#AFL Round 11, Swans vs Blues, 7:50pm, SCG #AFLSwansBlues @sydneyswans

[Plugger1300]

The officiating is really killing my enjoyment of the game!
The amount of free kicks is ridiculous. I agree with Liz that i'm not even sure it was biased one way or another
this isn't helped by the swans continually giving away silly free kicks.
Buddy and Ronke gave away two free in our F50 that transitioned into Carlton goals

Really need to clean that area up before it costs us games.

Sinclair should've received the medal in my opinion
He was the difference between the sides

On to the saints who showed some semblance of form on the weekend

[Doctor J.]

Sure, we weren't at our scintillating best.
Sure, we were hoping for a bigger win and the % boost that goes with it.

BUT...

We won a game that was a milestone game for one of our champs!.
Goodesy and Mickey O got to make presentations to guys wearing the right colours!
We again beat the the club that hovered over us like vultures when we were struggling in the 80s and 90s.
We again beat the club that that turd Fitzpatrick played for!
We helped keep that scum on the bottom of the ladder!

Plenty to celebrate!

GO THE MIGHTY BLOODS!

People need to remember this before they start saying "poor Carlton"

[CureTheSane]

I think it was Heeney on Grandstand on Saturday who said something along the lines of the team is playing to the level of their opposition not to their potential.

I remember when Garry Lyon said that when he was playing for Melbourne and they were high on the ladder and we hadn't won a game for like 15 games or something.
He said "we played down to their level and we lost the game" (ie; we didn't win it)
Took a lot of the joy of the win away from me and I resented the comments and him for probably 10 years after that.
Funny how the little things can get to you.

But putting this in the context of what Heeney said, I'd say that it is wrong.
We simply aren't playing well. And our oppositions are playing better than they have been. Simple.

[stevoswan]

Titus hits the bullseye yet again....re: the game AND the Seven commentary 'team'.

"Sydney (91) v Carlton (61)

Another Friday night cracker that in no way explains why ratings are down this year.

Carlton hung around, like the bad smell they are, but you never felt they were going to win this.

So confident were the Swans that early in the game, with the Blues leading by 7, they started to play the Swans anthem. Now that�s confidence.

It turns out blaming Carlton for poor Friday Night Footy ratings upsets Blues fans, so at least something positive has come out of this. Keep it up everyone, it�s been a real team effort.

It shouldn�t go unsaid that a big reason why people aren�t watching full games is the Friday Night Commentary team on Seven.

This week they probably delivered a personal best in providing some of the inanest waffle to ever grace a sport broadcast.

I just wish we all found the Channel Seven commentary team as amusing as they find each other.

Whether it�s the Happy Days references, the complimenting each other or the getting players� names wrong, the result is a form of audio torture not usually heard outside of Guantanamo Bay.

Once it became obvious the Swans were pulling away, it was an easy decision for most to switch off because any moment you don�t have to spend with the Friday Night Footy Crew is a good one." .......

The Monday Knee Jerk Reaction: AFL Round Eleven@ | Titus O'Reily

[Sandrevan]

Swans flat and lazy. We always do this when we're the favourite. Need to get our act together, this is a classic bogey match for the swans.

Have to agree with you. However, the Swans are coming off a 6 day break and the Lions game was in difficult conditions. The boys looked tired in the first half.

[Sandrevan]

Match Review findings:

Callum Sinclair can accept a $1,000 fine for staging.

Sam Rowe can accept a $1,500 fine for misconduct.

I thought Sinclairs staging was pretty poor form - I hope Brett Kirk has a quiet word 'Dude - you're not Alex Rance or Lindesay Thomas'. I thought Sinclair was clearly BOG but the acting stopped him getting the medal.

[Sandrevan]

The officiating is really killing my enjoyment of the game!
The amount of free kicks is ridiculous. I agree with Liz that i'm not even sure it was biased one way or another
this isn't helped by the swans continually giving away silly free kicks.
Buddy and Ronke gave away two free in our F50 that transitioned into Carlton goals

Really need to clean that area up before it costs us games.

