Yep. I gave up after numerous efforts & didn’t turn up. A bit like the way we played today?Originally Posted by Meg
Yep. I gave up after numerous efforts & didn’t turn up. A bit like the way we played today?
Just curious, who will be people be pulling for now? I have to go for Collingwood and Mason Cox (and his fake Aussie accent...really, dude? you are from Texas!)
Yeah well that WOULD be good. Why the hell do Swans players have such appalling kicking skills?? Isn’t kicking the ball THE most elementary skill to be an AFL player??? Bewilders me.
In order - Melbourne , GWS, Collingwood , west coast , Richmond , hawthorn .
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Several people at the ground were saying they would now support Melbourne... Looks like they're the official Swans second team this final's series...
Personally I'm a 'no Swans' ' no AFL' fan. I used to follow the rest of the competition,( I like Geelong and Freo) but I've given up this year after some appalling displays of umpiring and some appalling AFL house decisions regarding the Swans. I'm just sick of the Melbourne-centric AFL...
I think it’s more to do with decision making and execution. It’s like they’re not drilled enough to lower the eyes , kick to space for a moving target rather than sit it on the head of a stationery one. Hit up a medium target than bomb it long to nobody , an outnumbered player or to the direct disadvantage of our 1 on 1 . A good example is Jones . He actually looks like he has a terrific piercing boot on him but the way he uses it is horrendous. Lack of footy smarts ?
The easiest improvements we could make in the summer would be to learn to handball lower and faster and kick to a player on the lead, not dump it on his head.... all season we have sold players into trouble with dumb loopy handballs and kicks with way too much air under them. We play so often in a way that leaves the reciever under huge amounts of pressure.
I just don't understand why our worst loss for the year has to be in a final - it is sickening when this happens (and it has happened a bit of late). To only score 30 points, when our next lowest was 59 (and only two goals down from the team who won) - it is so disheartening, and I really am left wondering what it means. It has to be mental, rather than physical (the score and margin, not the result).
Is this the performance that we would have offered up this week had we beaten Hawthorn (which we should have) two weeks ago? It beggar's belief.
We were so close to winning a flag two years ago and now I am not sure where we are. The youngsters will be better for the exposure, but will our senior players come back into form?
Incidentally, I had lunch with a group of people today and I got chatting with a Bulldogs supporter who works for an analytics company and he confessed that their analysis of AFL grand finals revealed that the Swans v Bulldogs match was the worst on record. He said that he did not notice it at the time, but has trouble watching the game now and feels that they were gifted the premiership. That is not my reading of the game (in terms of it being 'gifted'), and it doesn't make me feel any better, but it was interesting to hear.
Similar Daisi. I couldnt care less who wins but fully expect richmond will win it comfortably. The vfl mentality wont die anytime soon.
I agree Meg I can’t understand how players get drafted and get paid 200 k plus pa without being able to hit a team mate 20- 30 metres away with a kick. Obviously no realistic comparison in regard to pressure but I have seen plenty of country footy players who can put it on the chest off one step. Do we coach that instinctive skill set out of players when they get to the top level by focusing on “thinking” decision making.
Seriously, I think people forget the sequence of events - or simply have no idea
1) we recruited the only power forward available (we hadn’t had a genuine power forward for 3 years)
2) the best forward in modern times wants to join us. We can make it happen. Seriously, in what alternate universe would we not do it?!
On paper Tippett at full forward (and at the time he was reasonably agile for a 200cm player, who made a contest), Buddy roaming around CHF & bombing them from 60m. Looked good. Opposition clubs couldn’t double team either player. And that doesn’t even take into consideration Pyke becoming a genuine number 1 ruckman who in 2013 was a genuine forward option - second in the league for contested marks and 4th in our goal kicking.
So Buddy’s arrival in 2014 looked very promising indeed. Didn’t hear a lot of complaining up until 27 Sept 2014. On paper a forwardline boasting Buddy, Tippett, Reid. And Pyke in the ruck. Which supporter from any club would turn that down at the start of the year?
The AFL onbviously thought it looked ok and rewarded us with a trade ban for a couple of years.
Now on to your Mitchell tirade.
If we hadn’t signed JPK, Parker and Hanners when we did (prior to Mitchell’s departure) RWO would have gone into meltdown. They were all in their prime and we were all relieved when they put pen to paper. We then drafted a couple of promising kids (Heeney & Mills - and Mills cost us when the AFL introduced a points system to punish us for spending $1M/yr developing kids in our academy). Now we have the somewhat unfortunate situation of securing JPK, Parker and Hanners long-term when they are at their best and having to keep enough coin to secure 2 very promising youngsters (Heeney & Mills) right when Mitchell is coming out of contract when he finally is finding good form (& was essentially over paid for the entire start of his career).
Your 20:20 hindsight is superbly retrospectively prophetic. But realistically, the club made the best decisions about the present and the future that it could at the time.
Sure a Premiership is the ultimate goal, but each year almost 95% of teams fail, if your only measure of success is a Premiership. Since Tippett’s arrival (and everything that has subsequently teanspired with list management) we have played in 2 Grand Finals (almost 90% of clubs fail to do that every year) and we’ve played Finals every year (if you make the 8, you’re a chance, just ask the Dogs).
Time for you to get over it. You’ll probably eventually feel better for it.
An inability to kick or handball to a teammate's advantage has been a consistent trait for the majority of the playing group for most of the year. We are frequently half a metre behind when handballing or three to five metres the wrong side when kicking. Our ball movement sucks.
We overused the ball today in terms of handballs and dinky kicks. Wet weather adjustments just didn't seem to enter the consciousness of our players.
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