I think the game has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for the swans. For example:
1. A hard running two way young midfield can burn off an older more fancied midfield
2. The old swans brand of tackle and turnover still has merit. Longmire commented that he felt they were starting to get a better balance.
3. Forward defensive pressure counts. For example, based on the swans own stats, wicks had the highest number of pressure acts and caused the most turnovers in the team. Yet he hardly touched the ball. Hayward did an amazing job on Haynes keeping him to 7 disposals. Having the genuine defensive forwards killed off GWS ability to rebound from the backline and nullified players like whitfield
4. The forwards don't need to score. The forwards had a low number of possessions and didn't score many goals. Rather they nullfied GWS defensive rebound, keeping the ball inside 50 and enabling the gut running mids; rowbottom, bell, stephens etc to blast through the corridor.
I don't know how this plan would hold up against teams that are not as lazy as GWS, but it is definitely a plan worth exploring!
Bookmarks