NEAFL Round 15
Sydney Swans Reserves v Brisbane Lions Reserves
Saturday 7th July 2012 1.00pm
Sydney Cricket Ground

If my memory serves correctly, this will be the first Swans home reserves match that serves as the curtain raiser for their corresponding senior teams since the old AFL Reserves competition was shut down. It shapes as a competitive match with both side sitting on top of their conference ladders, and having relative healthy lists at their disposal. The Swans have had the wood on the Lions since the NEAFL came into being last year, winning all 3 of the much valued cross-conference clashes, including 2 victories up in Brisbane. The Lions have bounced back in fantastic shape after a very disappointing 2011 season where injuries were a major hindrance as they scraped together just 4 wins for the season.

Eastern Conference Ladder
TeamPlayedWinsLossesDrawsForAgainstPercentagePoints
Reserves129301666788211.423%36
Queanbeyan129301411988142.81%36
Eastlake129301246943132.13%36
Ainslie1275013191165113.22%28
Hills Eagles1275012951176110.12%28
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UWS Giants11380802142256.40%12
Belconnen122911056122186.49%10
Sydney Uni122100883164553.68%8
Tuggeranong1311111003179355.94%6

Northern Conference Ladder
TeamPlayedWinsLossesDrawsForAgainstPercentagePoints
Lions Reserves12102016214827196.01%40
NT Thunder129301351997135.51%36
Southport129301254939133.55%36
Labrador1284012521086115.29%32
Redland1274113261271104.33%30
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Broadbeach126511174125593.55%26
Suns Reserves126601088952114.29%24
Aspley123901092138881.61%12
Mt Gravatt12390943150762.57%12
Morningside1221001048151769.08%8

Past Meetings
2012
R8 Brisbane Reserves 11.20 (86) defeated by Reserves 18.12 (120)
The Reserves travelled to Brisbane to upset the Lions who aided the Swans by being incredibly wasteful in front of goal. The Swans stormed to a 6 goal lead at quarter time and maintained a 4 goal lead at the main break and despite a couple of Lions surges in the 2nd half, confidently withstood the fusillade of shots from Brisbane to win quite comfortably. Mitch Morton continued his goal glut by bagging 8 to complement his 10 the previous week. Captain Jarred Moore dominated the stoppages yet again aided by the taps of big Canuck Mike Pyke

Goals:
Morton 8 Walsh 2, Davis, Thurgarland, Spangher, Cunningham, Moody, Bosschieter, Moore, Meredith
Best:
Moore, Pyke, Walsh, Cunningham, Biggs, Heath

2011
R10 Brisbane Reserves 14.13 (97) defeated by Reserves 16.8 (104) @ Yeronga
The Reserves were equally impressive and disappointing in this game. They shot to big leads in the 1st and the 3rd quarters, only to be reeled in by the Lions in the 2nd and 4th quarters. They just managed to hang on when Kane Murphy snapped the winning goal against the run of play. Byron Sumner did a great run-with job on ex-Swan Amon Buchanan while Daniel Currie was superb in a almost-lone hand in the ruck.

Goal Kickers: White 4, Murphy 2, Currie 2, Bevan 2, Moore, Johnston, Heath, Gordon, Sumner, Kruger
Best Players: Sumner, Currie, Bevan, McNeil, Parker, Brain

R21 Reserves 26.23 (179) defeated Brisbane Reserves 4.5 (29) @ Blacktown Olympic Park
A four quarter performance resulted in a demolishing of the depleted Lions Reserves. The Swans kicked the first 11 goals of the game before registered their first major and were never troubled. Trent Dennis-Lane continued his impressive form with another 6 goals while midfielders Brett Meredith (5) and Nathan Gordon & Kane Murphy (4) also notched multiple goals

Goal Kickers: Dennis-Lane 6, Meredith 5, Gordon 4, Murphy 4, Seaby 2, Bevan, Moore, Heath, Pyke
Best Players: Moore, Kruger, Meredith, McNeil, Gordon, Murphy

Recent Form
Reserves
R1 UWS Away WIN 151-34
R2 BYE
R3 Gold Coast Home LOSS 55-91
R4 Ainslie Away LOSS 85-111
R5 Tuggeranong Home WIN 213-41
R6 NT Thunder Away LOSS 90-112
R7 Sydney Uni Away WIN 239-36
R8 Brisbane Away WIN 120-86
R9 Eastlake Home WIN 144-43
R10 Gold Coast Home WIN 109-56
R11 Queanbeyan Away WIN 137-96
R12 BYE
R13 Sydney Uni Home WIN 188-40
R14 UWS Home WIN 129-42

