The problem with goodes is more his defence I think. He appears unable to be able to tackle and unable to be able to prevent the opposition from stepping around him. That's hard to remedy if you ask me. I hope I'm wrong
The problem with goodes is more his defence I think. He appears unable to be able to tackle and unable to be able to prevent the opposition from stepping around him. That's hard to remedy if you ask me. I hope I'm wrong
Yes, Matt, I'm with you on this one. I definitely am a little bit surprised and disturbed, that on the strength of a mediocre, wet weather game in round one, some people are writing Goodes off for the rest of the season. I mean, over the years, I've seen plenty of evidence that Goodes is one of the greats, and very little evidence that he is no longer worthy of his place in the side; despite the fact that he will probably never be as dominant as he once was.
And as far as pace goes, I'm pretty sure that in 2013, the story from the coaching staff was that Goodes was actually the fastest person in the club over 20 metres and it was only when the distance went up to 50 metres, that the more obvious speedsters had the better of him. So I doubt very much, that his pace would have dropped so markedly over the ensuing 18 months, that he is now only capable of running around (slowly) in the NEAFL.
Just don't see Towers having the strength or level of skills to help us have a good year ... Laidler surprised but don't rate him over the journey either. Heeney looks good ... Reid and Jetta a worry ... but like Goodes too early to call. Don't know how I would have felt if the bombers hadn't blown up ... I still don't feel great about our prospects, but clearly we do not know how to play in the wet!
Don't expect miracles from Laidler. Hes handy. In our best 22. And will play the role of matner as someone said earlier.
He can get exposed for pace, but thats a matchup issue.
I wonder if shaw is in best 22 by the end of the season.
i wished we kept everitt
I think Macca will come in. He had a full preseason before the injury and he's an exceptionally fit player. We need his skill and decision making.
I agree with most of Melbournehammer's comments, but it's obviously going to be hard to drop Goodes. I think Laidler played more than well enough to keep his spot. It's only a question of matchups. I do worry that we will get caught out for pace against as side like PA. I'm also not so sure about his fitness level, as he often comes off the ground and looks spent. The conditions and the opponent suited him on Saturday.
Starting with our GF side, we probably have 5 players that look to have legitimate chances of coming into the side and nailing down a spot: Towers, Heeney, Mitchell, Laidler and Jones. And so far we have one out, Malceski. Cunningham seems the one under pressure now. There will be questions on whether Goodes and Shaw have played one season too many.
I've had some further thoughts after watching all the games this weekend. I know it's only round 1, but I have to agree with the consensus that the Hawks will be near impossible to beat this year. They have improved with the addition of Frawley and Jed Anderson, and we have probably gone a bit backwards with the loss of Malceski.
I am not so quick to write off Goodes and Shaw, but we simply have to try something different just to give ourselves a chance. Heeney is a bright spot where we may be able to get some improvement, even though he's such a young player. I think we need to bring in our 2 young contested ball winners in Mitchell and Jones and hope that our quicker outside players in Jetta, Rohan and Towers can improve their game as the season progresses. We cannot match Hawthorn for skill, but we can match them in competitiveness, hardness and commitment and I believe we have enough of those players in the team below that bring that sort of game to the park. I doubt if it's good enough to beat the Hawks, but I am nearly certain it's not good enough with the a basically unchanged side from last year minus Malceski.
FB Grundy Reid Richards
HB McVeigh Rampe Smith
CTR Jetta Bird Hannebery
Rk Pyke Kennedy Parker
HF McGlynn Franklin Jack
FF Towers Tippett Rohan
INT Heeney Mitchell Lloyd Jones
EMG Cunningham Robinson Laidler
I think the most concerning aspect for the Swans is the lack of the quality at the lower end of the Swans depth chart.
A Swans reserves side that contained 14 listed players was beaten by Sydney Uni.
Sydney Uni have some highly rated players, but they don't train for 7 hours a day like those 14 professionals. They don't have the access to the medical, physiotherapy or analytic resources that the Swans players have. They probably train three nights a week, do a couple of weights sessions in their own time and primarily focus on their studies or work commitments.
That Sydney Uni team showed up the Swans reserves team of 14 full time professionals. It's frankly alarming that this occurred.
The Swans reserves have some players that are severely overrated. This is the overrated list:
Aliir Aliir
George Hewitt
Toby N
Zac Jones
Brandon Jack
I'm not sure these guys are up to success in senior football. They could not engineer a win against a suburban side.
Those five guys should be smashing the door down, but they are not at the moment. Unless these guys and others start putting pressure on then the senior players we have will be the ones going forward.
The point overall is valid about potential weakness in our depth, although some of those players are still very much in the development phase (Jones/Hewitt/Allir/Nankervis) and need to be given more time.
The reserves side were playing a warm up game - look at how many games the senior team has lost over the years in pre-season to get some sort of indication of the importance of results in pre-season.
Also, any chance you can stop using ridiculous gridiron terms like 'depth chart' - it is really, really annoying. This is an AFL forum, not a gridiron forum.
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
That would be the GWS uni side wouldn't it?
We have them where we want them, everything is going according to plan!
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