Can any NEAFL watchers comment on Ling’s game? Only the 7 possessions. Is that due to limited game time or just not getting near it?
Can any NEAFL watchers comment on Ling’s game? Only the 7 possessions. Is that due to limited game time or just not getting near it?
Can't really comment on yesterday's game, but on previous performances, he is very elusive, an accurate kick, a creative ball user and one of our faster players. He also doesn’t mind throwing his weight around. Which will be more effective when he has some weight. Once he builds up his game time, I feel sure that his senior debut will soon follow.
He played in defence as opposed to the wing the previous weeks. He had 0 touches in the last quarter and I’m not sure if he was playing. At one stage the commentators were saying they could only see 2 Swans on the bench (out of 5) so there’s a chance he sat out the last quarter.
He looked very clean, quick and constructive in his first game back, albeit only playing the second half. I think he's been a little underwhelming since.
Yesterday's NEAFL game is hard to assess because there was a big mismatch in size and experience. I think the Lions only had two academy players in their team, both U19 players and one of whom is highly likely to be drafted this year. We had 14 listed players and the rest academy players, including at least one (small) 16yo. We had Pink, Cameron and Amartey who can genuinely be considered as tall players, the Lions had lots of height. And then look at the AFL experience they had playing - Christensen, Mathieson, Bastinac amongst others. The only player we had with anything like that amount of experience was Clarke, who at least worked hard to win possession even if he wasn't very constructive with it. And even amongst the listed players we had, only Rowbottom is really a developing inside player. The rest of the smaller players are more outside running types. So the team wasn't particularly well equipped to win first possession, or to defend the Lions' marking targets once it got inside their 50. There were a few good moments but it's not surprising they were relatively rare. It's hard to get a handle on the outside players, in particular, in that kind of game.
That said, the game showed we don't have anyone (other than COR and, at a pinch, Rose) who looks ready to come in and make any difference at senior level. Someone like Stoddart might be able to contribute in an otherwise strong senior team (albeit his disposal wasn't great yesterday) but I suspect he'll struggle in the underworking senior team that we currently have.
For a moment, I thought this was about the firsts…
“We were very patchy today. We came out of the blocks really slowly, and when you give 20 AFL-listed players a chance to get on the front foot early, it gives them a lot of confidence going forward,” Laidler said.
“I thought in the second quarter we matched them and pulled them apart a little bit, but after half-time we were quite disappointing. Our work rate was quite poor, we didn’t have enough contributors and they had an even spread of players on board.”
NEAFL: Clarke shines in loss to Lions - sydneyswans.com.au
I feel like I've watched a different game. Clarke was awful. Sure he got 40+ possessions but would be lucky if more than 10 were effective. Obviously they are priming us for his return this week as Cunningham's replacement. It's stuff like this cause supporters to despair..........
We play the Students 12 pm on Saturday at Henson Park. Could be a good one to get along to! Eyeball some of our talent in the flesh.
SYDNEY
B: 52. J Pawle 47. T Pink 33. R Stoddart
HB: 51. R Barkley 31. H Reynolds 53. K McKellar
C: 32. J Bell 8. J Rowbottom 25. B Ronke
HF: 4. R Clarke 45. S Wicks 16. Z Foot
F: 19. M Ling 46. J Amartey 2. D Menzel
R: 17. D Cameron 27. J McInerney 1. J Rose
Int: 56. N Brewer 55. S Gaden 49. C Kilpatrick 54. L Swaney
Emg: 57. J Dol 48. K Martin
In: 56. N Brewer 2. D Menzel 55. S Gaden 54. L Swaney 31. H Reynolds
Out: 38. C O’Riordan (AFL) 48. N Coxall 54. I Olsen 55. T Drum 50. K Veerhuis 59. M Belbasis (all omitted)
New: 2. D Menzel
SYDNEY UNI
B: 28. D Baron-Hay 24. T Barton 15. M Carroll
HB: 23. L Kilpatrick 3. A Gulden 26. W Sierakowski
C: 7. J Bartholomaeus 21. L Stevenson 1. J Hiscox
HF: 32. E Cole 10. S Fong 35. T Redden
F: 16. H Morrison 19. T Davies 17. J Stern
R: 22. S Tagliabue 5. B Stewart 9. J Veale
Int: 6. S Barkley 29. D Cordell 36. A Sierakowski 14. M Krochmal 31. L Robertson*
Emg: N/A.
In: 22. S Tagliabue 26. W Sierakowski 28. D Baron-Hay
Out: 25. L Hayres (injured) 18. J Dimery (omitted) 4. A Lucy (omitted)
*Denotes 23rd player
The nice thing about playing the NEAFL after the AFL is that none of the emergencies will have to sit out
You’d imagine Menzel will take the traditional route on being eased back into it by only playing a portion of the game. Losing O’Riordan to the seniors depleted the defence even further, leaving Pink as the most experienced player
Sydney Uni were surprisingly thumped by Southport last week. They currently sport only one official ex-Swan in Hiscox but a few other Academy graduates in Stewart, Baron-Hay, Kilpatrick, Carroll, Robertson, Barkley, Cordell, and Stern
I’m guessing the 2 Kilpatricks and 2 Barkleys in either side are brothers?
Also the match is now starting at 11:30am instead of the original time of noon
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