Brisbane Reserves
R1 BYE
R2 Broadbeach Away WIN 124-61
R3 UWS Away WIN 109-81
R4 NT Thunder Away WIN 84-76
R5 Gold Coast Reserves Home LOSS 77-93
R6 Morningside Away WIN 118-37
R7 Aspley Home WIN 138-106
R8 Swans Reserves Home LOSS 86-120
R9 UWS Home WIN 274-33
R10 Broadbeach Away WIN 159-42
R11 BYE
R12 Gold Coast Reserves Away WIN 72-50
R13 Southport Away WIN 162-83
R14 Mt Gravatt Home WIN 218-45

Last Round
Reserves 18.21 (129) defeated UWS 6.6 (42) @ ANZ Stadium
Poor conversion in front of goal didn't cost the Reserves anything but a bigger victory as they were too strong for the youngsters from UWS. Nick Malceski was in fine form, rebounding from half back in a dynamic display with ex-West Coast rookie Lewis Broome setting the stadium alight with 5 well taken goals.

Goals: Broome 5, Dennis-Lane 4, Gordon 2, Biggs, Mitchell, Spangher, McNeil, Moody, Potter, Moore
Best: Malceski, McNeil, Meredith, Broome, Dennis-Lane, Potter

Brisbane Reserves 34.14 (218) defeated Mt Gravatt 7.3 (45) @ Sherwood
The Lions Reserves showed no mercy to bottom team Mt Gravatt kicking 20 goals to half time to open up a 105 point lead before cruising home to win by 173 points. Tall forward Aaron Cornelius kicked 7 while Claye Beams shone in two differing roles and finished with 5 goals.

Goals: Cornelius 7, Beams 5, Lisle 4, Buchanan 3, O'Brien 3, Hawksley 2, Karnezis 2, Docherty 2, Sheldon 2, Newell, Longer, Yeo, Dyson
Best: Newell, Beams, Karnezis, Buchanan, Docherty, Sheldon

Team List
Listed players
#NameGamesGoalsVotesNotes
1Mark SEABY6924Missed one game with a calf strain and set to take on #8 draft pick Billy Longer this week
6Tom MITCHELL650For the 2nd game in a row, played the 2nd half only last week as the Swans are taking the cautious approach on his comeback.
7Brett MEREDITH959Played as a running defender last week with some success but might be required in the midfield to combat the Lions' impressive on-ball brigade
8Trent DENNIS-LANE72018(Senior emergency) The perfect game to show off his newly discovered defensive pressure skills.
9Nick MALCESKI306(Senior emergency) Had lots of freedom last week to run off the half back line but will have more defensive duties this week.
11Jed LAMB880Hopefully the second stint will be more productive than the first.
17Tommy WALSH111716Goalless last week and is firmly behind White as the reserve tall forward option.
18Jesse WHITE7173(Senior emergency) Onball or forward? Regardless, Jesse should still see minutes in the ruck as the relief option for Seaby
26Luke PARKER000Might attract the attentions of a tagger, Callum Bartlett or Claye Beams.
27Matthew SPANGHER61410Has dropped off the pace a little after a hot first couple of games since his return from his hamstring injury.
28Dylan McNEIL1258Hit some form with his running game last week.
33Jarred MOORE121035 
35Campbell HEATH12013Earmarked for a job on the Lions' No 1 goalkicker Aaron Cornelius
36Alex BROWN400Had a stint up forward last week
42Jack LYNCH1268Should man up ex-Hawk Jordan Lisle even though he gives away significant height and weight.
44Harry CUNNINGHAM9611Has been doing run-with jobs, and might end up on ex-Swan favourite Amon Buchanan.
Changes
In: Seaby (calf), Lamb (shin), Parker (collarbone),
Out: Eugene Kruger (???), Nathan Gordon (suspended?), Shane Biggs (lower leg)

3 big ins for the Swans. The return of Seaby will free White up to either return to the forward line or resume the on-ball role he undertook with enthusiasm 2 weeks ago. Parker should see significant minutes in the midfield with an eye to a return to the seniors next week as the reserves have the bye. Lamb has missed the last 4 games and might be on a restricted time regime now common with players returning from injury.

The ins have been tempered with the loss of running players Kruger, Gordon and Biggs. The latter 2 are big blows as they have been important players to the Swans' structure. Nippa's ability to play both in the midfield and provide a viable marking target forward will be missed, and my guess is that he was suspended for his reported hit on a UWS player last week. Biggs has been listed as 1-2 weeks on the Swans injury list with a lower leg injury but with no further explanation provided. Mitch Morton misses another week with quad issues and the Lions will be glad to see his name not on the team sheet as he booted 8 very valuable goals in the Round 8 clash up in Queensland.

