"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
Hey Baz, if the rumour is correct they sure did an ordinary job. There were a couple of very obvious high tackles to us that weren't paid. Jack was held in a dead set sleeper hold at one point. While on him; he has been a welcome inclusion and has been good but can someone tell him to kick through the footy. He stabs at the footy with dinky little kicks to players that are surrounded by opposition players. Seriously, Custer was under less pressure.
We made a lot of foolish kicking decisions in the first half when not under pressure. We have to improve that part of our game big time.
A Herald Sun poll also demonstrated that Rance was the "GOAT" fullback. He led the poll with 32% of the vote ahead of modern day greats Scarlett and Silvagni.
As our Canberra residents would understand, newspaper opinion polls are the only truth and Rance won the "GOAT" fullback poll.
Great game, great result and great venue. The GWS event organisers played it well.
Today's a draft of your epitaph
At the risk of this getting off topic, I'd much rather Rance in my defence than Davis.
Now back on topic, it is scary how we got beaten in clearances last night. JPK is awesome but I feel that we are a bit slow when we have Parker and Hanners in the centre too. I really like the look of Paps at centre bounces to provide explosive power and pace.
One day, you'll be cracking your 'wise guy' jokes at your backyard parties or bbq or whatever social events you have, and you'll suddenly realise that people weren't laughing along with you for all these years....
Anyway, back onto the game and topic. I did enjoy my first visit to the Showgrounds - a pretty decent venue overall (though the people in front of me were not impressed with forking out $80 for a ticket to find basically a significantly restricted view because of those very tall wirey stair railings). Nice choice of food options, though both the pie shop and the dessert bar were a bit of a let down, and it was slow old service once it got busy.
It was a tough grinding game, and while it never felt comfortable, I thought we were in control for large chunks of it, but could never quite find the killer blow, right up until Papley's 3rd goal. Excellent performances from Buddy and Kennedy (especially in the 4th quarter), and lots of good solid play across the team. I was disappointed a bit in the giants. They still are frighteningly good when they have the chance to control the ball and use their pace and elite skills through midfield. However (and maybe it is the outs in their team) they really are a bit lost looking going forward at the moment - no doubt emphasised by Cameron being out as well. It would be a huge worry for Leon Cameron I would of thought going towards the finals.
I did enjoy a good chuckle when they blasted over the loudspeaker in the last quarter that the game was officially a 'sell out'. It was great it was a record crowd, but there is something seriously wrong with Ticketmaster's computer systems if that was a 'sell out' - that or about 5,000 people didn't come along (I know a portion of that would be seats kept for Giants Members/other applicable membership groups, but no way could that explain all the empty seats).
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We need to tell Baz that G Man is not a reliable source of information and rumours about 'fairytale status'
I thought the game had too many free kicks - was it 51 in total, making it a bit stop start. We got the better of the count in most respects last night - though I thought Mummy got away with quite a lot in the ruck, especially in the first couple of quarters. But unless they consistently apply the rules across a game (Which last night probably would have seen 70+ frees), I wish they'd put the whistle away a bit. No doubt that'll happen in the finals.
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GWS really are elite in the clearance part of the game these days - we had no answer till the last quarter when JPK really took a step up. I feel we are better equipped than many teams to deal with getting beaten in that part of the game, while our defence is playing so well, but good teams will eventually punish you if we see one-sidedness in there like there was at patches last night, especially coming from the centre bounce.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
Let him be mcs, from the top post it's probably matt80. If so, that's how he writes & always has.
He has alienated people in the past (though it would seem it was more their doing than his ), been banned & come back several in several incarnations. But far as I can tell, he generally means well, loves footy & his multiple memberships suggest he's as much a Swans supporter as anyone else here.
Late in the game one of the commentators commented on the even stats of our mids. So I have checked the stats today.
Hanners 22, Jack 22, Heeney 18, Parker 22, Kennedy 28 (11 last Q), Hewett 14. Although we don't see Lloyd as a mid he was down to 22.
Trying to analyse this is not that easy. Was it because we were playing an even team? Was it because it was down to a one on one contest? Did some our players get tagged? Did Hewett have a run with role?
Their mids had more of the footy, or so it seems. Scully 28, Ward 32, Shiel 32, Kelly 27. Clearances; them 56 us 32. That is a big difference. Disposal effectiveness them 69% us 70%.
They were clearly much better at the stoppages and flogged us all game out of the centre bar the last quarter, when Kennedy got going. May have even won as the game. I am thinking that we were able to slow the game up a bit. Certainly our kicking to position was much better in the second half. I seem to think that the difference in the game was our outstanding defence.
One thing of concern was their ability to kick goals in the last 2 minutes of every quarter.
I thought Naismith's game was very good. No doubt he diluted Mummy's influence around the ground. Hit outs were; Naismith 47 Mummy 51. Contested well all game and has a big tank. Not a great stats getter but does his job. Pity our mids couldn't take advantage at centre bounces. Ward was ferocious at those contests and it bemuses me why our blokes let him go first or couldn't get there first.
Callum Mills looks like he is still feeling the effects of concussion. Game looks a little dull around the edges.
Last edited by Nico; 16th July 2017 at 05:09 PM.
Bit of a whisper going around that Hanners has O.P. It would explain a lot imo.
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