Metricon suits us as a home ground and we'll have a few more there so that's a bonus.
Fremantle already confirmed at Metricon.
Essendon, St Kilda, North Melbourne you would doubt will be in Victoria given they are currently locked down and we know the road out of that is slow.
Gold Coast is a home game for us but now probably a GC home game.
Well done to all the Swans supporters who turned up to witness something special yesterday and will no doubt turn up in future weeks as well :-)
Top four spot would be awesome, but it relies on us winning one more game than Brisbane does in the final stretch and one to two more than Port due to small percentage buffer they have on us.
This is where the crappy officiating costs us - just a few more cheap nothing there goals against us than what we get vs the opposition can mean the difference between fourth and fifth this year.
Looking at their draw, Brisbane have an away game vs Freo and a derby vs GC that are the danger games.
Port also has a derby plus a round 23 match vs the Bulldogs.
All we can do is win all our matches and hope some other results go our way.
Last edited by Maltopia; 19th July 2021 at 09:15 PM. Reason: Extra info
I think different pieces of the puzzle are coming together:
- Blakey and J-Mac of half back
- Dawson to wing
- Veterans like Parker, Kennedy, Hewitt and Franklin playing very well.
-Papley, McCartin, Hayward finding better form.
- Mills becoming an A-Grade midfielder
- Having a rather effective ruckman
- Gulden having a brilliant 1st year.
That’s great, but to be playing off for a premiership the following still needs to occur:
- no major injuries
- maintain the corridor ball movement game
- Heeney and Rampe to find top form
- Chad to come back hitting contests really hard and breaking lines.
- Sam Reid to put together a run of 6 great games.
- Stephens to break out like Blakey has recently been able to do.
If all the above occurs it will be seriously difficult for another team to beat us.
Why not play that one at the GABBA?Originally Posted by 707
"Fortunately, this is the internet, so knowing nothing is no obstacle to having an opinion!." Beerman 18-07-2017
So thought an interesting exercise would be to compare our 2021 team to our 2003 team. A couple of assumptions made here. I've picked our team from the final match of the H&A season from 2003 (as my memory was we lost a couple of important players like Micky O for the finals). I also can't find an exact positional line-up for 2003, so made some starting position assumptions.
I also can't find emergencies, so can't precisely test depth or who was out injured. But some other players from our 2003 list include Jason Ball, Luke Ablett, Tadgh Kennelly, Jason Saddington.
I've also picked my approx best 22 for 2021. You might argue about Reid v Amarty, or Campbell vs Rowbottom or so and so. Don't care.
My point is - how are we tracking in our development?
2003 2021
FB Ben Matthews Andrew Schauble Leo Barry Harry Cunningham Tom McCartin Robbie Fox
HB Jared Crouch Craig Bolton Brad Seymour Jake Lloyd Dane Rampe Nick Blakey
C Nick Fosdike Stuart Maxfield Paul Williams George Hewett Josh Kennedy Justin McInerney
HF Ryan O'Keefe Lewis Roberts-Thompson Nick Davis Tom Papley Sam Reid Isaac Heeney
FF Adam Schneider Barry Hall Michael O'Loughlin Will Hayward Buddy Franklin Errol Gulden
F Darryn Cresswell Adam Goodes Brett Kirk Tom Hickey Luke Parker Callum Mills
I Jude Bolton Stephen Doyle Jarrad Sundvist Matthew Nicks Chad Warner Jordan Dawson Sam Wicks James Rowbottom
APOLOGIES - AFTER POSTING REALISED THE FORMATTING WENT WEIRD, BUT YOU CAN WORK IT OUT
'Delicious' is a fun word to say
From that team, for the Prelim Seymour didn't play, neither did O'Loughlin or Sundvist (he really was a fringe player at best) - replaced by Saddington, Luke Ablett and Kennelly.
Kennelly played every game that season so should definitely be in the 'best team'.
Ablett was only a bit part player that year (played the two finals after not playing a game after Rd 4).
Saddington if I remember rightly came back in for the prelim after missing a few after Rd 20.
Seymour only played 2 games in 2003 (indeed his last 2 at the club) - if I remember rightly, didn't he leave the club because his Mrs had a modelling agency or something and he wanted to relocate to Melbourne with her?
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
It's very difficult to compare eras. But if you look at the relative strength of the interchange benches then the future is looking rosy.
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)
All true. The reason I went with the assumption of the round 22 side, as opposed to my version of a best 22 (your points re Tadgh and Sundvist are true) is can I recall at that stage if - for example - Jason Saddington was playing better footy than Schauble, who was still playing good footy at that point? Nope. So I went with a nominated side for the sake of the exercise. You could argue I should have stuck with a nominated side from 2021 from a pure point of comparison, but anyway, it's my thought bubble and fun exercise, so my assumptions and off we go . . .
'Delicious' is a fun word to say
Replace Sundvist with a more appropriate player and the strengths of the interchange benches is a lot closer to be fair.
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None of my post was meant to be a criticism - but I don't think that Rd 22 team really accurately represents a full strength 2003 team either (although relatively close) if you are looking for the most reasonable choice to make 'reasonable comparison'. But anyway, that's beyond the point - it is an interesting exercise and nothing more
"You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."
Why 2003 instead of 2005 premiership or 2006 runner up to the Eagles by under a goal?
Not at all. Didn't take as a criticism. Was just wanting to be clear about my logic for a best 22 in 2021, vs a point-in-time in 2003.Replace Sundvist with a more appropriate player and the strengths of the interchange benches is a lot closer to be fair.
- - - Updated - - -
None of my post was meant to be a criticism - but I don't think that Rd 22 team really accurately represents a full strength 2003 team either (although relatively close) if you are looking for the most reasonable choice to make 'reasonable comparison'. But anyway, that's beyond the point - it is an interesting exercise and nothing more
'Delicious' is a fun word to say
So my reason for that is the rebuild analogy. It's where I personally think we're at, with some young players still building and a flag more likely from 2023 and beyond. To put 2003 in perspective, it was Goodes first year of sustained, consistent, brilliant footy. It was Schneider's first year. ROK was still becoming a player. Blokes like Jude and Fosdike were only really starting to make an imprint. Creswell and Williams were veterans. I see the dynamic as similar.
Plus, I should add, the sheer stick-ot-up-them factor. Both years, people predicted us for the wooden spoon. Screw them.
Outside the flag years, 2003 was my fave season as a Swans fan of 30 years because of the sheer optimism and joy of it, and excitement of our play (I vividly remember being at Docklands Stadium for a match in about round six or seven and watching us dash around the ground to defeat Collingwood). This one is matching it.
Last edited by i'm-uninformed2; 20th July 2021 at 08:21 PM.
'Delicious' is a fun word to say
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