As I said in an earlier thread, I found this game very disappointing as it was one I expected we should win. So I sat down and went through the tape in some detail to see what happened.

Quarter 1

Neither side played outstanding football in this quarter, however it essentially progressed much as I expected the whole game would. A scrappy and fumbling affair at times, the Swans were still able to find some space in the midfield and run the ball effectively into the forward 50 a total of 14 times to score 6.1; a very effective return The midfield also shut down their Melbourne counterparts to some extent, allowing them only 8 Inside 50s. Midfield pressure and the defence worked well such that the Demons scored only 2 goals from their forays forward.

Melbourne were beating Sydney in clearances, both in the centre (5-3) and around the ground (10-6), which pointed to some issues the Swans would need to address for the rest of the game.

Injury concerns were also an issue for Sydney, with Davis off after 5 min, Barry after 8 min and Maxfield after 14 min. Fortunately both Davis and Barry returned, although the latter never seemed quite himself during the game.

Some other portents of later problems were poor disposal, particularly some kicking by Bevan, and poor decision-making, such as Goodes? pass to Schneider when Goodes was 20m out from goal by himself.

Not surprisingly, the Swans were getting plenty of the ball in this quarter, leading total disposals 85-54. Kirk was playing well with 9, Crouch and Williams had 8 each, while Goodes and Mathews had 6 each. Godfrey with 9 and Thompson with 7 were Melbourne?s best. In this quarter Godfrey was on J Bolton, and had kept him very quiet; just 3 disposals.

Quarter 2

The quarter started badly for the Swans with 2 quick goals to Green, who had moved to the forward line after Crouch had beaten him in the midfield, and one to Thompson in the first 6 minutes. This was followed by 3 more goals; 2 to Neitz and 1 to Davey. These 6 goals came from 6 straight centre clearances by the Demons, with White, Thompson, Godfrey and McDonald critical factors. The delivery into the Demons? forward line was excellent, with little pressure from the Sydney midfield, giving the defenders virtually no chance to beat their opponents. Melbourne?s players around the ground seemed to have a lot of time and space to work in, quite the opposite to the Swans players.

Sydney did not manage to get the ball even into our own half until 11:02 remaining in the quarter. Melbourne had clogged up the midfield, playing one-on-one football and tying up the Swans with great pressure. This is what Melbourne did effectively to Port last week, as the Swans did to Port in the final last year, and as Geelong did to the Swans two weeks ago.

Godfrey had moved onto Fosdike and Reid had taken J Bolton, and both these Swans players were rarely involved, just 3 possession each for the quarter, and also suffering from some poor disposal or decision-making. There was much fumbling and misreading of the ball by all Swans players, with Williams and Kennelly struggling on a number of occasions.

When the Swans did get the ball into the forward 50, we were amazingly effective. We scored goals on our 2nd, 4th, and 6th I50s. The ability to generate these I50s was assisted by an improvement in the centre, with the Swans gaining 3 centre clearances and halting the Demons? dominance.

At half time, both of the major spearheads, Neitz and Hall, had been effective with 4 and 3 goals respectively. Hall appeared to have the measure of Nicholson, although delivery to him was mixed. James wasn?t doing a bad job on Neitz, however Melbourne?s moves inside 50 were very good, making James? task next to impossible.

Maxfield started the second quarter, but left the ground after 5 min not to return, suffering from a pinched nerve in his shoulder.

For the quarter, Melbourne defeated Sydney in clearances again, 6-5 in the centre and 12-7 in total. For I50s, Melbourne was also up 12-7 for the quarter, with Melbourne?s efficiency of I50s/goal a staggering 1.5! Melbourne also dominated possessions that quarter, 72-44. Much of the game was being played in the midfield though, evidenced by the high disposals/I50 for both teams at around 6, plus the effectiveness of the forward lines when they did get it into their forward 50. This efficiency plus Melbourne?s pressure was making Sydney?s normal run off half back ineffective, with Kennelly and Barry having only 5 and 3 possessions respectively to half time.

Quarter 3

This quarter began for the Swans as the 2nd quarter had for Melbourne, dominating the play with 2 centre breaks and 1 rebound producing 3 goals in 5 minutes. Sydney had manned up in the centre and Kirk, Mathews and Crouch were doing well with clearances.

The next 10 minutes were very tight though, with some poor play by the Swans squandering opportunities to move further in front. Goodes had improved his work rate, however his good efforts were undone by some very poor efforts, including giving the ball up in the centre when tackled, missing an open goal from 15m out, and missing another on the run from 45m. Poor field kicking was another feature of the Swans play during this period, with culprits including Goodes, Fosdike and Kennelly.

Davis was able to kick his second goal for the quarter, but missed a great opportunity for another for the Swans, and Hall missed one from 45m. At the other end, Melbourne had missed a couple too, but some poor scouting of the packs (all up, none down!!) allowed them to kick their only goal of the quarter.

Like the first quarter, Sydney had more I50s, 12-9, and had used them much better, although both teams had been wasteful. Possessions were similar, the Swans with slightly more 52-48. The relatively low number of possessions for the quarter reflected the arm wrestle that much of the middle of the quarter turned into.

Quarter 4

The arm wrestle continued for the first 5 minutes until a tap forward from Brown to Johnstone, whom J Bolton had left unmarked at a ball up, allowed Johnstone to kick the first goal of the quarter. About 5 minutes later, a lucky bounce in the goal square allowed Neitz to gather and kick his 5th goal.

