Round 9 vs Fremantle at Optus 10 May 2024

[Trever]

Interesting performance as every player contributed and was an even performance

Hayward going very well. Reminds me a bit of Russell Robertson whom played for Melbourne in the late 90s through the 2000s. Medium forward whom is mercurial in the air, is quick and has a knack for being in the right place to score goals.

Chad, Guldon, Jordan, Rowbottom, Heeney and Grundy were all solid without knocking it out of the park.

Lloyd, Cunningham, J-Mac, Rampe, Amartey, Logan and McLean were professional.

Tom Papley will be fine. Watch next week against a better team.

Not sure how you fit Parker in next week?

Still want Campbell back.

[stellation]

Was it the same goal umpire that called touched/for a replay on the Lloyd goal that looked pretty obviously a goal who then called behinds on the 2 Freo shots later in the game? I have to admit I thought they were both goals.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Formidable performance.

Well done Swannies

Freeo…..if they could kick half straight…..would be a threat. Their kicking at goal was terrible.

Our kicking at goal first half…..was first class.

I liked where we applied pressure to minimise the quality of Freeos 50m entries. We do this so well and it takes so much pressure off our backline needing to be super tall dominant expensive defenders like say a Demons Lever and May etc.

It amazes me that not enough teams in the AFL replicate our high pressure offensive defence on the ball. Everything for the Swans starts and finishes at the contest. Very similar to high oresssure backbatell and or soccer on the ball.

Where the ball is (when a contested footy) becomes our area of attack…..but no other tr seems to regard how critical it is to start your defence with his pressure on the contested ball. I probably should re phrase that “no other team for long enough”.

High pressure attack on the contested footy minimises so many downstream defensive challenges into more manageable football.

Ps great to finally see Patch Adams looking comfortable and less clunky. Standout game for him re connection and execution with his new teams mates.

And Robert’s I’m getting why he is in there and like his kicking and his decision making is very good for a young player but last night he really struggled to contain his matchups. He was turned a lot one on one and reaching for the player metres away. I think Toberts at this stage and being a little slow vs most match ups really suited the small SCG vs a Campbell who I felt would have really suited last nights game.

[Hotpotato]

If you hadnt watched the game and read the result in the paper this morning, it would appear we put the Dockers away easily.
However if they didnt have the same Yips as my putting (fancy being that inaccurate on yr home home patch) the Swans were no where near as convincing.
Issac agreed “We still have a bit to work on.”
The laughable scoreline seemed to make them a bit lazy, however i understand its a hard hot ground.
Of course its delightful to go one clear on top and I like J. A.
Hope they arent too knackered V The Blues.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Was it the same goal umpire that called touched/for a replay on the Lloyd goal that looked pretty obviously a goal who then called behinds on the 2 Freo shots later in the game? I have to admit I thought they were both goals.

Yes. Interestingly though I didn’t think the Freo fans blew up that much, which might suggest he was right, or might suggest they’re a more genial crew.

And Auntie G: that’s right re our high pressure game but it takes a supreme level of concentration and fitness to maintain it. We are showing the benefits of a great preseason in both conditioning and having the time to develop cohesion. It was as good a full ground defensive effort as you could see last night. Freo kicking like me helped, but I cut them some slack given the circumstances.

Heeney probably grabbed at least another Brownlow vote tonight, Jordon really is a great recruit and so hard and clean when he gets the ball, and people calling for Harry C to be dropped really need to watch how rarely he gets beaten.

As for Paps, he looks like he is carrying something. There’s an explosion to his game when he’s fully on that is missing right now.

I thought if we won three of the five games from GWS through to Geelong it’d bode well for our top four chances. We really are ahead of the curve right now.

[MarshallG]

Something wasn't quite right about the match.

Commentators were sticking purely to the standard insight, inaccurate kicking, Swans' superior pressure, etc.

Very very easy to bask in glory of how well my team played.

Nonetheless,

Cannot help but think that what happened with Cam McCarthy the night before the match played some role in the match.

[Auntie.Gerald]

So we have played 4 of the top8 teams now

Plus the Pies who should sneak into the top8

We have won 5 from 5 from the teams we have played in the top9 ie including Pies 9th

[Blood Fever]

Our pressure was fantastic. Heeney leading the way. Warner's explosiveness and kicking
extraordinary. Notice Serong had it 34 times but his kicking is pretty ordinary by today's standards.

[SwanSand]

Fremantle even though play a good brand they haven’t really beaten anyone of significance this year.
We really struggled to cover their handballs and kicks through the corridor in the first 2 quarters. But their lack of accuracy meant no scoreboard pressure on us. And then their level dropped.
But geez if we are going to give so much space in the corridor we would be burnt in the game. I thought we have a lot of improvements to be made to be the Strong September team.

[MattW]

Now that we're back, nice to get a win in Perth without being seriously challenged on the scoreboard. Can't really say too much about the game, since I only listened on the radio, but the ABC votes were: Heeney - 3, Warner - 2, Hayward - 1. So, yet another round were Isaac could be collecting Brownlow votes.

Yeah, I thought Isaac was the best on ground - clean, strong, ran hard. Rowbottom's tackling and pressure was important in getting the game on our terms early. Warner was good, but didn't use it that well.

The three tall forwards all had good games. Amartey clunked some big contested marks, Hayden was aggressive all game and Logan worked really hard up the wing and sometimes deep into defence.

Florent, Lloyd, McInerney and Jordon all worked hard.

Roberts is looking a bit tired.

[Nico]

I noticed Papley was frustrated a couple of times with the delivery to him. Roberts kicked to him one on one and kicked to his opponents side of the contest for a mark. Also I don't get why players kick to him on a one on one contest on the boundary line. Yes, he might run to that spot but it doesn't mean he is the best option. Still, I am not worried about Tom. Always takes the best opposition small back. It may be a bonus that he has hasn't hit the scoreboard a lot.

- - - Updated - - -

On Roberts, I thought he was soft at the contest a few times last night and got caught in no man's land a bit.

[liz]

Was it the same goal umpire that called touched/for a replay on the Lloyd goal that looked pretty obviously a goal who then called behinds on the 2 Freo shots later in the game? I have to admit I thought they were both goals.

It is hard to tell on TV, but to my eyes they both curled back towards the goal space after crossing the post - ie they looked like behinds.

In terms of the first half scoring differential, the main reason was the kind of shots that were being taken. We managed to create a lot of marks directly in front of goal and run in goals, while Freo were mostly snapping from scruffy entries or taking long range shots. There were a couple of theirs that you'd expect to be converted, like the Amiss shot, but not many.

And we couldn't keep it up. We went from 10.0 to 13.7, which reflects our second half shots coming from harder spots.

It was a very odd game to watch. It felt like Freo dominated. In the first quarter our pressure was supreme, which kept them at bay. But though it remained OK, it didn't stay at first quarter levels. I guess the defensive shape (which is impossible to see watching on TV) was the other main contributor to the win.

I imagine our inability to win a centre bounce clearance must be a concern for the coaches. It was dire.