What round will we start to play footy?

[swan_song]

Well, just back from the match and I am still in shock. What I saw today was not a team trying to defend its premiership. What I saw today (and for the first quarter against the bumboys) was a team that had won the premiership last year and was content with that, content with making us wait another 72 years! I just wonder at what stage of the season the lads will realise they have to get back to the selfless, gritty, team-orientated football they played last year. Where are the Bloods?
Sure today there were some dubious umpiring decisions, a number of inconsistencies, but Port Adelaide looked like they had won the premiership last year. No external excuse can justify such a performance. It wasn't the umpires, it wasn't the weather, it wasn't that Leo wasn't wearing his lucky jocks. It was simply a dismally appalling team effort.
If anything, the disgraceful performances from the reigning premier so far this season has reinforced in my mind just what an absolutely incredible achievement it was for Brisbane to back up in 2002, and again in 2003 and even the GF loss in 2004, after winning it first in 2001.

[Jeffers1984]

The most concerning thing is that this is pretty much our full strength team we are playing with atm. It's no help that our 3 (well 2 of the 3) captains have had a shocking start to the season.

We just don't seem hungry at all and i agree with you that a few players seem to of been content with just winning the premiership and not carrying on.

For some reason I can see us struggling against Carlton this week who did an awesome job to peg back Freo out at SO.

[desredandwhite]

We're clearly down across the board:

- Trailing 5-10m behind their man
- Not attacking the ball hard enough
- Picking the wrong option (esp those handballs)
- Not applying enough pressure to keep the ball in the fwd line
- No talk, sheperding or backing up a teammate.

The teams we have played so far have outplayed us, and have far greater commitment and passion - the honeymoon is over, boys. I can excuse it if it just looks like lack of fitness, but IMO it goes deeper than that.

As for me, the anasthetic effect of the premiership will only last so long......

[Chubby Muffler]

Originally posted by desredandwhite
- Trailing 5-10m behind their man

What struck me today was how slow the team looked. Guys being outstripped, just looking a bit lethargic.

[Thunder Shaker]

The question is not when we will start to play footy, it's when we will play footy for four quarters. The second quarter against the Bummers and the last against Port were good quarters, but in both cases it was after we had conceded huge leads. I would rather see such dominating quarters when we're not so far behind.

What I want to see next week is a solid four-quarter performance where we smash the Boos handily. We need the percentage.

Heck, right now I'd be happy with a 1-point win against last year's spooners.

[swans_premiers]

We will knock off Geelong at Telstra Stadium.

[Bleed Red Blood]

We let them get the required ten goals ahead before we started our 'comeback from behind win'. What went wrong? :confused:

[ScottH]

The
Originally posted by Bleed Red Blood
'comeback from behind'. part

[originalswan]

Last week against Essendon it seemed that our midfield was down and a large contributory factor to our loss. This week against the Power it was really hard to find any position that we dominated in whether back, centres or forwards.

People are using the old "Premiership hangover" already. I say if we weren't premiers we'd look like a team that is heading for the bottom three spots on the ladder. Still we were 2-4 after 6 games last year. We are renowned slow starters - but we don't want to keep using that excuse for much longer.

Last year we found ways of winning games that we seemed to be out of - the question is do the current players still have the desire?

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by swans_premiers
We will knock off Geelong at Telstra Stadium. Why?

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Why?

We'll win it for Nick Davis. The rest of the 22's way of saying thanks for saving our skins in the semi-final.

[SMFC]

Noone wins a flag in April.

Besides, winning flags is hard work and some people are too far ahead of themselves for the Bloods this year.

Two games have been dropped. Not particularly tasty but come what may.

Losing to Carlton will be something to start getting worried about.

[Schneiderman]

I think Paul Roos summed it up best: we have become a team of champions.

And that sucks. Because we actually really aren't a team of 'champions' to begin with. At least St Kilda actually are, and it hasn't helped them yet either.

What has to happen to remind the team how to win again? Is it a certain number of losses? Some key players dropped? A really humiliating loss?

In some ways I think losing both of these past two games by just five goals actually does us more harm than if we had lost one or both by 100pts. Because at this rate our 'slow start' could leave us with no time and not enough hunger to make up the lost ground.

Here's hoping the coaching staff have the magic smelling salts.

[ScottH]

Precisely Sman.
"When you climb the mountain, you're not sure what the next stage of the journey is," Roos said. "The early stage of the journey for 2006 is, 'We'll go our own way and test how good as players we can become individually'.

