Interesting and accurate assessment of Luke Parker in the 'Sliding Doors' article on afl.com.au by Damien Barrett( of all people, he's usually a bit of a Vic-knob), "If........Parker played for, say, Collingwood ............. he'd be lauded as a Selwood rolled into a Mitchell rolled into a Dangerfield rolled into a Swan-type of player. Pound for pound, could make a case that he is the most complete midfielder in the comp." Nice......and true.
I've only just had a chance to read this thread, and I must admit to being a bit surprised. At the SCG on Saturday night our sense was that the Swans were well on top all evening, and that GWS only really kept in touch with a couple of what to us, even with the benefit of big screen replays, looked like inexplicable 50 metre frees for free shots inside the goal square. The clearance stat surprised me, as it felt that Tippett (and Sinclair) was more than matching Mumford in the hit outs, and that the GWS clearances were scrappy. The first quarter was tight, but we seemed to be moving it out of defensive 50 much better than they were, but the GWS defence was great. They hit us on rebound a couple of times, and were trying to set up fat side run (they played a wider game than I've seen for a while, often with three runners on the wing), but our youth brigade chased and filled space very well.Our back 6 looked as well organised as they are at their best, with Ted choosing his moments to mark and impose himself superbly. We were also struck by the handballing.
It certainly put the Drummoyne Oval opposed training run a few weeks ago into perspective
and PS, Parker and Hannebery are getting all the plaudits, but Kieran Jack has been outstanding so far this season, back to his 2013 dominance.
100% correct. It was the ground announcer, I think when revving the crowd up at 3/4 time. Given the Swans were very vocal against the name a few years back, I thought it very strange he used it.Originally Posted by poundpuppy
Still reckon they should have gone with 'Sydney Smackdown IX'.....
Driver of the Dan Hannebery bandwagon....all aboard. 4th April 09
I agree, I thought maybe his best days were behind him but he's is tearing it up
agree 100% - Kizza making a very big difference
I think that, at the moment, he's benefitting from less opposition attention than he copped two or three years ago. I think many coaches identified him as being a key to the Swans midfield clicking, and he found himself heavily attended to. A general demise in tagging, the fact he's been a little under the radar for the last couple of seasons, and the ongoing improvement of Hanners, Parker and now Mitchell, means he's being allowed to do his thing far more. And his thing is very important because it complements what our other mids do. I think he'll start getting more closely checked as the season progresses. It won't be lost on the opposition the way he can weave and duck his way through traffic, nor the fact that although he's as prone to the fast aimless kicks forward as the rest of our midfielders (largely due to game plan), his kicks tend to be a little more penetrating than most of the rest of our midfield. That means that if a forward is able to find some space, they are a little easier to lead to than the high, loopy kicks of Mitchell and Hanners.
You would think so, but the worrying thing is that improvement seems to be coming very, very slowly.
Last year was the year they were tipped to make finals. It didn't happen and I can't really see it happening this year. Sure they've had some key injuries and suspensions (Mummy, Cameron) but there has also been some mismanagement (McCarthy).
I'm not sure if it's a coaching problem or what, or if these things just take longer than people think.
Nearly true. None of those players can take a mark like Parker.Interesting and accurate assessment of Luke Parker in the 'Sliding Doors' article on afl.com.au by Damien Barrett( of all people, he's usually a bit of a Vic-knob), "If........Parker played for, say, Collingwood ............. he'd be lauded as a Selwood rolled into a Mitchell rolled into a Dangerfield rolled into a Swan-type of player. Pound for pound, could make a case that he is the most complete midfielder in the comp." Nice......and true.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Last weekend had:Missed 7's Game Day wrap of our game, I'm sure it was brief, but did catch Nine's Footy Show, which summed up the game in about two minutes. It was pathetic! They did have a shortish interview with Hanners a bit later though, but overall, the Vic channels just don't care too much about anything north of the Vic border (or are too embarrassed to admit they're yet again wrong about us!).
- a routine win by the favourite (Sydney) over a mid-table team (GWS)
- a six-goal comeback that turned into a 40 goal shootout decided in the last five seconds and featured a career-best performance by a 412-gamer and one of the best ruck battles in recent years.
- an enthralling contest between the most exciting team in the comp and the established great - a likely grand final preview - that was decided in in the last minute when one of the competitions most loved players went down with a career-ending knee injury.
- the continued implosion of three of the biggest clubs in the land, two of whom were tipped to be strong finalists contention, and one is under huge pressure to be.
It was a great weekend for football, but if I were a journalist, I know which game I wouldn't be writing about.
As for being wrong about us? We're playing well but we were widely tipped to be 5-8 and I don't see much to challenge that yet. Beating weak teams doesn't make us top 4 material. The next two weeks will tell us much more.
You need to watch more of Dangerfield if you think he's not capable of taking a mark like Parker...Nearly true. None of those players can take a mark like Parker.
Driver of the Dan Hannebery bandwagon....all aboard. 4th April 09
If you worked through the draw before the start of the season, even if you had us finishing 7th or 8th, you would have pencilled the first three games in as wins.
Adelaide were expected to be 9th to 10th, but probably judged as a 50/50 game due to travel. A loss would see us "being on track" for that 8th spot. A win means we are drifting toward 6th.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks