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Thread: Changes for Round 6 v Geelong

  1. #1
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    Changes for Round 6 v Geelong

    IN: Melican
    OUT: Hayward

    There has been some cheap talk over the last week about Sydney kicking too much to Buddy, but I'm not sure there's much choice with Reid out and no second ruckman to rest forward. If Buddy had converted the marks he took inside and around 50 on Friday, we would have won. It also worked really well against WCE.

    Our concerns are more around the contested ball. Heeney and Parker have been our best clearance players this year, and ideally wouldn't play as much forward. I wonder whether Hewett could play more forward - he's a decent mark and set shot. Gary was dangerous on Friday and will be better for the run. Ideally we would have another taller type in there - McCartin, or even Cameron, but they need more NEAFL games. The bye was a bummer this week.

    Given the above, it might seem contradictory to suggest Hayward be replaced - and I'm a big fan - he's just a bit off the pace at the moment. Marsh was very good on Friday and perhaps allows Mills to move into the midfield. It'll be great to have Melican back.

  2. #2
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    Yep, Melican an automatic in if he is fit. It really annoys me how many byes they have in the NEAFL - 3 I think - stuffs up a lot of guys getting a chance to impress.

    I know I will get criticised for this but I really think we should throw McCartin in. Give him 4-6 weeks or until Reid is fit. I seem to remember Reg got his first game at Kardinia Park and I believe he kicked 3 goals on debut but I could be wrong.

    Yes he is underweight a bit but he presents well and he won't play in another forward line where someone else is more a target of defenders. Only the club would know if he can mentally handle it I guess but we need bold decisions. If he had 3-4 marks, 10 possessions and maybe a goal I'd consider that success. Saw him play in the last NEAFL game - until the stream died - and he really impressed with his leading. He did not kick accurately (neither did any other Swans) but if he had may have got 4-5 goals.

    Am I crazy and is it too early?

  3. #3
    We�re getting smashed at the contest. Our clearances are way down on what they should be and we lack speed. I get the feeling we are just hanging on in games and a blow out is just around the corner, especially as the cats have a strong midfield. But I�m at a loss as to what to do, given our Neafl team is struggling.
    In: Melican Ronke
    Out: Hayward Hannebury
    With Mills to play more in midfield?

  4. #4
    I don�t think it�s too early to play McCartain, keeping in mind though it�s highly unusual for an 18yo key position player to make much of an impact in his first year. I guess if he can provide a target, bring the ball to ground and apply some forward pressure, then he will do a job. I mean we won a flag with LRT as one of our key forwards doing exactly that!

  5. #5
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    . I seem to remember Reg got his first game at Kardinia Park and I believe he kicked 3 goals on debut but I could be wrong.
    He did kick 3 on debut but it was at the SCG against Richmond. I have a recollection of being there

    Grundy had a solid season and a half in the AFL canberra comp kicking bags of goals along with Luke Vogels (remember him?)

    Despite his age McCartin showed enough in the JLT games to indicate to me he could play this year. However I think he has to show consistently solid form in the NEAFL before we promote him.

    The main problem for me still lies in the midfield and I don�t think that can be solved by bringing NEAFL players. Whatever factors that are plaguing Kennedy and Hannebery be they physical or otherwise, let�s hope they overcome them quickly.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by ugg View Post
    He did kick 3 on debut but it was at the SCG against Richmond. I have a recollection of being there

    Grundy had a solid season and a half in the AFL canberra comp kicking bags of goals along with Luke Vogels (remember him?)

    Despite his age McCartin showed enough in the JLT games to indicate to me he could play this year. However I think he has to show consistently solid form in the NEAFL before we promote him.

    The main problem for me still lies in the midfield and I don�t think that can be solved by bringing NEAFL players. Whatever factors that are plaguing Kennedy and Hannebery be they physical or otherwise, let�s hope they overcome them quickly.
    Thanks for correction ugg - not sure why I thought he debuted against Geelong. Hannebery had a bad pre season so I think we can expect improvement in every game. Kennedy I think it must be a mental thing he is going through.

    McCartin has not shown enough to get promoted on merit but we need height and mobility in the forward half - he fits the bill.

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    We are not travelling at all well. I agree main problem is in midfield where along with Kennedy and Hannebury, Parker, Jack and Hewett were also MIA against the Crows in the first half and it was only their poor kicking that kept us in the game. We have problems though both in defence and forwards as well. We have been beaten by both Port and the Crows who are weak at present and were lucky against the Dogs who should have won and are also weak. Giants also not going well so win there perhaps not as impressive as it might have been. Eagles win is now starting to look like our best.

    We have only one tall defender at present and that showed against the Crows as we could not hold both Walker and Jenkins who are both out of form. We rely on Rampe and now Marsh punching out of their height division but hopefully Melican will be back and resolve that issue. Rest of the defenders were OK. In the forwards we have only Buddy and the Crows new we were always going to him and could safely triple team him. This should mean we have a couple of loose forwards but they were invisible on Friday and totally ignored.

    We need a visible alternate forward target to Buddy and I think that means we do have to play one of Aliir, Cameron or McCartin in the forwards. I have reservations re all of them but think probably Cameron is the best option. At least he will be visible and is form in the NEAFL has been sound but not spectacular. Hayward is just not strong enough to be a forward target at present though love his skills and when he develops I think he will be a star of the future.

