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Thread: Sydney Swans Reserves v Brisbane Lions Reserves @ Newcastle

  1. #13
    Senior Player Zlatorog's Avatar
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    Swans 16.14.110 vs. Lions 5.5.35.

  2. #14
    Travelling Swannie!! mcs's Avatar
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    Sounds like a pretty decent performance, with a few of the better performers for the Ressies missing on seniors duty last night. Looking forward as always to Ugg's report
    "You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."

  3. #15
    Can you feel it? Site Admin ugg's Avatar
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    An enjoyable day of grassroots footy at Newcastle Number 1 Oval, lovely conditions all day for football (take note Sydney footy/weather gods!) $5 entry, parked on the hill, grabbed a bacon and egg roll before first bounce and settled into a seat in the stands.




    As mentioned in the preview, the Lions had a weak team out there with only 11 listed players and the bulk of their usual topups away at the Queensland U18 TAC Cup. Most importantly they were missing genuine midfielders in the side and had to make do with a mixture of experienced players who don't usually play that position - Golby, Cutler and some of the young top ups. The Swans were in control for the whole game, but never really seemed to kick out of second gear for the first 3 quarters. We had the advantage of dominating the ruck and having the bigger bodies at both ends of the ground but through slow or poor ball movement didn't generate enough shots at goal that our dominance demanded.

    I managed to listen into parts of Crouch's 3 quarter time huddle and he was as unimpressed as a coach could be with a 47 point lead. The two key points he raised were that they weren't running hard enough, or as he put "you're not running as hard as you think you are. When I look at the GPS numbers later this week, they will back me up." and "our handball receives are non existent". He moved Marsh from defence, where he had been playing well, to the wing and McLaren back to defence. He implored Marsh and Aliir to provide the rebounding drive from half back and gave them licence to really take the game on. And it had the desired effect. From the first bounce of the last quarter, the Swans pushed forward hard and kicked a goal inside a minute and that continued for the rest of the term as some hard running past tired Lions players created opportunity after opportunity - we kicked 6.5 in that term and finally managed a margin (74) that our dominance deserved.



    Players:
    Abe Davis had a ball on a string in the first half, he was handed a role off a wing and he used his running power to full advantage, popping up forward, mopping up down back or providing run and carry through the middle. I was originally going to describe it as a Sam Reid type role but I think Reidy has a defensive bent to his game when he plays off a wing whereas Davis had more freedom to run where he liked. He didn't seem to have a tight matchup assigned to him - I guess the Lions coaches didn't think a player on a wing could cause so many problems, and they probably would have planned to rotate some of their topups through that role. The Swans site say he finished with 30 disposals, I reckon he would have 20 of them in the first half. In the second half he started quite a few centre bounces without having the same kind of dramatic impact and also spent the dying minutes of the game at FF. It will be very interesting to see how he is used for the rest of the season and what position the coaches think best suits him.

    James Rose impressed me again with his workrate, footy smarts and most strong, sticky hands across half forward. He likes to fly in from the side or behind and with his great leap, gets himself in excellent position to hang onto those hangers. Rose also has the kicking skills to convert as an opportunist small forward. But to concentrate on those flashy parts of his game would be to undersell how tirelessly he works off the ball with his tackling and chasing. Slowly becoming a favourite of mine.

    George Hewett and Craig Bird were the main beneficiaries of the great ruckwork of Sam Naismith and Tom Derickx. Archie Smith was walloped in the middle (with no real backup mind you) and our ruckmen continually fed the ball down their throats with their tapwork. Hewett was the better of the 2 inside midfielders, his work around the crowded stoppages was a highlight with his weaving, low centre of balance and ability to kick off both feet . Bird wasn't as dominant, he was somewhat tagged by Golby but not a particularly tight tag. Naismith and Derickx split the ruck duties about 50/50, Derickx did more around the ground, taking some strong saving marks in the defensive 50. Jordan Foote was the other onballer for most of the first half, and Davis as mentioned spent some time there in the 2nd half. The absence of Brandon Jack could have caused a reshuffle in this area.

