Autopsy 26 point win against West Coast.

[Ticky009]

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Only real positive I took from today was Roberts.

Among a sea of mediocrity, I thought he was pretty good.

Surprised there’s not much love for him on the POTY thread.

 

[The King!]

But we adjusted the ball movement as the game progressed. I suspect the main lesson to learn is how to recognise sooner that they need to adjust the way they move the ball if the opposition is blocking plan A.

I think west coast increased their unforced skill errors played a big part in the change of the game , few out of bounds on the fall,
kicked to us under 0 pressure

we did work harder though , time will tell if they learn to make adjustments sooner, I mean the coaching staff have been slow
on that for a long time imho

 

[Swannie0307]

I mean if he performs at his best he can play on the wing , but his form is shocking .

But he won't be dropped

Really hope you’re wrong on this one Kingy… hoping the match committee sends a strong message to the whole squad … poor performances = you’re dropped (no matter who you are)

 

[Olian]

You can see West Coast set themselves for this after last year's humiliation. They beat us in just about every key stat - not encouraging news for an aspiring premier. But they clearly lifted. Harley Reid is really something.

Our best players stood up when it counted - Heeney, Gulden, Grundy, the usual suspects.

A bit hard to figure where we are at. Whether we’ve dropped our bundle in the last two weeks, or whether we’ve been supposedly ‘worked out.' I wonder if the Wicks affairs isn’t impacting some players’ performance.

Taylor Adams must be delighted he’s escaped playing half forward for the Pies so he can play half forward for the Swans.

The bye comes at a good time.

What key stats did they beat us in? Ignore the score, hitouts, possessions, clearances, marks inside 50, tackles inside 50, bounces, one percenters, time in front or efficiency inside 50 which were in our favour. So what key stats do the Swans need to work on over the bye?

Adams is coming back from a reserves game and 3 weeks off. As he said post match he’s under done but better for the run. Alternatively he played a game in the reserves today. May have been better for his fitness to play seniors even as a half forward.

 

[SGBeach]

Horse just rolls out the same old crap at his pressers every week - in one sense it's just bs and the other sense , he isn't one to give away things or blast players in the media anyway.

It's just 5 minutes of him playing a straight bat , have heard the afl games hard to win one a few times now

Nothing wrong with that.. if anything Horse is showing respect for his team

 

[DeathlyAccurate]

Between Reid, JHF and McDonald I’d feel absolutely sick as a north supporter right now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Only real positive I took from today was Roberts.

Among a sea of mediocrity, I thought he was pretty good.

Surprised there’s not much love for him on the POTY thread.

He was beaten a couple of times but is in my votes, which reminds me…..

 

[Joycerama]

Reid will be a gun

Heeney is a gun


Papley was the worst captain to lead the Swans since we moved to Sydney, ******* embarrasing the way he played since he mouthed off about Essendon, downhill skier at the moment



Grundy only one who goes with Heeney all game


Jmac must be true- gone to s**t


Not much to cheer about but take 4-1 and reset



Horse cant get this midfield going, people get shitty when you bag him, but he isnt the man to take us to a flag, been saying for 3-4 years and stand by it



If we are serious, Lloyd is out

Agree Lloyd or Jordon out. Only hesitation is that Lloyd seems to show up for the pressure games.

 

[Joycerama]

searching really hard for a silver lining ... we did seem to actually get it together when it really mattered ... it was mostly horrible, but blah blah blah that cliche about good teams playing badly blah blah ...
i'll say it again ... whew!

Skills shite
Effort is down until writing is on wall
Fitness is elite - won us another game.

 

[melbournehammer]

I actually think the complete opposite. To me he does so much frustrating s**t that he's then forgiven for cause he pulls them off a small handful of times. Interesting how we all see things differently.

It’s funny because that’s how I see melican. I see and magnify the two or three times he goes to spoil and misses with his opponent left untended and think to myself oh dear not again.

Whereas you see him as the 98 times in a 100 he does the right thing

 

[melbournehammer]

Anyone disappointed in what Florent is producing atm and where he is at?

He hasn’t come on in imo

I like florent - he’s become reliable but reliable in a one to two missed kicks in space per match.

I wonder whether his career went where he expected as a super elusive mid who slipped forward to kick goals to a lockdown half back back pocket.

 

[melbournehammer]

What i meant to summarise was if we were facing better opposition we would lost the game between the 2nd to 3rd quarter.

It was really only the last 6 mins of the game where we got a little break on the scoreboard but for the most part the margin was ~11 points.

