Round 14: Sydney v Port Adelaide

[stevoswan]

Almost redemption for last weeks second half, but encouragement for us all in that they showed some guts when the chips were down, and they were down! Great win. With the two 'towers' back next week and Towers out, a big win over Brisbane should complete the redemption! Then back on track for the rest of the season(fingers crossed!). Just wish they would be more consistent with their skills and decision making to capitalise on their increased effort, lucky to be 10-3, but plenty of the season left to GET IT RIGHT!

[rojo]

It was puzzling to see them come out after half time and play in almost a carbon copy way to the game against Richmond. It was not looking good at all, totally on the back foot. Terrible for Teddy to get knocked out but it seemed to provide the needed spark to for them to take the game on and then play some really gutsy footy. Good win. My favourite play would have to be Goodesy streaming towards goal, head back, the crook knees creaking, and managing enough composure to squeeze it through for a goal!

[WauchopeAnalyst]

If Heeney and McGlynn play reserves and Franklin and Tippett coming back then some interesting selections next week.

[stevoswan]

It was puzzling to see them come out after half time and play in almost a carbon copy way to the game against Richmond. It was not looking good at all, totally on the back foot. Terrible for Teddy to get knocked out but it seemed to provide the needed spark to for them to take the game on and then play some really gutsy footy. Good win. My favourite play would have to be Goodesy streaming towards goal, head back, the crook knees creaking, and managing enough composure to squeeze it through for a goal!

.....and burning off young Ollie Wines....classic stuff!!

[Untamed Snark]

A well deserved win

[dimelb]

That will go down as one of the great wins for the Swans, and against the same good quality rivals (despite their recent run) as the memorable final in 2003. To bring it off when we started without our two tall forwards and lost another outstanding forward in term 2, followed by Ted Richards - the odds against were the highest in years. A wonderful four quarter effort from the team, and thanks to everyone, defenders (despite their odd clangers, and show me a defence that never has them), mids and on-ballers, forwards - a thrilling team effort.

People have recognised the outstanding players - Hannebery, Kennedy, Jack, Mitchell, Goodes, Rampe, Reid, Jetta - and rightly so. But this match was also won by everyone who pitched in to the best of their ability, including Towers, who I suspect will show up in the stats as having an almost 100% disposals rating; Harry who worked hard and rewarded the coaches' faith; Nankervis, who kicked a dream goal and could have had another and worked hard in the ruck and was effective going forward; Pyke back from injury but still not fully fit but again worked hard throughout; Jones who showed great vision and accurate kicking (loved hearing "Smith to Jones", looking forward to hearing Robinson included some time); Lloyd who continues to grow in skill and value; the perpetual whipping boy Reg who has put in another solid effort. Even Shaw who contributed well as the game roared to the cliff edge (although I still wouldn't pick him ahead of some others).

They played like true Bloods.

The only real blot on the night was the disgusting behaviour of Matthew Broadbent.

[Mel_C]

That was a gutsy win. After half time I thought here we go again! The Richard's concussion was a turning point and we fought hard with one less rotation.

Loved Parker and Hanners. Gee they work hard. Whoops forgot Kennedy.

Reid enjoyed being back in the forward line.

Nankers is slow isn't he?? He did a couple of good things.

Shaw, Shaw, Shaw. When he took that kick in I said don't F it up and what did he do?? Have to admit that when he was moved up the ground in the last quarter he wasn't too bad and helped move the ball forward.

We fumbled and stumbled a lot tonight. So frustrating!!

Still don't understand the umpiring ????.

[Conor_Dillon]

Despite what all of the morons on Fox Footy seem to think, that was a genuinely gutsy win.

Port have been ordinary this year but they seemingly came to play tonight.

Thought our younger guys had some big moments tonight, Lloyd played one of his better games, Jones attack on the footy in the last quarter as well as some brilliant kicks coming out of the backline, Cunningham's sealer, Nank was impressive all night, Towers contested mark etc.

McVeigh was unusually quiet but the rest of our leaders really stood up...Jack was huge in the last quarter, Goodeseys 2 goals in the third oozed class, Hannebery and Kennedy were clearly the 2 best players on the ground, Parker fought hard and Nick Smith's 2nd half was arguably his best half of the season.

Might be slightly optimistic but I've got a feeling that this win could really set-up our year. So proud to be a blood tonight.

[0918330512]

It was puzzling to see them come out after half time and play in almost a carbon copy way to the game against Richmond. It was not looking good at all, totally on the back foot. Terrible for Teddy to get knocked out but it seemed to provide the needed spark to for them to take the game on and then play some really gutsy footy.

Which game were you watching? We went in without $1.8M worth of key forwards. We lost Gazza (who was on fire) and then lost Teddy. Lukey was playing with clipped wings. Pikey still not fully fit.

Good win. My favourite play would have to be Goodesy streaming towards goal, head back, the crook knees creaking, and managing enough composure to squeeze it through for a goal!

knees creaking? Pft! Not even Jetta would've kept up with Goodsey on that run.

[Scottee]

I thought that Reg deserves special mention for the way he stood up as the only genuine tall defender. His 1%ers were fantastic and he saved us time and again whilst marshalling the backline.

[crackedactor]

Agree it was a real gutsy win, one of the best of the year. Even though it was Teddys Richards knockout to get them started, they looked really pissed off after that incident.I was really impressed with Jones's game apart from that dropped mark. Even towers was Ok in the second half. Nankervis was not bad, but he looks rather slow, I think even Sandilands could outsprint him. How was that Goodes running away from Ollie wines and kicking that goal. WOW!! at HIS AGE.

[Ludwig]

We lost the hitouts by a large margin but won the clearances. We looked best when we moved the ball quickly, particularly that 4 goal spurt after Ted went down. We must have felt that it was only way we could win, and sure enough it worked. We have to recognise that we are no longer a good stoppage team. The commentators haven't caught on yet and many fans as well (and perhaps the coaches too).

Nankervis looked okay for a first gamer and was certainly better value than Derickx, but he is slow. He could develop a Mummy type game that could see him become a reasonable ruckman. He's helped by the fact that he can take a mark and kick a goal. But neither he nor Pyke did much around the ground. Luckily Rider was useless, except as 3rd man up in the ruck contests, or we could have been hurt.

Jones made a few errors, including one serious one that led to a goal, and he is really high strung, but I think he'll be okay once he gets the balance right. We weren't clean at all with the ball. It was like playing in wet conditions for us sometimes. And it wasn't just one player. It seemed like most of team were dropping marks and fumbling. I would have hoped to get more from Towers given the outs we had, but he was disappointing. There's a big difference between his NEAFL form and his seniors form.

It was a good gutsy win, as many have said, but there is still a lot of work to do to get this side into premiership contention. We are lucky that this year all the top teams are a bit down on form.