"It's only early, it's only two rounds in, but certainly at this stage, you'd have to say the majority of the guys are just testing whether they can be better individual players than team players."

The biggest concern was that Port's win was largely built on the characteristics that were the Swans' hallmarks last season, a harder attack on the ball and opponents and an unwillingness to concede easy possessions.

"If you come to play and test yourselves individually against the opposition and not want to put your body on the line, I think the pattern (of how we need to play) is pretty clear and I think the group knows it," Roos said.

"It's just a matter of how long they want to test it. Signs in the pre-season were good; signs in the start of the season are not so good."
Swans' spirit flagging: Roos (http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/04/09/1144521209516.html)

Too many I's in Team ATM.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by ScottH
Too many I's in Team ATM.

Geeze Scott, can't you spell??? There's no 'I' in team!!! But, there is 'me'. ;)

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Mike_B
Geeze Scott, can't you spell??? There's no 'I' in team!!! But, there is 'me'. ;) Or Meat as in meathead.

[BarneyG]

Originally posted by Chubby Muffler
What struck me today was how slow the team looked. Guys being outstripped, just looking a bit lethargic.

When Brendan Lade out runs Crouch, then you know we are in trouble!:eek:

[swansrock4eva]

Part of the problem is that the final margins and a lot of the stats have flattered them a lot more than they should - against Essendon, they lost the first quarter, then virtually won the last three (or at least drew even), so the stats made it look as though it wasn't as bad as it should have been - the whole "statistically we weren't that bad" mentality. Simple gig - if you lost, you WERE that bad. I haven't seen the stats after yesterday but I hope they are less flattering than last week's could be construed as.

[wyatt]

Worst team member for mine yesterday - Paul Roos. I think Roosy has to have a good look at himself as well. Too slow to react to poor match-ups - particularly in our back line - and not game enough to put some offensive midfielders in the centre for the bounces (e.g. Williams, Goodes). Also, why was Barry Hall playing so deep in the forward line? He has made his mark over the last few years as a link man leading up the ground. When the ball is coming into the forward line under such pressure and not being delivered well, he is useless to us (as most forwards are under such circumstances). He should be up the ground, getting involved, and leading by example.

[ScottH]

Training Venue This Week. (http://tinyurl.com/jvaww)

[Mike_B]

If this keeps up, we could be the Sydney Skylabs - crashing back to earth.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
I think Paul Roos summed it up best: we have become a team of champions.

And that sucks. Because we actually really aren't a team of 'champions' to begin with. At least St Kilda actually are, and it hasn't helped them yet either.

What has to happen to remind the team how to win again? Is it a certain number of losses? Some key players dropped? A really humiliating loss?

In some ways I think losing both of these past two games by just five goals actually does us more harm than if we had lost one or both by 100pts. Because at this rate our 'slow start' could leave us with no time and not enough hunger to make up the lost ground. I agree with all of that. It would have been better for Port to have gone on with it and thumped us by 10+ goals (even considering the % impact).

In the late 1990s I always felt the Swans believed their press too quickly about being flag favourites. Not coming to play was something this group did occasionally but never really seemed to get above themselves. They seem to have now though.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Mike_B
If this keeps up, we could be the Sydney Skylabs - crashing back to earth. And people here were upset about all the negative pre-season reviews of the Swans...

[ScottH]

It's obvious the CS is suffereing post premiership hangover, once they lift their game the wins will start coming.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by desredandwhite
We're clearly down across the board:

As for me, the anasthetic effect of the premiership will only last so long......

Like many others I was brandishing my 2005 Premiership scarf & cap yesterday.

If we keep playing the way we did yesterday I will banish them to the cupboard, as great as they DO look.

We are living in 2006 now. The legacy of our Premiership of course lives on but means absolutely nothing any more, apart from giving our opponents a greater motivation in wanting to knock us off.

JF

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by wyatt
Worst team member for mine yesterday - Paul Roos. I think Roosy has to have a good look at himself as well. Too slow to react to poor match-ups - particularly in our back line - and not game enough to put some offensive midfielders in the centre for the bounces (e.g. Williams, Goodes). Also, why was Barry Hall playing so deep in the forward line? He has made his mark over the last few years as a link man leading up the ground. When the ball is coming into the forward line under such pressure and not being delivered well, he is useless to us (as most forwards are under such circumstances). He should be up the ground, getting involved, and leading by example.