    The fix in the mids is much harder to imagine. Only Heeney and Jones earnt their keep on that display but Jones spoils much of his good work with some poor errors. Ronke has been good but again not banging the door down and would offer more at the coal face now than either Hanners or Jack. I don't see Longmire making that change in a hurry though. Could look at Fox or Newman but again can't see Horse dropping a senior player for either. I don't understand why Newman is so much out of favour, He offers more than some of the others are delivering.

    Thought Sinclair was well beaten by Jacobs but I still had him in my best players. At least he keeps making an effort. A typical game from Rohan. His pressure acts in the first half were all on his team mates rather than the opponents as he was missing in action then in the second half does a couple of good things and eveyonr forgives him. Wish we could get four quarters out of him but he again will stay in the side. On a positive note I thought Towers and Cunningham were good but those two are not our match winners.

  8. #8
    Hinkley made a strong point mid week that you can't just promote someone who isn't AFL ready because you have a need for their type of player.
    No-one has said McCartin is AFL ready, just that we need a tall forward.
    Apparently none of our midfield are injured enough to miss a game, but hard to believe for Hanners. Mills to take his place in the middle, Melican to join the back ground if ready.
    Newman and Aliir wouldn't have had a chance to correct why they got dropped, so unlikely we'd see more changes.

  9. #9
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    Longmire made it quite clear in his press conference where he thought the main issue was - ie winning the ball, especially at centre bounces. Every time the journalists tried to draw him on structural issues in the forward line, he came back to the failure of the midfielders to win the ball.

    I reckon that if/when he thinks that McCartin (or someone else) is ready to come in and play senior footy, he'll give them a go. But I don't believe he'll bring in anyone he doesn't think is ready just to fix a structural issue up forward unless the midfield is holding its own and we're still getting beaten.

  10. #10
    Firstly lets hope Melican is fit as he's a key part of our defence.

    The midfield really is quite a mystery. Hanners did a press conference during the week talking about giving more protection to the defense and then our midfield got annihilated in the first half. I'm also not sure whether Longmire's comments (our main issue being winning the ball) were directed only at the players or at the midfield coaches too? There is work to be done structurally / tactically.

    Horse is likely to give the same midfield group the opportunity to turn it around, but if there is someone carrying an injury, they should take time to get themselves right (ExhibitA - Kieren Jack last year). I don't think it would be a disaster to give Hanners a week or two in the NEAFL to get his fitness up to scratch. He seems way off at the moment.

    Our midfield actually did get on top in the second half, but we weren't able to make the most of our opportunities up forward. Final numbers we dominated inside 50s (for the first time this year), almost broke even in centre clearances (12-13) but were down on clearances and contested possessions.

    Swans midfield have lost the clearances in their last 3 games this year but won the previous two. This was the first game for the year we had more inside 50s.

    I think we do need another tall forward, not just as another avenue in attack, but to give us another exit when kicking long out of defence (as we did unsuccessfully over and over again on Friday night). It wasn't that long ago that a makeshift forward (Xavier Richards) played in a Grand Final for us in the absence of Sam Reid. Despite the lack of NEAFL game this week I think they have to pick one of Cameron / Aliir / McCartin / Amartey and give them 6 weeks playing that role.

    I also want the Swans to become the AFL's top tackling team again, which is one reason why Hayward stays in - 7 tackles.

    An 8 day break after two 6 day breaks should make a huge difference. Perhaps the heroics against the Bulldogs took too much out of them?

    Unlike Horse, I'm swinging the axe this week at selection:

    IN: Melican, a tall forward
    OUT: Hanners, Jack
    Last edited by Markwebbos; 22nd April 2018 at 03:19 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Markwebbos View Post
    This was the first game for the year we had more inside 50s.
    Like most stats in footy, I think this one can be misleading (or, at least, is often quoted by media commentators with a dubious interpretation attached).

    Most teams, nowadays, try to set up a forward press. They push their defenders up the ground so that when a panicked kick comes out of the forward line from a defender, it is marked and sent back in. So the number of forward entries is, on one hand, a measure of how well the team's forward press is working. But it can also be looked on as a negative measure on how efficient the forward line is in creating scoring shots. In an ideal world, every time the ball goes into the forward line, it is converted into a goal. Then there would be no need for repeat forward entries. The ball would go back to the middle.

    There have been plenty of games over the past few years where we've won, and won comfortably, yet the opposition has had far more forward entries in a pure numerical sense but we've been particularly efficient in converting our fewer entries into goals. It's often said that our defence is one of the most comfortable in coping with the ball in the opposition's forward line, meaning we've been able to stifle the opposition's conversion efficiency. The opposition might be getting lots of forward 50 entries but they don't amount to anything.

    Another way the stat can be skewed is that if a team keeps the ball in its forward 50 through pressure and tackles until it creates a scoring opportunity, it will appear to have fewer forward entries than if it defends just outside the forward 50 and pushes the ball back in when it comes in. In both cases, the ball can spend a lot of time locked in a team's forward half of the ground but the forward 50 stats will differ.

  12. #12
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    What do people think of possibly trying Melican In the forward line. Then bring Aliir into the back line

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