Need to find a way to become more potent. Most teams have dedicated forwards. We've got one at the moment. The rest are midfielders who spend time forward. Rohan, McGlynn and Heeney will help but it seems to be more than just personnel.
Bloods
"Lockett is the best of all time" - Robert Harvey, Darrel Baldock, Nathan Burke, Kevin Bartlett, Bob Skilton
We seem to have too many players of some talent but who lack some or all of the size, body strength, skill and pace required to make a team like Hawthorn ... I don't think you can have more than say two of Mitchell, Lloyd, Shaw, Brandon Jack, Cunningham, Robinson, Towers in a team at the same time, as I am sure we have had up to 6 of them ... even our stars like Kennedy, Parker, Jack, Hanneberry, are lacking in at least 2 of these departments ... I just think that we are several players short of top 4 in the real department, and severely deficient in the right body type, pace & ball handling & disposal skills overall that are required today. Haven't even mentioned the declining Ted, the accident prone Grundy (though loving his endeavour at the moment), the now patchy skills of Smith, and the Tippett "nice guy" who never quite produces more than occasionally (just like at Adelaide) ... not his fault we are paying ridiculous money for him.
I really think it is time the much vaunted Sydney ability to recruit well be reconsidered ... as well as a coach who seems unable to understand what is obvious to most.
Now that's a rant ... but that is how I feel.
In; Heeney, Newman (upgraded), Abe Davis or Sean McLaren (If Pyke is still injured), Robbo, Laids.
Out; Shaw, Richards, Tippett, BJ, Bird.
Reid to replace Richards. Robbo to sub.
Team
Parker Davis Goodes
Heeney Buddy Kizza
Harry Joey Jetts
Rampe Reg Macca
Smithy Sammy Laids
Followers; Nanka, Hannas, Mitchell
Bench; Newman, Jones, Robbo & Lloyd. Newman or Robbo to sub. Newman can play either back or mid.
Gary we only lack one thing. Players who are footballers and have the skill to deliver the ball with precision under pressure. That's what we lack. Our players waste far too much ball. Other than that it isn't a player problem it is a coaching problem. The coaches are too one dimensional. They can't seem to adjust to Clarkson's strategies (now used by half the coaches in the AFL) and the players haven't got the ball skills to take Hawks on.
In reality it is a drafting problem. We draft too many players who have @@@@ ball handling skills. We do have a few in the twos who are pretty good but they are also young yet. Hewett (kicks both feet & HB both hands), Newman ( not young but great skills, about time to upgrade and give a game), Melican (when not injured), Perris (on the way back from an injury), Heeney (great at delivery), Robbo ( very good kick), Davis (good skills) & Rose is improving and is a wonderful mark. They all have one thing in common, they are footballers. Natural footballers with natural skills. We have too many players who fit the Paul Roos category of athlete first and footballer later. They play the defensive run, run, run game that is so exhausting that sides like Hawks laugh at. They just hit targets all the time because they are highly skilled. They drafted highly skilled players, we didn't. We drafted in and under runners who had endurance to play our hard running game. We need to do the other & keep drafting highly skilled footballers not athletes and change our game plans.
Very hard to see how the team is gonna work now. Feeling some flashbacks to 2013
BJ I thought showed some hardness and intent that he hasn't before. He stays.
I think the changes are only gonna be the forced outs. We don't have enough depth to be making form based changes.
Out : Richards bird Tippett.
In : laidler heeney towers
Laidler if not still injured If he is unavailable then marsh to come in
Heeney is a no brainer.
Towers whilst I don't think he deserves a place long term will have to come in an pinch hit in the ruck around the ground to help out nankervis.
In all seriousness it's probably better to give Pyke another week off...against Natanui he's not going to make a difference...we will get slaughtered either way. Better off bringing in Towers to play ruck with Nank and try and hurt the eagles around the ground. Our mids will have to go man on man all match to try and stop them from winning too many effective clearances and Reid is going to have float through the midfield to be the third man up as often as possible.
If Laidler still isn't right well then it's going to have to be Marsh...his form has seemingly been consistent enough at reserves level so why not give him a game, nice touch to debut in his home state as well.
Twitter @cmdil
Instagram @conordillon
So it looks like we'll finish top 4 for the fourth consecutive season with a bunch of athletes who aren't footballers.
Comical.
Bloods
"Lockett is the best of all time" - Robert Harvey, Darrel Baldock, Nathan Burke, Kevin Bartlett, Bob Skilton
And if we'd only had better coaches over the past ten years, we'd have a fast, skilful team like Richmond, or a squad full of quality draft picks like Melbourne.
But everyone knows it's all just part of the McGuire/AFL illuminati conspiracy to keep the Swans under the Victorian hegemony.
This is only the thin end of the wedge . . . let's see what happens to Fast Eddie when Collingwood miss out on the finals again this year!
Interesting time to be a Swans fan. That was the worst result I've witnessed since becoming a member in 1999, and I was almost inconsolable on the way home. However . . . this could be a watershed moment. I like the selection challenge of no Ted, no Kurt. Feels like the opportunity to roll the dice. And I reckon they'll come out pretty hot on Sunday, whoever's in the team, and whoever is coaching it. From where I was sitting (directly behind the Hawk's bench) two things stood out: we kept handballing to blokes under pressure, and we had no plan for coming out of the back half. I miss Malceski setting up at CHB to distribute to a runner going through the corridor, a free man on the boundary, or a one-on-one on the wing. We had nothing going, and I don't think it was just because the Hawks manned up well. The switches across the back line were so slow and predictable. Strangely, a few days on, I don't feel as gloomy as I did on Saturday night.
Bookmarks