McDonald, who had been very effective for Melbourne at clearances, went off only 2 minutes into the last quarter, which should have helped Sydney in the midfield, however Johnstone, Yze and Thompson really stepped up in the last quarter to limit the impact of the loss of McDonald.

Fosdike became very involved early, and managed 10 possessions and a couple of clearances and tackles in the last quarter. However, some of his disposals were not as effective as they should have been. Bolton continued to be quiet, well held by Reid, while Kennelly and Barry still had little effect.

Fumbling and poor decision-making continued to be a feature of Sydney?s play in the last quarter. There was no run off half back, little run through the field, and a lot of stop-start play and poor kicking to contests, or kicking into space without advantage or to the opposition through poor delivery. Kicking into the forward line was also not good, and Nicholson began to hold his own against Hall.

A dodgy throwing the ball decision gave Green his third goal and sewed up the game for Melbourne. They had played better football on average through the game, although neither team played particularly well overall.

Wrap up

Melbourne won the game, as expected, in the midfield. Their pressure plus a lack of discipline and hardness by Sydney were key factors. Some poor marking of players meant that Melbourne?s delivery to their forward line was very effective, hence also limiting Sydney?s defensive rebound ability. Sydney managed only 21 rebounds from defensive 50, below our average of 34. Likewise, Melbourne?s was lower, at 26 compared with their average of 35.

Both midfields struggled at times under pressure, however Melbourne?s were far more effective at applying and withstanding pressure. As expected, both forward lines were superior to their opposing defences. Melbourne needed only 2.3 I50s for each goal, while Sydney needed just 3.0. Melbourne led I50s 45-40 and was able to make a scoring attempt on 69% of its I50s, against Sydneys 53%.

Sydney had 288 possessions for the game, compared to our average of 329; an indication of the pressure applied by Melbourne in clogging up the midfield. Melbourne?s possessions were 238, a very low level (actually the lowest number by any team this year), and below their 297 average.

Melbourne beat Sydney in clearances 35-31, and CB clearances 16-13. Melbourne performed very well in this regard, normally behind their opposition on this statistic, thus indicating their effectiveness at the man-on-man football they played, plus the susceptibility of Sydney?s midfielders to pressure.

The Swans failed to play four quarters of hard, accountable football, and still don?t seem to understand we need to play in this way as a team for the entire game if we want to be successful.

In terms of player performances, here are a few views:

Williams ? tried hard and gathered the ball a lot all over the ground, although uncharacteristically was often not that clean or quick with his possessions.

Goodes ? despite 26 possessions, had a limited impact on the game, making a number of mistakes by hand and foot.

Kirk ? another very good game by ?The Captain? gaining a number of useful possessions and generating 5 clearances, including 3 in the centre, as well as 8 tackles.

Crouch ? overall a pretty decent game, with 20 possessions and 4 clearances, giving the Swans some drive through the middle and playing some good defence, although did go a bit quiet in the middle of the game.

Mathews ? good work around the packs, with 6 clearances (3 CB) and 20 disposals, and did okay in defence, except for a short period against Green in the 2nd qtr.

Fosdike ? tried to be involved, but went missing for much of it as he seemed to struggle with the close checking of his opponent; managed 20 possessions, half of them in the last quarter, and 7 tackles plus 3 clearances, but some of his disposals continue to leave a lot to be desired.

Hall ? very good, but generally starved of opportunity and hampered by some poor delivery or decision making by players kicking inside 50.

Ball ? played okay in patches, but not a lot of influence on the overall result.

O?Keefe ? a reasonable effort at half forward, with 12 disposals and 2 goals, plus sacrificed his game somewhat keeping Bizzell out of the play (only 6 disposals) as he did against Chris Johnson in the Brisbane game.

J Bolton ? very quiet game with only 12 possessions and 1 clearance; managed 6 tackles and a couple of smothers, but struggled with the close attention of taggers.

Kennelly ?quiet game, having little influence; did not appear fully fit.

Schneider ? kicked 2 goals; seemed to float in and out of play, but generally did quite well with limited opportunities and a sore ankle in the last quarter.

Bevan ? played okay against Davey, although was helped by some poor kicking by his opponent; had a bit of the ball early, but wayward kicking let him down, and didn?t touch it much after the first quarter.

Barry ? Received a heavy knock in the middle of the first quarter, and never seemed to have his normal dash during the game; managed only 9 possessions, and combined with Kennelly, the two of them had just 16 possessions, compared to their 2003 season combined average of 30.

Saddington ? had no impact up forward and was benched in the second quarter; returned to defence in the second half with a couple of good marks, a terrible kick out of bounds, and very little impact overall.

Davis ? a great return for his first game back, given limited chances, coming on and off a few times during the game and not looking quite match fit yet; only disappointment was a missed opportunity in the 3rd quarter.

McVeigh ? very little involvement in the game.

Doyle ? managed a goal and a few hit outs, some to us and some to them, but not particularly effective.

James ? considering Melbourne?s delivery into F50, and he was not actually on Neitz for 2 of his 6 goals, James did a reasonable job at full back, and certainly was not the reason we lost.

C Bolton ? fairly quiet in terms of possessions, however was on Holland all game who had no impact at all; the quick and efficient delivery into the forward line made it difficult for Bolton to effectively be the third man up, although he did make a mistake in the 2nd quarter, allowing a goal to Davey.

Maxfield ? played only 26 minutes of football, having no impact, due to a pinched nerve in shoulder.

Roberts-Thompson ? although the skills appear to be there, the football brain isn?t yet, and a stint in the reserves would probably benefit the lad.