Are we now a genuine Premiership threat?

[707]

Chad Warner brings something we don't have, tough burst from stoppages, charge through the lines, to me he seems like a young Dangerfield. As such, he's a different option for our mix in the middle.

Try doing a best 22 right now, it's very difficult. To me only Bell out of yesterdays side is an automatic replacement by a player like Warner. Amazingly, if he keeps up yesterday's form, Reid becomes a back up for Amartey, but don't under estimate the contribution Reid makes when fit.

Still worried about our lack of height down back on fine days against tall forward lines.

As for us being a genuine flag threat, I give you exhibits Freo, GC and Hawks games :-( Right now those losses are hurting us table wise, GWS loss as well given they are contenders for our place in the eight.

[TheBloods]

Agreed, but initially it started out with the view that Warner was ahead of RB, which as it stands today is a correct call. The comments were around RB needs to work harder and really want a game. It all went downhill from there with abuse from all sides.

I appreciate you sticking up for me mate but best not to bother . I never said anything about Rowbottom that the rest have not been saying for the last month, i just said it 6 months before anyone else did , at a time when he was a very highly rated and popular player

Maybe he still is , im not out to turn anyone against him I just gave my opinions on him as a player and i guess they turned out to be pretty spot on . I even said Bell would overtake him and here we are

The irony is if anyone bothered to read my comments they would've seen that i said OVER AND OVER that the only reason i was hard on Rowbottom is because i thought he needed to improve or he would lose his spot. I even said we should play him as a tagger or a defender to try and keep him in the team !

We used a pick 25 on him and he does seem like a great kid and people on here have backed that up supposedly , so i didn't want him to be in this position where he's outside of the 22 and maybe if his game was addressed earlier on when i was going on about it something might've been done . Anything i ever said about him was from the place of wanting him to succeed as every bloods fan should want ALL players to succeed ! He hasnt succeeded this year just as i knew he wouldnt and believe me i take no joy from it , i want every swans player to be at their very best . That happens , we win every time

[Hotpotato]

Nick Riewoldt has gone the early crow (OTC) re this question .

[mcs]

Always enjoyable to read the latest attempts at revisionist history....

Anyway, back on topic.

Really intrigued to see if we can match it with the fairychuckers this weekend. I suspect we might be a bit exposed down back against the dogs, and we will need to be very good in midfield to match them and their rugby league passing game. But its a good test to see where we are at. I think our best can beat almost anyone on its day, but I can't see us being able to do it for a month like one needs to get anywhere near winning a flag. Far too early unless we got a perfect run like the fairypuppies did in 2016. I'd take an umpire assisted premiership however, especially if it was against that mob

As 707 says, its those off days that we will probably rue when it comes to the end of the season. But even if we fell off the cliff from here, I think most will have taken a lot out of this season so far, and no doubt our trajectory is headed absolutely in the right direction.

[barry]

Nick Riewoldt has gone the early crow (OTC) re this question .

The new flag favourites!

But I don't think we can make top 4, so it's still a long shot.

[mcs]

The new flag favourites!

But I don't think we can make top 4, so it's still a long shot.

I'd give us a sneaky chance if somehow we got into the top 4, but it won't happen from here unless we go on a massive run. But a few more performances like yesterday and we'd certainly have a few teams wishing to avoid us come the finals (although we've shown at times our bad is still pretty rank too). But just to think we will more than likely play finals from here is a huge achievement in itself.

[Blood Fever]

Chad Warner brings something we don't have, tough burst from stoppages, charge through the lines, to me he seems like a young Dangerfield. As such, he's a different option for our mix in the middle.

Try doing a best 22 right now, it's very difficult. To me only Bell out of yesterdays side is an automatic replacement by a player like Warner. Amazingly, if he keeps up yesterday's form, Reid becomes a back up for Amartey, but don't under estimate the contribution Reid makes when fit.

Still worried about our lack of height down back on fine days against tall forward lines.

As for us being a genuine flag threat, I give you exhibits Freo, GC and Hawks games :-( Right now those losses are hurting us table wise, GWS loss as well given they are contenders for our place in the eight.

Reid's chronic fitness concerns now make him too big a risk. Amartey needs to stay because of his performances and also for development.