The Swans have enough depth to cover these losses though with Spangher, Walsh, Dennis-Lane, White and possibly Lamb to play forward and Moore, Cunningham, McNeil, Parker, Mitchell and Meredith as midfield options. The defensive set up will be less obvious though. The Swans have mainly used Heath and Lynch as the key defenders who have been ably assisted at times by Armstrong, Malceski, Kruger, Biggs and Meredith depending on team selection but the Lions have a potent forward setup which has the proven ability to kick big scores over the course of their season. Crouch will have the option of switching a Tommy Walsh (as he did against Ainslie earlier in the year) or a Matt Spangher (played back in his West Coast days) if Plan A starts to go awry.

Academy Players/Topups
#NameGame-sGoalsVotesNotes
47Jackson POTTER1241Important tagging job in the 2nd half last week
?Lewis BROOME1535 goals last week including a few goalsneak type ones.
?Mitch CRAWFORD400 
?Beau HEENEY100 
?Lachlan KILPATRICK310 
?Monty KROCHMAL200 
?Bradley PLUG100 
Changes
In: Davis, Heeney, Krochmal
Out: Andrew Moody

The RAMS just completed their U18 schedule a few days ago and so Swans players involved with them are naturally unavailable for this game. However you would expect some of them to return for the remainder of the season. The Swans will get another look at Broome who was impressive in a small forward role last week.

Reserves leading goalkickers

  • Mitch Morton 53
  • Nathan Gordon 22
  • Trent Dennis-Lane 20

For full list: 2012 Goalkickers - RWOwiki

Reserves leading votegetters

  • Jarred Moore 35
  • Mark Seaby 24
  • Trent Dennis-Lane 18

For full list: 2012 Best Votes - RWOwiki

Brisbane
    
B:54. Jack FOX12. James HAWKSLEY1. Sam DOCHERTY
HB:58. Dave CUMMINS42. Justin CLARKE48. Steve WRIGLEY
C:33. Amon BUCHANAN34. Jesse O'BRIEN26. Elliot YEO
HF:37. Patrick WEARDEN52. Scott CLARKE62. Bill PENDLEBURY
F:44. Aaron CORNELIUS18. Todd BANFIELD17. Claye BEAMS
Foll:19. Jordan LISLE3. Sam SHELDON13. Callum BARTLETT
Int:25. Richard NEWELL27. Josh DYSON5. Billy LONGER
 60. Matt DILLON46. Sam MICHAEL 
Emg:65. Daniel FRAME  
The Lions have benefitted from a short injury list for much of the year but the withdrawals of McGrath, Polec and Golby in the past week has had a cascading effect with the 3 promotions in Karnezis, Stiller and Crisp weakening their side a little.

Beams has been the standout for the Brisbane side; in the past 3 weeks he has earnt 2 BOG and 1 2nd best nomination and kicked 7 goals in the process. He can be used either offensively to win clearances or have a run-with job on an opposition player - his flexibility a real boon for Lions coach Nathan Clarke. Amon Buchanan has been doing the equivalent of the Jarred Moore role for their reserves side, unable to crack the seniors but able to provide real leadership and experience for his younger teammates running through the midfield. He racked up 39 touches last week and he will need to be closely checked.

202cm ruckman Billy Longer has been impressive in his 5 senior games as the Lions serve to find the right balance in his development. Callum Bartlett is the side's main tagger and will be assigned to Moore, Parker or even Mitchell if he plays from the start.

Up forward, Aaron Cornelius and Jordan Lisle have stepped up since the season ending injury to fellow big man Bryce Retzlaff. They have terrorised the defenders of the Northern Conference with Cornelius kicking 12 in the 2 games since his dropping from the senior team and Lisle on a hot streak with 22 in 5 games playing as a forward/ruck. Todd Banfield has recently returned from injury and will be pushing hard to regain his senior spot. There is no noted small defender on the Swans' list for this game so his pace might prove a problem.

The defence is also looking in great shape with young emerging tall Justin Clarke managing to hold down a key defensive post. Smaller defenders in Steve Wrigley and Sam Docherty have been providing plenty of rebound from defence and their great form has seen them edge closer to a senior promotion.



Summary
For those coming to the senior game, consider coming a bit earlier and taking in this blockbuster which should prove to be one of the most toughest challenges the Ressies have had to face in the past 10 years. The Swans will have the home ground advantage but the Lions have 2 more listed players which may be telling in the second half as fatigue sets in.