Lloyd (and Towers, Jack, Smith at times) over a player who had so many proven runs on the board is something I am not sure we would have seen from Roos.

    One other thing to be commented on is the skill level. Even in 2012, the Swans were a team that relied more on pressure than out and out skill, at least compared to the likes of Hawthorn and Geelong. Adding a player like Buddy also has a clear impact on the overall skill level. But right across the team, the handballing skill has gone through the roof this year. If people laud the Hawks supreme footskills, surely they must also marvel at the way the Swans have taken the use of the handball to another level. Not just the skills on individual players, especially those on the bottom of packs to squeeze out a great handball. The game has always had plenty of those. Moreso, the way the team as a whole plays handball pinball in traffic with such aplomb to gradually work the ball to someone with a little time and space. There were games in 2012 and 2013 where the team carved up an opposition midfield using handball (against Adelaide and West Coast, for example) but the 2014 use of handball has gone to a whole different level.

  3. #3
    Senior Player ernie koala's Avatar
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    Different cattle, hard to compare.
    Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect... MT

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    Liz has done a great job of comparing them; I agree completely.

    We certainly play more exhilarating football under Longmire, and we're more adaptable too. Yes, that's partly due to the players we have now, but Longmire dared to shape the squad as he has. I don't think we would have chased Tippett and Buddy under Roos. In fact my first thought with both was that it was overreach and a mistake, but Longmire had a vision of how he wanted us to play and it's been borne out.

  5. #5
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
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    Couldn't agree more about the handball. There were several striking instances last night, but the one that had me up and yelling was (I think) in the last quarter, the almost blind flickpass from Hannebery to McGlynn tearing through on the wing, kick to Buddy who goaled. Speed, accuracy and power crammed into about 5 or 6 seconds.

    Having better individuals is part of it, but we have become more adventurous to go with our capacity to be dour.
    He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)

  6. #6
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    Imagine how many grand finals we would have made if the Swans had followed RWO's advice and sacked Horse. Oh well, diversity of opinion keeps the forum interesting.

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