I continue to be bemused by the umpiring and all the criticism of it. Several times during the game i thought 'what a soft free kick that was' - and it was running both ways. The only sensible conclusion I can arrive at is that the umpiring is consistently inconsistent. So long as the free kick count is even (or almost so) I think we do ok. However, it shouldn't be like this but with a lot of interpretive rules and changing interpretations of the rules it's hard to see it differently.

[neilfws]

I thought Sinclairs staging was pretty poor form - I hope Brett Kirk has a quiet word 'Dude - you're not Alex Rance or Lindesay Thomas'. I thought Sinclair was clearly BOG but the acting stopped him getting the medal.

Yes, he had a great game apart from that. He is starting to look like a classic "Swans project" player, one of those who comes to the club looking quite average and then they get the best out of them. I don't know if the Swans are really better at that than others, but it feels like it.

It seems odd to say that a team are better than their results suggest - since results are the only measure really - but I do think Carlton have potential to be much better than they are. They were very competitive in the first half and it was good to get a close look at some of their better players like the Curnows. Their issue is that they can't string 4 quarters together.

Anyway, I'll take that ugly win. Looking forward to my next visit for West Coast, which could be quite a contest.

[ugg]

Coaches votes

10 Sinclair
8 Heeney
4 Hewett
3 Parker
2 Lloyd, Simpson
1 L.Jones


Sinclair 5-5
Heeney 4-4
Hewett 3-1
Parker 3-0
Lloyd, Simpson 2-0
L.Jones 1-0

Swans leaderboard. Number of games voted in brackets

C.Sinclair 30 (4)
L.Parker 27 (5)
I.Heeney 23 (5)
L.Franklin 18 (4)
J.Lloyd 17 (4)
J.Kennedy 16 (4)
G.Hewett 13 (3)
B.Ronke 10 (1)
J.McVeigh 9 (1)
C.Mills 8 (2)
D.Rampe 5 (2)
W.Hayward 4 (1)
L.Melican 4 (1)
H.Cunningham 2 (1)
H.Grundy 2 (1)
Z.Jones 2 (2)

[Mel_C]

I think it was Heeney on Grandstand on Saturday who said something along the lines of the team is playing to the level of their opposition not to their potential.

Hmmm that can be seen as a back hander to the opposition. Personally I think it says more about how the swans are going because they struggle to take control of "lessor" opposition.

[strapper]

Re Sinclair , I wonder how much of his improvement is due to the arrival of Dean Cox

[liz]

Hmmm that can be seen as a back hander to the opposition. Personally I think it says more about how the swans are going because they struggle to take control of "lessor" opposition.

Yes, and Longmire distanced himself from that observation in his own press conference. He also disputed Heeney's comment that he gave the team a serve at half-time, suggesting he'd only really spoken to the leadership group. It sounds like Heeney maybe "went off script" in his comments, and might be due for some remedial media skills training.

I think it's a fair observation that the team just isn't playing great football at the moment, but they are still finding a way to win games, which is an improvement on last year when they were playing poorly. We have quite a few young bodies in the team - and as Longmire points out, playing important roles - and these guys may not be physically able to maintain intensity throughout an entire game. In 2016 we reached a grand final with lots of young, inexperienced players but in that year our top echelon of players had remarkably good seasons. Five made the AA team, while the likes of Reg, Jack, Macca (until he got injured) were also consistently strong contributors. They were able to carry the younger players, even though those players did their bit.

This season, the younger players are also doing their bit but without the support of the extremely high level of performance from the more seasoned players. Reg, Macca and Smith are doing fine. Buddy's doing OK considering the injury he's been carrying but has another level to go to. Parker and Rampe have been pretty good, though not as consistent as past years. But clearly we're not getting as much from Kennedy (on a consistent basis), Hanners or Jack as we did in 2016. And while the young players of 2016 have stepped up, none is yet able to fill the shortfall. Heeney is coming the closest, but even he has another level I reckon he can get to. His intensity can be inconsistent from contest to contest, and while I think that is just the way he plays, there's plenty of scope for improvement.