    Toby Nankervis was usually too tall for whichever undersized Lions defender was marking him, but also contributed well with his chasing and especially his ferocious tackling. When he hones in on the defender with the ball, I wince in anticipation of the hit he is about to deliver. He's also a very underrated set shot for goal, his left foot drop punts are as clean and long as anyone's in the reserves. Sean McLaren had a purple patch in the latter part of the 2nd quarter where he took one strong grab and two others uncontested, converting 2 of them in the process. He moved well today and also had touches just outside the forward 50m zone. He needs to be more involved across the whole game though.
    The defence worked well as a unit - Xavier Richards, Nic Newman, Harrison Marsh and Aliir Aliir. Marsh and Richards in particular have developed a solid rapport down back, working hard for each other and knowing when to peel off their respective opponents and help each other out. Aliir was used in a very attacking role in defence - he often started centre bounces right on the defensive edge of the centre square and he took quite a lot of our kick ins. Without having a real tall to play on (Richards took their only genuine tall forward Hammelmann), he had the liberty of running off frequently. Newman started on the bench but came on after about 10 minutes and looked mostly very comfortable in a distributor role. There were 1 or 2 hairy moments when he was a little fancy instead of taking the safer option but we were not punished by the Lions. Newman has a penetrating left foot kick (dare I say Eski-esque?), if he gets his fitness up I have no doubt he can play seniors. Marsh was isolated standing Leigh Harding (yes that Leigh Harding), and didn't have any real issues defending the former Kangaroo.

    Dean Towers may have kicked 4 goals but I thought his output offensively was quite muted. 3 of the goals were end products of over the top handballs to him running into an empty goal square. But he did work hard off the ball and caused a few Lions turnovers with his tackling inside forward 50 and that's what probably impressed the coaches more. Jack Hiscox mainly played across half forward pushing up onto the wing. He was involved in many of our scoring chains as a linkman through the middle but didn't kick a goal in this manner himself. There was one chance where he looked to have got a jump on his man but the Lion topup Jacob Watson just managed to mow him down. His only goal was a mark on the 50m line and a booming kick to convert.


    Swans 2.5 6.8 10.9 16.14 (110)
    Lions 0.1 2.3 3.4 5.6 (36)

    Swans
    Goals: Towers 4, Nankervis 3, Rose 3, McLaren 2, Hiscox, Fyffe, Bird, Foote
    Best: Davis, Derickx, Towers, Rose, Bird, Hewett

    Lions
    Goals:
    Harding, McGuinness, Copland, Hammelmann, Mason
    Best: McGuinness, Bourke, Golby, Beasley, Mason

  4. #16
    Sweet home Novacastria
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  5. #17
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
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    Great work - thanks ugg.

    I'd like to see some of these blokes get a spell in the firsts, especially Naismith, Hewett and Rose. How do you think Davis compares with Rhyce Shaw for pace?

    Eskiesque! - waiting to happen.
    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. #18
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
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    Quote Originally Posted by Northern_Swan View Post
    Could return next week! I hope he's not being over-eager. But good news anyway.
    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)

  7. #19
    Can you feel it? Site Admin ugg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dimelb View Post
    Great work - thanks ugg.

    I'd like to see some of these blokes get a spell in the firsts, especially Naismith, Hewett and Rose. How do you think Davis compares with Rhyce Shaw for pace?

    Eskiesque! - waiting to happen.
    I'd back Rhyce but then again I would back Rhyce against most of our players.

  8. #20
    Brilliant report, Ugg. I especially appreciated the focus on a few players. Impressed to hear you thought Hewett outplayed Bird as best onballer. And pleased to hear Seany McLaren had a bit of an impact. I know he's only a first year rookie but I have hopes for him and was a bit disappointed in him, especially effort-wise, when I saw him play the Giants.

    On a reserves related note, it was great to see Robbo get a run and do well in the seniors.

  9. #21
    Incidentally, can you confirm Lloyd did not play? I wonder what's going on there. He's not meant to be injured. Ditto Jones.

  10. #22
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    Lloyd definitely did not play, also pretty sure he wasn't there. Of the injured players, Jones, Perris and Heeney were there

  11. #23
    From his Instagram, I think Jake may have returned home to attend a funeral.

  12. #24
    On the Rookie List Conor_Dillon's Avatar
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    I think the funeral he returned home for was earlier in the week but I could be wrong.

    Also Leigh Harding playing shows how much Brisbane's 2's are struggling, he's only meant to be up there as a development coach and reserves assistant coach yet has pulled on the boots the last few weeks!

    Brilliant report again Ugg, it all sounds pretty positive but were there any listed guys that you were disappointed in?

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