This was what it was against Essendon as well. And port absolutely showed them for the pretenders they are. Our last three weeks have been genuine mid table level

Most on this site, the media and I suspect more than a few players thought they were contenders in March. It’s a long slog from here and there are going to be quite a few losses along the way. But as longmire says - it’s never as bad or as good as you think. They just have to focus on Gold Coast next

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Everyone is seeming a bit down after this game. Who wouldn’t have taken a 26 point win before opening bounce?

I think we have to be aware that we have a target on backs. We convincingly beat the premier and a previous premier in our opening two games - with some scintillating footy and intense pressure.

Every team will lift to try to beat us. Every team will not want our scintillating footy to happen to them. So every team will bring extreme pressure. No team plays scintillating footy under elite pressure.

We are doing our best to adapt, but when your passing-based corridor game gets closed down, it bring more pressure on you contest game and your marking down the line game. Guess what? We have you mids and young key forwards. They are not going to be elite in these aspects of the game atm. A swirly day also didn’t make it easy for our forwards.

We have a bit to look forward to. Adams will build, Parker will come back, then Mills. If we fail at the contest with them back - then fire away I say.

On the contested marking, this is more problematic.

• I would love to be wrong but I don’t think Amartey will make it. He looks to lack that little of bit class across all facets of the game.
• And while I love him, I think McLean needs to be doing better. If he is not clunking regularly, his value comes down.
• McDonald is on the right trajectory but he does need to play bigger. I saw him pick a ball up to attract a head high tackle in the forward fifty (and the Eagles player rightfully gave him a mouthful). His mindset has to be how he will score or flatten his opponent.

Credit to Eagles, they played some of the best football in recent times. Credit ti swans, we won. That is all that matters.

 

[dosser]

Yes. Would obviously be great for everyone, esp Longmire, if we jag a flag before he moves on.

Sadly I cannot see it.

+s

• Adams- Decent debut but on managed minutes I’m guessing
• McDonald looked pretty good. As well as the goals did a couple of small nice things
• Quality games from Heeney, Grundy and Blakey
• The Roberts goal in Q4 was arguably the most important of the game
• we win despite Rowbottom not being leading tackler.

-s

* Longmire has failed to address bathwater imbibers and was tactically poor in the first half… I really hope whatever he says that he has not been at the bathwater as well. A loss today would surely have necessitated an external coming in to kick the crap out of Longmire and players. Would have been close to immediate disciplinary action.

• I giggled as Amartey and Hayward had big last quarters after ordinary days.
• I don’t think Harry C should have played.
• Melican was exposed. Our Club and the licensed risk takers down back need to be secure that Harry and Melican are on their game.
• Lloyd looks lost.

will rewatch the game in the next 24 hours or so when I have calmed down.

This was truly an appalling win.

When you do rawatch it, I know that you will pay particular attention to Hayward, so I suggest you view the first half in the context of the great job he did shutting down McGovern. The 2nd half he was let off the chain and I thought played very well, leading, making, tackling and kicking goals.
I look forward to reading your revised summary advising us that an opposition player nearby got a disposal so Hayward should be sacked immediately. I know you will be fair and balanced.

 

[liz]

Credit to Eagles, they played some of the best football in recent times.

I've been pointing out in this thread that the Eagles played quite well in patches. But surely you mean they played some of their best footy in recent times, not the best footy in recent times.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

I've been pointing out in this thread that the Eagles played quite well in patches. But surely you mean they played some of their best footy in recent times, not the best footy in recent times.

Good pick up. Yesterday certainly wasn’t a game for the ages

 

[Donza]

Good pick up. Yesterday certainly wasn’t a game for the ages

Tbh. None of the 2024 GR games have been.

 

[Citrus22]

Had a feeling from the outset this game wouldn't have much positivity out of it from most, regardless of the result

1. We beat them by a ludicrous number last time so that sets expectations unreasonably high, and West Coast were always going to steel themselves to not replicate such an embarrassing performance.
2. If we won by ten goals or more it would have been 'Oh well, it's West Coast, we should be beating them by x amount'
3. If we have a much closer win like today, we're drinking our bathwater ,not as good as we think etc.

So yeah, very little to gain in games where everybody expects you to win and by a lot.

 

[The King!]

Nothing wrong with that.. if anything Horse is showing respect for his team

I said I get it completely

 

[BloodySwan]

West Coast played well. We're not giving them enough credit.

Our boys didn't control the football enough and were too quick to attack. Need to find when to control and when to push through.

Second half we slowed down and it showed.

Good to have these games early in the season when we can learn and adapt rather than late and finally get caught out

 

[Superstar swan]

To be fair that ground is made for a team to stifle our game plan. We want to go up the corridor every time we can. The ground being so narrow means that wce could easily take space in the corridor leaving us very little room on the outside. That's why we were trying to force a few things that probably weren't there .

