I know he's in poor form, but it's hard to know what to do about it. He was a skillful young player, who kicked well and took a strong mark. I don't think that just disappears. Our coaches have to find a solution.
We can't criticize all our players and drop them all, or we just won't have a team. Something has to be done to improve their weaknesses.
I thought we moved the ball well at times, even under heavy pressure. We need to keep at it until we can do it consistently well. It doesn't make it easy when we don't have any forward targets and the opposition is getting first use at most stoppages. Our contested work wasn't too flash either.
Could essentially copy the same names every week.. Blakey, Ronke, Gray, O'Riordan, McInerney, Hayward, Cunningham all passengers who are found wanting as soon as the game's not on their terms. Our better players were far from dominant - Mills, Florent, Lloyd, Papley couldn't hit the side of a barn with some of their kicks. Somebody forgot to tell Dawson the season started. Aliir looks worse than he did his first year. Gone backwards. Wouldn't even be in most team's 22. Heeney just teases his talent but can't be arsed applying it.
Rowbottom a rare positive. McLean is a keeper. Kennedy and Parker's shoulders must be sore from carrying this hapless outfit.
I was hoping it would turn but Ronke is nearly at the point of trying another sport.... cant remember a decent game since the Hawks game
They were bigger and stronger us in the ruck and at both ends of the ground (although the Eagles' Kennedy has hit the cliff) - dominated us in the air and out-muscled us at ground level.
The club has botched the ruck position. We have known for a few years that Naismith is injury-prone, but all of his back-ups are undersized or green or both. There is only one true ruckman in the club, and he has freshly done an ACL. I know there's explanations for it and bad luck, but it's been a problem since we lost Tippett and it has not been addressed.
Some quick notes on the players:
- Interesting that Dawson played best when he went back to defence.
- Heeney's much improved last quarter came when he played in the middle.
- Mills showed in the first half why Longmire likes him back. We are certainly very thin back there.
- I don't think the chopping and changing of roles suits Aliir. He looks a bit lost at the moment.
- Some pretty poor efforts at times from Florent today. Disappointing.
- Improved showing from Blakey - let's let him work into that wing spot.
- We need a lot more from Cunningham and Hewett - they are under par this year.
- As noted above, Rowbottom and McInerney both tried hard and will develop into solid AFL players (Rowbottom possible better than that). The latter's decision-making will improve. He keeps wanting the ball. Rowbottom reliably attacks the ball and sticks his tackles.
I don't want to be harsh, but the following are not AFL-standard players: Ronke; Clarke; O'Riordan; Gray. I don't think there's any point in playing any of them. Probably not McLean either.
Liked the first quarter. Rest of it made me wish I'd gone with Plan A, which was spend a sunny arvo in the backyard.
Eagles sure picked their day to come back into form. Swans lack of experience really shows on days like this. Just not enough players at the required level yet, basically. Forward line consisting of more or less just Papley isn't helping either.
I think it's just a matter of keep playing them, improvement will come with time. But it's going to be long, slow and at times painful to watch. That's just the reality of where the team is right now, after many years mixing it with the best.
I suspect his one-on-one defending and decision-making (whether with ball on hand on the mark, tackling, or passing in traffic) is not good enough for defence. I guess you could try to train that into him, but that's a lot of effort with a decent chance of it not sticking. He's not going to win enough ball in the midfield or on the wing. He's played his best footy forward, probably as a third tall with Buddy/genuine key forward in the team. Also, Heeney is a better version in the role. I don't know, maybe in this under-sized team we could play him forward out of the goal-square, although, again, I think Papley has been better in that role than Hayward would be.
I think it's official: We are a rabble.
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