[Markwebbos]

Reid's chronic fitness concerns now make him too big a risk. Amartey needs to stay because of his performances and also for development.

+1 on Amartey. Play him foe the rest of the year. If Reid ever gets fit play him down back.

[crackedactor 01]

Nick Riewoldt has gone the early crow (OTC) re this question .

I also heard Riewoldt claiming the Swans are a premiership chance. I cringed once he said that. Now the AFL will not be happy and no doubt Ray Chamberlain will be given the umpiring job against the Western Bulldogs this weekend to do what he naturally does!

[Ludwig]

I'd take an umpire assisted premiership however, especially if it was against that mob

I'd rather sulk and whinge. It's a feeling you can rely on, and kike a diamond, it lasts forever.

[joeykanga]

Nick Riewoldt has gone the early crow (OTC) re this question .

David King and Nick Riedwolt are the king of football analysts that can’t really predict too far ahead ..they change their minds constantly almost Im the same breadth

I so prefer Joey Montagna , definitely Jonathan Brown and also Garry Lyon

Brownie was seeing chinks in Richmonds supposed DNA way before the rest and I remember one particular when I think Richmond was ahead at half time he was seeing the signs of doom for them and the rest were just waxing lyrically ..they could have had a voice recording with the same message week in and week out and they could have stayed at home ..it didn’t matter what they were seeing im the game in front of them…it’s their DNA was all that mattered whereas Brownie actually noticed what’s going on and analyses and is less Melbourne centric
He also gives lots of cudos for our style and I think Lyon and Montagna are pretty good at that also

[stevoswan]

I appreciate you sticking up for me mate but best not to bother . I never said anything about Rowbottom that the rest have not been saying for the last month, i just said it 6 months before anyone else did , at a time when he was a very highly rated and popular player

Maybe he still is , im not out to turn anyone against him I just gave my opinions on him as a player and i guess they turned out to be pretty spot on . I even said Bell would overtake him and here we are

The irony is if anyone bothered to read my comments they would've seen that i said OVER AND OVER that the only reason i was hard on Rowbottom is because i thought he needed to improve or he would lose his spot. I even said we should play him as a tagger or a defender to try and keep him in the team !

We used a pick 25 on him and he does seem like a great kid and people on here have backed that up supposedly , so i didn't want him to be in this position where he's outside of the 22 and maybe if his game was addressed earlier on when i was going on about it something might've been done . Anything i ever said about him was from the place of wanting him to succeed as every bloods fan should want ALL players to succeed ! He hasnt succeeded this year just as i knew he wouldnt and believe me i take no joy from it, i want every swans player to be at their very best . That happens , we win every time

Did you know he was going to injure his knee too? I think your skiting a bit there TB. That knee injury earlier this year has no doubt affected his output.....I don't think he's 100% and hasn't been since his return. There's no doubt Warner has passed him this year but let's hope Chad doesn't get a knee injury. Will be interesting to see how Chad goes on his return. No doubt he will turn it on but if he doesn't, will you be talking about him the way you do about RB? Somehow I don't think so.

Bell has overtaken him? Nah....RB was managed ('so he could be at his very best'), not dropped and the fact that he was medical sub indicates this. Lucky though that he wasn't needed so his knee could benefit from an actual rest. People ask 'why does Bell keep getting picked?' Obviously the coaching staff see something in him and on the weekend, we saw some of what they see. It is obviously the same with RB....so why don't you trust them on this? Surely you don't think you know better than our coaching panel?

Again I will say that I believe you get blowback not so much for your actual suggestions re: RB but in the relentlessly negative way you say it. If you truly want all Swans players to succeed, you will stop talking in caustic terms about any of them. I think that's all people get angry with....because it sounds like you actually don't like the player. Certainly in RB's case. Your assertion that you 'want him to succeed' really wears thin with these 'aggressive', almost abusive responses on how he plays.....and just because people might disagree with you is no reason to get more aggressive with your comments just to prove your point.

All RWO posters want the same thing.....and that is Swans success.....but just as it is with coaching, there are different ways to achieve it. Past coaching era's were 'aggressive fire and brimstone stuff' that some players took exception to while modern day coaches take a calmer, more measured approach to get their point across and players seem to respond positively and only get a 'bake' when they truly deserve it. Do you see a pattern here?