I thought the Swans were brave today. Honourable loss.
I thought the Swans were brave today. Honourable loss.
Im not saying we have a better alternative at the moment but we are going to need naismith to kick on quickly - good teams are really going to punish us on that basis unless.pyke can regain form around the ground.Originally Posted by goswannies
I know this sounds like a trivial comment but - I think it is time Longmire told Rampe to either get his hair cut or wear a head band (such as Fyfe does). There are so many times that Rampe has one hand up pushing his hair back out of his eyes. It must distract him even if he is not aware of it. Given his form is not great at the moment, he can ill afford any unnecessary hindrance.
The first option (get his hair cut) would follow the trend set by a lot of the other Swans e.g. Tippett, Jetta.
Derricx is better looking, but seemed to allow opposition ruckmen to jump all over him at centre bounces. Flew for a fair few contested marks, but landed fewer of those though. Did throw his frame around though & more confident with his kicking. For me, Pyke is still the better of those two.
Get a hair cut, stop coughing up the ball, quit smoking ... poor Dane
Macca, Shaw
Pike is the least of our worries...this is the shakiest our back-half has looked in 5 years. Can't remember us ever conceding goals so easily in recent times.
Agree. I love Teddy, he has been amazing, but I think the game is getting away from him. As for Grundy, he is a liability in the dry these days, let alone in today's conditions. Soooooo slow, then either overruns the ball, or fumbles it - never a clean pick up and if he does manage to, it's a hospital pass at best or a kick to a 1 on 2 or similar. He is not a smart footballer when the ball is on the deck and it has cost us on numerous occasions not just today. Frustrates the daylight out of me. But the coaches pretty regularly speak glowingly of him? Really? Hope they are a bit more fair dinkum behind closed doors. We deserved to lose today. Crap. Just crap.
First chance I've had to sit down and write a considered comment on the game.
A disappointing effort again in the wet - how many times have we said that in recent years. It took us far too long to remember wet weather footy is about the basics. What was most frustrating was getting in front late on, then throwing it away at the end with more poor play. Once we hit the front near the end, there was no excuse at all.
The positives
Not surprisingly, Mitchell did really well in the conditions in the middle. Whilst his kicking still leaves plenty to be desired, we surely must persevere, as it really will help give us another option in close to clear the ball. He did well I thought.
Hanners was sensational as well - he is carrying the midfield brigade at the moment (along with Joey) and his form is a real bright spot. We need him to do that all season if we are to challenge.
Our back 6 is looking really shaky. Poor skill errors riddled their overall performance today, but most important some absolutely abysmal decision making also really hurt us (looking squarely at Rampe and Shaw when thinking about this). They got was it 8.8 or something like that from turnovers, many in really dangerous parts of the ground, from really disappointing errors from players that should know better and be able to execute better, even in poor conditions.
Lloyd continues to develop nicely.... if only he had a bit more pace near the end, he might have got a winning goal too. Good game again tonight - he is a really fine player in the making, although he needs to improve his use of the footy (Decision making is good, execution still developing)
The negatives
Towers - this is not a slight on him - but what precisely is the role they are trying to get him to play? May as well have played with 21 men he had so little influence (4 disposals, 4 tackles, 1 free against and 1 behind). Am I mistaken or was he a defender when we drafted him? I just don't see why he is in the team, and what he brings to the team.
Goodesy - I know he kicked a couple of goals and got a dozen disposals. But he seems to have lost even more pace than last year, and he simply has no ability to mark the ball (I know before I get cut to shred about that comment - it was wet). He seems to have little influence on the game, and good teams will target him even more this year as an easy player to run off.
Our back 6 is looking really shaky. Poor skill errors riddled their overall performance today, but most important some absolutely abysmal decision making also really hurt us (looking squarely at Rampe and Shaw when thinking about this). They got was it 8.8 or something like that from turnovers, many in really dangerous parts of the ground, from really disappointing errors from players that should know better and be able to execute better, even in poor conditions. We, for the first time in a long while, look really really ordinary as a back six - and I can't see how we are going to improve that any time soon.
The crowd in the Red Zone (level 3). It was like a mausoleum up there, barely a peep until the last few minutes of the game, even when the crowd as a whole was trying to lift the team early in the last quarter. One bunch of tryhards behind me were too busy trying to decide what clubs to go to tonight than watch the game, even when it got close. The crowd has to help the boys over the line sometimes, and at least where I was sat, most didn't seem to even notice there was a game on, let alone actually seek to interact with it.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
A few impressions.
The Doggies reminded me of Hawthorn - good field kicking (unlike ours for much of the game), quick to break back from defence, good mix of speed and wise old hands (especially Bob M), massive pressure and backing up. Their coach has a lot to do with these things.
We played well enough to win, with fewer clangers (a stat that amazed me!), more possessions, more contested possessions, more hitouts and more tackles. Trouble was some of the clangers happened next to the goal posts and other inconvenient places. Inaccurate kicking for goal didn't help matters - Davo take note.
I agree that the main problems at present are with our previously best-in-the-league defence. I think Ted is doing OK overall but I fear Rhyce and Reg are underall. But as someone (Ludwig?) said, who else is there? Rampe is a bit of a lair and needs guidance, but he can stay. I'd prefer to see Zac Jones than Rhyce. Sam can take Reg's job.
I share people's questions about Towers. I haven't seen the stats but I suspect Harry had more impact. Goodes can keep his job for the time being.
In a close game, the umpiring had an impact. I don't know how others saw this but I was livid when Tippett foaled on the line, turned and kicked it through and was then pinged for pushing: in my view he was using his hands to hold his ground.
The mids were very good as a group, though I do wonder whether Parker is fully over his knock.
This is turning out to be a very tight competition.
Reading others' comments on the callers I'm grateful to be hard of hearing.
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)
That tippett call was absolute bull@@@@ - just muscled him out of the contest, nowhere near hands in the back.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
We handed them at least 3 goals.
We missed too many easy shots.
The end.
@@@@ happens.
The difference between insanity and genius is measured only in success.
That's true about the Tippett mark, although the umps did gift a goal to Rohan with that 50m - very soft. I would be spitting chips if that was paid against us, so I have to say it's a bad call. I was livid about the Pyke call as well - I was under the impression they had ruled that he had played on, but the Fox replay clearly showed touched. There was another mark around the ground that Pyke held that was called play on as well. Umps hated him today.
Anyway, I think we all need to take a deep breath. Swans have got some things to work on, but it's round 5, not round 23.
Also, everyone's ripping into Rampe. The problem is not that he's terrible - the problem is that he was one of our best defenders!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks