Round 13: Dockers v Swans

[Mel_C]

* The crowd support was curiously and conspicuously much less than the week before, when it was so fantastic. It's understandable that the opposition had many more supporters there but why did we seem to have so many fewer?

It was Fremantle's home game so they would have been allocated a majority of the tickets. Unfortunately there wasn't much to cheer about for the swans supporters that did go ?.

[stevoswan]

A couple of comments from Horse about the game:

“We didn’t have the same run and energy as last week...our skills dropped off," Longmire said.“We couldn’t bring the ball to ground and missed targets going forward...some of the young fellas didn’t contribute as much tonight as they were able to last week”.

So we didn't play a Plan B after all.....we played last weeks Plan A and just didn't execute it properly against a team that was ready for it and executed their plan better. Happens with a young team. The howls of disappointment in the team and the derision of our coaches on here should go quiet now......in a perfect world anyway.

Alas, RWO.....not a perfect world.

[bloodspirit]

A couple of comments from Horse about the game:

“We didn’t have the same run and energy as last week...our skills dropped off," Longmire said.“We couldn’t bring the ball to ground and missed targets going forward...some of the young fellas didn’t contribute as much tonight as they were able to last week”.

[RogueSwan]

Not the first, and probably not the last, game where we (intentionally?) took a player from the forward line and added to the midfield congestion. This left us out numbered in the forward line once we actually won the ball.

There was a game earlier in the season where Horse mentioned that was not what he wanted but the inexperienced kids kept "getting sucked back into the contest".

[Aaron]

Do those player ratings have credibility? Who creates them? I see Wicks had a high rating, does that mean he did a lot of off the ball things, as he din't get lots of touches?

See Player ratings: frequently asked questions to understand the rating system. It is better than the Fantasy Point but still is not perfect. It only record a player actions in "passage of play" but not things like where they run , how fast they run, how long they run, how they inspire team-mates, organise the team etc...

[bloodspirit]

Assorted thoughts:

* I agree with lwjoyner - Cunningham had a great game. Really stepped up and took some responsibility as one of our most experienced players on the night.

* The crowd support was curiously and conspicuously much less than the week before, when it was so fantastic. It's understandable that the opposition had many more supporters there but why did we seem to have so many fewer?

* As to the critics of the game plan not being attacking enough: our Freo game plan was brought to you by the exact same people that have played direct, fast, corridor footy in other weeks recently that we all enjoyed so much. I don't think we just gave up on that plan after a great win last week. Rather, I think the opposition also has a say in the way we play. Maybe Freo saw what we had been doing and decided to shut it down and they executed well and we didn't respond well enough. Or possibly we made the erroneous choice that it was better to use a different game plan against Freo. I don't think that's so likely otherwise we would have reverted to our new Plan A when we could see Plan B clearly wasn't working.

* Melican has had a couple of good weeks. Glad we hadn't written him off or anything! Fingers crossed he can sustain it. He's still young and maturing, so I'm optimistic. (Or maybe I should say "and" I'm optimistic, rather than "so" - it seems these types of comments say much more about the poster than our team/player/coach.) It's good to know that Melican's best is good enough.

* Wicks was also good. He's in front of Foot at the moment.

Overall, I would repeat the footy truism that I trotted out last week too: it's never as good as it seems, it's never as bad as it seems.
(Nearly never anyway - and not this week.)

- - - Updated - - -

Do those player ratings have credibility? Who creates them? I see Wicks had a high rating, does that mean he did a lot of off the ball things, as he din't get lots of touches?

I think the AFL Player ratings are based on Champion Data and stats that have been identified by the coaches as being relevant. I seem them as having much more credibility than the Fantasy/Dreamteam/Supercoach type stats which are pretty fluffy.

[AnnieH]

Wow.
Crap, much?
Very disappointing.

[barracuda]

FWIW, JPK was the third highest ranked player for the Swans according to the AFL player ratings.

Do those player ratings have credibility? Who creates them? I see Wicks had a high rating, does that mean he did a lot of off the ball things, as he din't get lots of touches?

[neilfws]

Thought Mills stood up again. His spoil running backwards and then winning the ball off Fyfe was probably the one highlight of the game.

Yes, one of few highlights that I can recall from the night. I did find myself admiring the Freo defending at one point in the game too.

Disappointing evening and not one you'd want as someone's first introduction to the game. But the issue with young developing teams is inconsistency, so I think we have to expect highs followed next game by lows. Like the footy media we get ahead of ourselves on the basis of one good result!

Still, 2 goals for a game, not great in any circumstance.

[giant]

FWIW, JPK was the third highest ranked player for the Swans according to the AFL player ratings.

Thought JPK's second half was pretty good.

[barracuda]

Our young guys like Foot, Wicks and Bell were found out and didn't have the support of the more senior players. After a breakout game last week, Thurlow didn't show up. But I'm still stumped by why selectors are not playing McLean and Allir against sides like Freo who have size. Our forward line set up was crazy with Tommy McCartin and Reid playing more up the ground leaving Papley playing against 2-3 Freo players. I am amazed by our selections. Kennedy coming back and playing on a big ground like Optus was strange. he plays with heart but obviously not 100% fit. Why play him, what is gained? Play Gould, McInerney, McLean

To be fair to the small forwards the 50m entries were the worst I have seem. The forward talls then failed to get the ball to ground, and let freo outmark them. Wicks tried his guts out and finally had to take matters into his own hands to manufacture a goal.

- - - Updated - - -

Our young guys like Foot, Wicks and Bell were found out and didn't have the support of the more senior players. After a breakout game last week, Thurlow didn't show up. But I'm still stumped by why selectors are not playing McLean and Allir against sides like Freo who have size. Our forward line set up was crazy with Tommy McCartin and Reid playing more up the ground leaving Papley playing against 2-3 Freo players. I am amazed by our selections. Kennedy coming back and playing on a big ground like Optus was strange. he plays with heart but obviously not 100% fit. Why play him, what is gained? Play Gould, McInerney, McLean

Mcinerney would have got smashed by freo. Freo played a hard tackling pressure game which is exactly what mcinerney struggles with.

[TheBloods]

Possibly.... but it also means that if he didn’t play, we would’ve been even worse. His selection had very little to do with our loss.

Indeed. He and Rowbottom needed help and they didn't get it. Parker might of suffered not being the primary mid again.

[AB Swannie]

I would think that says more about the poor performance of the rest of our team, particularly the midfield.

Possibly.... but it also means that if he didn’t play, we would’ve been even worse. His selection had very little to do with our loss.

[TheBloods]

FWIW, JPK was the third highest ranked player for the Swans according to the AFL player ratings.

I would think that says more about the poor performance of the rest of our team, particularly the midfield.

[AB Swannie]

FWIW, JPK was the third highest ranked player for the Swans according to the AFL player ratings.