Round XXIII: Sydney against the Gold Coast

[MattW]

Towers was great, getting a few touches early really seemed to help his confidence. He looked like an AFL player.

I liked having B.Jack, Rohan, Jetta, Cunningham and Towers all on the field at once.

Yes, a positive difference going into this final series compared to last is how well our quick players are playing. Also, Tippett and Mitchell. Last year we were more dependent on Franklin.

[RogueSwan]

Gary and all the other perpetual moaners, bring it in tight now....We've finished top 4 for the fourth year in a row, we've won four on the bounce and we've just won by 10 goals, albeit against a poor team. Despite your continual whingeing of how rubbish we are we are 16-6 for the regular season which is the same as Hawthorn and one less than the minor premiers...

TBH I always thought they would win but the way that Q3 was heading it was only going to be by a couple of goals but I was feeling the same as the doubters but I don't need to told "told ya's, told ya's". We have seen the Swans play absolute crap footy for too many periods this year to be blindly confident that they can always turn it around. Luckily for us, more often than not they do turn it around, but when they don't it can be costly.

Not at all, I thought Towers played very well

Agreed, he looked like he belonged and really contributed. He seems to be an actually footballer rather than an athlete playing football. If he can continue to develop a forward line of Reid, Towers and Rohan will look very dangerous in the next couple of years. Thats if Gary does't blow out his hamstrings chasing down a tackle in "junk time" of a game already won. It is great to see that never give up chase of his but he needs to be told to choose his chases better.

I didn't think Laidler went that bad definitely seen worse games from him. The worry for me was that Ted seemed very quiet and didn't seem to be in the game at all, but maybe there wasn't much coming his way.

Laids copped a couple of hits to the back of the head so I am not surprised his kicking was a little wobbly.

[liz]

Yes, a positive difference going into this final series compared to last is how well our quick players are playing. Also, Tippett and Mitchell. Last year we were more dependent on Franklin.

Reid too. He finally seems to have decided he's not a youngster any more, but needs to be a key part of the team. He's always been able to do the things he does. He just didn't do them often enough. But he's another who's put together a pretty good last month or so, and should be full of confidence moving into September. Yes, his goal kicking lets him down at times, but his marking is so good that I can almost forgive him. Of course, Buddy in the team, even far from full fitness, demands the attention of the opposition defenders, leaving Reid with more opportunity to bob up as he did yesterday.

[Dosser]

Reid too. He finally seems to have decided he's not a youngster any more, but needs to be a key part of the team. He's always been able to do the things he does. He just didn't do them often enough. But he's another who's put together a pretty good last month or so, and should be full of confidence moving into September. Yes, his goal kicking lets him down at times, but his marking is so good that I can almost forgive him. Of course, Buddy in the team, even far from full fitness, demands the attention of the opposition defenders, leaving Reid with more opportunity to bob up as he did yesterday.

I wonder if Lyon is courageous enough to treat Buddy as injured and put the 3rd best defender on him?

[Daisi]

That was a very sloppy performance. It seemed that they had difficulty adjusting when Jack got injured. That doesn't bode well for finals footy. The second and third terms were terrible in terms of disposal and effort.

I hope they play better next week.

It's difficult to say who played well and who didn't last night because the opposition was worse in terms of skill than we were. Next week will be an interesting test.

[Scottee]

Reid has really hit his straps and has almost come of age. Looks like he could an elite goalkicker like Buddy if he nailed the easy ones. There are simple mental techniques to overcome this.Hope the Swans are aware of these.

[mcsquirta]

There were quiet a few times we had the kick around the shallow end of CHF and... where's Heeney? Not at the top of the square but trotting back from CHB. Not his fault I'd guess, just some last minute tinkering maybe. Apart from the rubbishy handling errors which affected almost everyone, it looked like the instruction was to run at 75% but maintain control when necessary. Rocket said in his presser that he'd "heard conflicting reports" we wanted to rest players but the AFL wouldn't let us, hence starting Jetts in the vest and not a lot of "vital" chase downs.

[annew]

There were quiet a few times we had the kick around the shallow end of CHF and... where's Heeney? Not at the top of the square but trotting back from CHB. Not his fault I'd guess, just some last minute tinkering maybe. Apart from the rubbishy handling errors which affected almost everyone, it looked like the instruction was to run at 75% but maintain control when necessary. Rocket said in his presser that he'd "heard conflicting reports" we wanted to rest players but the AFL wouldn't let us, hence starting Jetts in the vest and not a lot of "vital" chase downs.

I listened to Rodney's presser and wondered if it waa tongue in cheek remark about swans not being able to rest players. Rodney also said the swans looked tired I didn't think that.

[Nico]

Reid too. He finally seems to have decided he's not a youngster any more, but needs to be a key part of the team. He's always been able to do the things he does. He just didn't do them often enough. But he's another who's put together a pretty good last month or so, and should be full of confidence moving into September. Yes, his goal kicking lets him down at times, but his marking is so good that I can almost forgive him. Of course, Buddy in the team, even far from full fitness, demands the attention of the opposition defenders, leaving Reid with more opportunity to bob up as he did yesterday.

I think the drier grounds have a bit to do with Reid's form turnaround. He is a dunce in the wet.

[Doctor]

There were quiet a few times we had the kick around the shallow end of CHF and... where's Heeney? Not at the top of the square but trotting back from CHB. Not his fault I'd guess, just some last minute tinkering maybe. Apart from the rubbishy handling errors which affected almost everyone, it looked like the instruction was to run at 75% but maintain control when necessary. Rocket said in his presser that he'd "heard conflicting reports" we wanted to rest players but the AFL wouldn't let us, hence starting Jetts in the vest and not a lot of "vital" chase downs.

I felt like we went hard for a quarter then just went through the motions, ramping it up again in the 4th when they tired. We were also missing Parker, McVeigh and (for most of the game) K. Jack so I don't think we have too much to be worried about. Having watched the replay this morning it looked like we were trying a few positional things too.

[Scottee]

TBH I always thought they would win but the way that Q3 was heading it was only going to be by a couple of goals but I was feeling the same as the doubters but I don't need to told "told ya's, told ya's". We have seen the Swans play absolute crap footy for too many periods this year to be blindly confident that they can always turn it around. Luckily for us, more often than not they do turn it around, but when they don't it can be costly.



Agreed, he looked like he belonged and really contributed. He seems to be an actually footballer rather than an athlete playing football. If he can continue to develop a forward line of Reid, Towers and Rohan will look very dangerous in the next couple of years. Thats if Gary does't blow out his hamstrings chasing down a tackle in "junk time" of a game already won. It is great to see that never give up chase of his but he needs to be told to choose his chases better.



Laids copped a couple of hits to the back of the head so I am not surprised his kicking was a little wobbly.

That may explain it. Hope it was the case.

[Scottee]

I think the drier grounds have a bit to do with Reid's form turnaround. He is a dunce in the wet.

Very clear that we are a dry weather side.