Dane Swan

[Glacier]

G'day all, just as an observer I noticed a couple of things from last nights game namely
A - Swan looks heavy and unfit , the guy can find the footy but have noticed a lot over the first three rounds how much of that footy is " cheap " touches deep in defense. The guy is a machine when he spreads and streams forward with power but at the moment he is prancing around like he believes his own press

B - Is their much truth to all the Buckley not a popular coach talk, is he out of his depth?
And why dies he seem so untouchable on these threads ?

C- Keefe looked ok and has a very bright future IMO

D - Normally Dawes is an animal but at the moment is a liability.

E- Harry O needs to be released to run coz at the moment he is in strife

Getting back to Swan though , it looks from an outsiders point of view that he needs a good kick up the arse, obviously a dominant personality but surely can't be allowed to just do as he pleases ??

Anyway, cheers and good luck for the season

 

[Macca_]

Must have been watching a different game last night. Was our best player.

My thoughts exactly

 

[TheFreshBanana]

Must have been watching a different game last night. Was our best player.

He was his usual self when racking up the disposals, but his DE has been sloppy and downright lazy. His defensive side was non-existant and you could see it when he was barely using his speed to chase down or keeping up with the ball. He laid 1 tackle last night.

 

[Berankis]

Needs to tackle more badly.. In 2010 he average over 4 tackes a game (first time in career) and look what happened (won premiership)

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

He was his usual self when racking up the disposals, but his DE has been sloppy and downright lazy. His defensive side was non-existant and you could see it when he was barely using his speed to chase down or keeping up with the ball. He laid 1 tackle last night.

Against a career average of 3 tackles. Hardly anything to get concerned about.

 

[Brad Goodman]

Turned it over more than usual I thought, more than one Carlton goal came directly from a Swan turnover.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Must have been watching a different game last night. Was our best player.

If Swan was our best player, which even The Age writer believes he was, then it shows just how poor the team played, because Swan was ordinary in comparison to Carlton's mids.

 

[Optimax]

Must have been watching a different game last night. Was our best player.

Burnt the ball but busted his ass more then He had the previous fortnight

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Burnt the ball but busted his ass more then He had the previous fortnight

Busted his ass running one way.

 

[Pera]

Used to be so good in the air as well. Now he consistently gets outmarked in one on one contests.

 

[SuperSub17]

Buckley is not untouchable on our board, have a look at some of the postmatch discussion threads and you'll see what i mean.

Swan has been good at finding the footy but his disposal has lacked his usual polish.

 

[Optimax]

Busted his ass running one way.

Our side as a whole currently runs one way, cannot just be levelled at Swan.

In fact at times the past three weeks I thought our tactics were to be front runners!

Used to be so good in the air as well. Now he consistently gets outmarked in one on one contests.

This burnt me too, seemed to bug him as well, which is odd as he is generally unflappable. Very low on confidence me thinks

 

[pauly_moss]

Swan was one of our best last night, sure he has played much better games but he was far from our worst. Any Collingwood supporter bagging Swan should be taken out back and shot, I dont want you supporting our team if you cant respect the great Dane

 

[SpongePie]

Swan may not have played a perfect game, but at least he was finding the ball. Thomas and Pendles were nowhere to be seen.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Swan was one of our best last night, sure he has played much better games but he was far from our worst. Any Collingwood supporter bagging Swan should be taken out back and shot, I dont want you supporting our team if you cant respect the great Dane

Classy.

I love the way Dane Swan played 2 years ago. Now he plays like a millionaire. His effort SHOULD be questioned, just watch him on the ground and see his effort and commitment, it's not liked it used to be.

He was far from one of our best last night. Just because he found the ball does not mean he played well. He turned the ball over a number of times and his direct opponent whether it be Judd or Murphy tore us to shreds.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Swan may not have played a perfect game, but at least he was finding the ball. Thomas and Pendles were nowhere to be seen.

Who doesn't know Dane Swan can find the footy? Thats exactly what he does, he is a ball magnet. But that doesn't mean he played well. Runs only one way, sprints much harder forward than back and does not lay a tackle or put his body on the line.

 

[Knightmare]

Classy.

I love the way Dane Swan played 2 years ago. Now he plays like a millionaire. His effort SHOULD be questioned, just watch him on the ground and see his effort and commitment, it's not liked it used to be.

He was far from one of our best last night. Just because he found the ball does not mean he played well. He turned the ball over a number of times and his direct opponent whether it be Judd or Murphy tore us to shreds.

I strongly agree with this. All players need to be accountable for their efforts. Stars as much and possibly even more so than fringe guys,

Signed a long deal and knows he is safe. Looks content.