I'll get accused again for being a Roos lovechild, but he deserves a defence nonetheless:

1. The players were uniformly crap. There was no change that would have made a single difference. You could have put any player annywhere and they would have been soundly beaten. Even the ever-reliable Craig Bolton probably only played the first half to his usually standards.
2. Williams and Goodes did go to the centre bounce at times. And got soundly beaten. Plus Williams got injured fairly early on.
3. Bazza did run around quite a bit. At the SCG there is no real CHF position, so he always has to play deep in the forward line. Thats where the first kick out of the centre will land. We just didn't kick that often from the centre.
4. When Bazza had a bit of a run on the wing, he was crap too. In one passage of play he kicked two passes and both missed. The other effort was a barnstorming run that gave them a free.

You can hardly blame Roos for the efforts yesterday. There is absolutely no way any coach could have gotten anything out of the team that turned up to play.

His true measure will come in how he turns them around from this pathetic effort, to the team they were last year. And if he does then he deserves a lot of credit. He did it in 2002 after Rocket left us in a shambles, so I still have faith.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
You can hardly blame Roos for the efforts yesterday. There is absolutely no way any coach could have gotten anything out of the team that turned up to play. Hey, I agree again. The players need to take responsibility for that woeful display.

[floppinab]

Originally posted by ScottH
It's obvious the CS is suffereing post premiership hangover, once they lift their game the wins will start coming.

Nup, can't even pin it on them, our banner stayed up while Ports was ripped to shreds (the fact they were lifting into the teeth of the southerly completely irrelevent of course)

[floppinab]

Originally posted by desredandwhite


As for me, the anasthetic effect of the premiership will only last so long......

Nope, if we get done every game at the SCG next year, all I'll have to do is cast my eyes atop the Member Stand and see "AFL Premiers 2005". That is one pretty sight. (I think a few missed that it went up there after the 1st q).

[floppinab]

Originally posted by swan_song
I just wonder at what stage of the season the lads will realise they have to get back to the selfless, gritty, team-orientated football they played last year.

Yep, as I said in another thread I reckon the club should offer a new class of membership the "Winning Football Round 8 to Round 22 only Membership"

[Go Swannies]

I'm hoping that yesterday was the 2006 equivalent of the St Kilda loss last year - equally pathetic lack of application and skills. But Port are regarded as crap and the Saints are gods so yesterday's may be lower. Or Port are going back to be a dominant team? Remember when we almost lost to the Cats (2004) and that was showing just how bad we are.

Losing isn't the issue but the manner of losing was - and the players seemed uninterested, except the lair goal from Goodes and Davis. If they don't change their attitude by next weekend then it really is a hangover. All the players seemed disappointed as they left the ground but afterwards Leo and Nog seemed content while Craig, Ben and Jude seemed very disappointed.

Maybe changing to a single captain would be a wake-up call?

[katie-scarlett]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
Maybe changing to a single captain would be a wake-up call?

How so, GS(2)?

[Lucky Knickers]

I thought Baz deep in the fwd line was to take the 3 defenders with him. Unfortunately our other fwds' leading was ordinary and delivery into the F50 was @@@@@e.

PA defence had a fantastic game - Mark Williams definitely got his matchups right and they had clearly done their homework on MOL and Baz. Constantly got the spare defenders back quickly to block up holes and leave little space to lead. Whereas our spare men (jolly/goodes) did a slowish job down to the goal line long after the mark in our D50 had been taken.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by katie-scarlett
How so, GS(2)?

There was no sign of leadership on the field yesterday so maybe the three captains is part of the problem.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
There was no sign of leadership on the field yesterday so maybe the three captains is part of the problem. Utter Rubbish!!!


PA were leading us everywhere.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by ScottH
Utter Rubbish!!!


PA were leading us everywhere.

Sorry, you're correct and I was thinking from a purely Swans pespective.

In fact, Tredrea is such a wonderful leader that, at any time last Sunday afternoon, there were 39 men on the field doing their best to ensure a Port victory. And that's without the illustrious leader even playing!

[Sanecow]

Maybe going from a successful rotating captaincy to picking three untouchables was a poke in the eye for some of the "leadership group" that indicated that 2006 is to be more about individual honours and less about the team. Duh, Roosy.

[dazza]

Let's just face the facts that the Swans played like utter crap on Sunday

I turned the tv off after 3 qtr time but then turned it back on to see the swans fighting back and thought where the hell was this during the first 3 qrtrs

There is good news for the Swans though.Kelly and Plugger are coming out of retirement to play for them as well as Ball

Maybe that will change their fortunes