Sounds like Hayward has run out of steam.
Sounds like Hayward has run out of steam.
Looking at the reserves lineup I could not help but think there are 6-8 players there that played their last game for us yesterday - Laidler, Foote, Rose, Marsh, Jack, Leonardis, Talia.
Also must be a question mark over AJ (can he ever get back to afl standard) and O'Riordan (potentially heading back to Ireland). Then you have Alir and Tippett in the trade mix with the former having currency despite a very disappointing season but the latter very little in my view due to being injury prone. The upshot is that almost half of that reserves grand final team may be gone in a few months time. Food for thought.
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Laidler Foote Rose Marsh all under contract for next year
The players in the team have been very selfish all year. I can only think that the dominant focus for the team is supporting the seniors. The selfishness of the players and the poor team culture cost the grand final. One of the players told me after the game that the aggressive and unsupportive culture in the team made it hard to be creative and to lean on others. One of the trainers also said that Shaws comment to the players after the game was that their selfishness cost the grand final.
It was a strange performance especially for a grand final and very disappointing. Almost from the first bounce it seemed like the Swans were a different team to the one which played v Gold Coast. For a time nearly everyone of KT's taps went straight to a Lion and there was a lack of energy and intensity about the players. Goal kicking was back to their most sloppy ... and not much changed over 3 quarters. It was then like a switch had been flicked and the team more or less sprang to life but still didn't take their chances in front of goal. No onfield leadership, no one able to take the game on. As I said, very odd. Maybe Barra's info explains it but if that was the case why was it not addressed before the last quarter?
I noticed COR give Florent a serve when Old didn't pick the ball up for him after a behind. I thought that was a bit odd. Like he expected someone to get the ball for him rather than do the work himself. I then watched him not pick up a player in defence even though he was being directed to. Definitely some cultural and commitment issues. Strange because you'd think they would adopt the same culture as the seniors so your attitude translates seamlessly if / when you're picked to play.
I can't comment on what Shaw said after the game, but the rest of your post doesn't really resonate.
This is a team that lost only to the Lions all year (and whose height previously caused the team issues, though that was only part of the story on Saturday). It's a team made up predominantly of players who operate within the broader scope of the whole club, and whose senior team does not epitomise even a hint of selfishness. I find it really hard to believe that the team has played selfishly throughout a pretty dominant season, or that if there had been signs of that, Shaw and the rest of the coaching team wouldn't have addressed that issue during the year.
What I saw on Saturday was a team
a) that struggled, at times, with the Lions' height
b) a team that struggled with the dewy conditions (and to be fair I think the Lions did too - I don't suppose many of them have played much evening time footy during the season)
c) a team that absolutely dominated the final quarter but couldn't kick straight to save their lives. And it wasn't that they were taking pings from unrealistic positions. Foote and Robinson are two players who had very straightforward set shots in that final term that were missed (and there were plenty more - just can't replay all of them off the top of my head).
And to your comment that "you can only think that the dominant focus for the team is supporting the seniors", I'd have thought that should be the main focus of the team. It's essentially a development squad of listed AFL players. Its entire point is to develop players who might one day be ready to graduate to play senior AFL footy.
First full game of NEAFL I have watched all year but the reality was that they blew it . Kicking 3/9 in the last quarter on a relatively still night (and to the end the wind had been blowing to earlier in the day anyway) was their downfall.
I was quite amazed at the differential in intensity and skill level between this game and the seniors. It truly is quite a marked difference and shows to me why they are still hesitant to reward the younger guys straight up.
My view on a few players :
Rose - very disappointing and showed little under the pressure of a GF. Wouldnt be suprised if they looked to trade him on that effort.
Foote - was pretty good and despite his costly miss in the final quarter was almost best on ground.
Tippett - should dominate at that level but clearly didnt - looked proppy.
Talia - gone for me - didnt show much.
Allir - good but not the allir of last year and would take melican every day over him.
AJ - still getting used to the game again. Not a forward, positions himself like a backman.
Hayward - not overly impressive for a guy that had plenty to prove. Still learning senior level football.
Plaudits to the Brisbane player with the dreadlocks playing full back / CHB who had a cheer squad of gorgeous blondes cheering his every move.
That would be Matthew Eagles but he has brown dreadlocks.
I said his cheer squad was a bunch of gorgeous blondes not him
They did seem to pick him out quite regularly but for me we really lacked some proper forwards. Either that or the delivery was so poor that no one really had the opportunity to show it.
Playing Talia and AJ up there just didnt work in my view. Pink can develop but there were few that looked comfortable in front of goal. Hayward should have killed it at this level but he was in and out.
My 13 year old has better goal sense than most of these guys seem to (and he is in the academy Horse )
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