Take the points and move on

 

[wolftone57]

If you haven't played up in the Adelaide Hills before it can be tricky. Depending where the ground is, the wind can swirl or just blow a gale in the last. Hence, someone at Eagles was smart enough to kick against in the first. Blackwood Oval was the worst I played on. It was on the side of a hill. There was a bloke playing FB for Blackwood who had a booming left foot. He kicked 2 goals one day from FB because the ball just kept bloody rolling down the hill.

Mt Barker gets big winds. The town itself, the middle town I mean, is sort of in a depression in the hill. All the towns up there get huge winds & driving rain in winter. A hard place to play footy, even on a good day due to the swirling wind. Notice they had to aim for the right hand post while kicking with the wind & sometimes it didn't work? That would be a change in the wind swirl.

Last half was ok. Heens, Errol, Matty, Chad, Grundy, even Adams took over. The backs got on top & gave plenty through Blakey & Florent. Campbell was good on a wing too. I thought our tall forwards were good. Pity the delivery was shite, especially in the first half. Not a single lead honoured in the second quarter. No wonder they were on top. We kept gifting them the ball.

There was some really good play in the last half & first half of the first quarter. But in the first half the disposal efficiency was only 50% & it was obvious. We just kept turning the ball over. Bomb, bomb, bomb & when we didn't we kicked it straight to them. Even Gulden days it. It was horrible to watch. Yes, they were ok. But helped 90% by our disposal efficiency. If you give a side the ball enough they will learn how to use it.

On CPH2471 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The King!]

If we play like today we will lose the next 4 imo, other teams won't waste it so much like the Eagles did with simple hand backs .

Having said that I think we will learn and come out fired up in 2 weeks and start a nice run

 

[dosser]

To be fair that ground is made for a team to stifle our game plan. We want to go up the corridor every time we can. The ground being so narrow means that wce could easily take space in the corridor leaving us very little room on the outside. That's why we were trying to force a few things that probably weren't there .

Take the points and move on

Same size as the MCG, apparently

 

[the hypnotoad]

We're not a premiership-calibre team atm. We don't have enough leaders around the ground and are really missing Rampe, Parker and Mills.

As a team, we're still showing signs of immaturity. A team primed for a premiership would have easily accounted for Richmond and West Coast, but I think the players started believing the hype and thought they only needed to show up. Horse needs to break down that mentality and let the group know they're capable of achieving the ultimate, but they ultimately haven't achieved anything. The group needs to focus on each individual game, and each individual moment within that game. The lapses in concentration are what end your season in finals, so each game is an opportunity to prove to yourself and your team mates that you're mentally switched on at all times.

Heeney has been exceptional, please keep doing what you're doing.
Warner is liable to drink his own bathwater. Coaches need to challenge him to focus on the fundamentals and make sure he's doing the basics right, and his attacking game will naturally flow from there.
Amartey has not shown enough, I'd be looking at giving Reid an opportunity.
The forward line as a whole isn't functioning all that well but hopefully we strike the right balance throughout the year. Need Wicks back in the side.
Grundy has been a great addition and will continue to build synergy with our mids
Taylor will be better for the run.

Lots of improvement to be made and need our seniors back ASAP so we have more choices at the selection table.

I think there's more to the Wicks situation than we're led to believe. If Wicks was playing the last 2 games I think we'd be looking at a different situation right now.

i understand what you're saying but i think it's all a glass-half-empty view
we've played five games, no team is primed for much right now ...
but we do have a potential premiership calibre team, i have no doubt about that ... this time last season wed have lost that game yesterday ... think back to some of the cringeworthy, embarrassing results in the first half of last season
we have already built a much better platform for this season, and it's in our hands where we go from here but the past two weeks are just as important in the learning process, and the building process
adams played his first game yesterday and showed how important he can be
we've had this wicks issue unsettle the club, which we'll work on
we've had mccartin and melican show glimpses of what they can be as a defensive core, but also show they can be exposed (and which we'll work on)
we have parker and mills to come back in
we have grundy still establishing himself, and the players getting used to his presence
we have three young, inexperienced tall forwards, and a team working out how we play to them, rather than that other guy who used to play in the fowards

there's so much rushing to judgment on this board, you can see it in the futile kneejerk fury of the gameday threads ...
it's a cliche, but premierships are not won in march or april or may
you can go back over every season and look at the premiers, and their season results, look at certain games and wonder "how did that happen?"
our most important game is the next one, not the last one