Isn't winning the hard ball that we know he can. Not tackling. Not the goal scoring threat he was. Still going to average 30 disposals per game, but it's not a damaging 30 that we are used to. I'm looking for him to lift because if we want to be anything significant this year his best is required.

2010 was just such a good year for Swan and is really that benchmark with him. If only he can get that form back we would be on a winner.

 

[Pera]

Swan was one of our best last night, sure he has played much better games but he was far from our worst. Any Collingwood supporter bagging Swan should be taken out back and shot, I dont want you supporting our team if you cant respect the great Dane

Just because he is the Great Dane doesnt mean he is immune from criticism for the rest of his career.

He needs to be accountable, just like Pendles etc. They are great players no doubt, but even the greats have times where certain areas of their game are criticized.

 

[pauly_moss]

To say he has signed a deal and now doesnt care it an absoulute joke. Shows how you have no idea the comittment required not just to play at the highest level but to excel at it.

If any player can get 30+ touches per game why dont more do it???

Swan has never been a defensive minded player, not when he was playing well, not when we were winning. Buckley said pregame he would back our midfield to beat theirs. Was he as good as Judd and Murphy on teh night ... no.

Was he our best midfielder on the night... yes. If not who else played better?

Pendles (my fav) soundly beaten, Ball sadly no poor bloke got injured, Thomas - destroyed, Blair, battled hard played well but not a better game then Swan, Wellingham - found wanting in his first hit out back, Sidebottom, servacable game nothing special, Beams, servaceable game nothing special.

 

[danielnajdek]

Swan looks lazy,not interested and like he doesn't wanna be out there. Some of his efforts were really poor. When you see him put in half arsed efforts that really hurts. Great player but doesn't mean we can't criticize him when his playing like crap.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

To say he has signed a deal and now doesnt care it an absoulute joke. Shows how you have no idea the comittment required not just to play at the highest level but to excel at it.

If any player can get 30+ touches per game why dont more do it???

Swan has never been a defensive minded player, not when he was playing well, not when we were winning. Buckley said pregame he would back our midfield to beat theirs. Was he as good as Judd and Murphy on teh night ... no.

Was he our best midfielder on the night... yes. If not who else played better?

Pendles (my fav) soundly beaten, Ball sadly no poor bloke got injured, Thomas - destroyed, Blair, battled hard played well but not a better game then Swan, Wellingham - found wanting in his first hit out back, Sidebottom, servacable game nothing special, Beams, servaceable game nothing special.

Is it really this hard to explain this? We are not talking about his ball winning ability. He is elite at finding the footy. It is his intensity defensively. Here is a good example, go and watch the 2010 prelim against Geelong and see how hard Swanny worked back and forward and how hard he chased, now watch a replay of any of the first 3 games of this season and tell me you dont see an unbelievable drop off in intensity. Granted, one was a final, but to me that is exactly the point, Swan is choosy when he needs to give effort. He will give effort if he can get a stat, he will give effort if he can run forward, he will not give effort around the contest when an opponent has the ball, and he will not chase. 1 tackle against Carlton, and this after Luke Ball went down and we needed some pressure around the packs.
Watch him closely, and only him if you can see a replay and you will see that he is just running around doing what he wants.
The reason I am not going to come on here and criticize guys like Sinclair and Dawes is because they give absolute effort and at the moment their skill isn't up to the standard we need it to be. Swan is far, far worse to a teams morale because he just doesn't care enough. And it hasn't just been the start to this year, it was last year as well.
I can remember a game against Geelong in 2010 when we won and Swanny ran along side Ablett for a while, and it was a great contest, both players were not completely one way. If Swan played on Ablett now, Ablett would get 50 possies in the game and kick 5 goals, while Swan picks up 40 ordinary disposals.
If he didn't have all those tatts, and wasn't built really thick we would all be saying what we really think of him. He is SOFT at the moment.

 

[Nicco_jj]

I believe disposal efficiency has been down over the whole competition.

Me and a mature saints supporter were discussing it today - the pressure is ridiculous and in congestion there are few players who can actually get good disposal in pressure this year. These are Pendlebury, Ablett. (who is also quite easily the best player in the AFL. Don't argue), Murphy, Judd, Josh Kennedy, cotchin, Goddard....
Swan has never been Mr. Classy, but I do wish he was playing as he was in 2010. However, I believe he is playing a much different role now.
Thomas DEFINITELY is playing a lot different role this year. He is not spending as much time in the mid. It's frustrating.

Buckley is having a tinker, but ultimately he may have to conceed that playing these blokes in different roles isn't working.

We have a reasonable next 4 rounds, where we can not drop a game.
At one stage this year we have Geelong, hawks, Carlton, freo and west coast in consecutive weeks.

12 wins this year will get us in the 8, but unless we begin beating quality sides we will struggle to be in the top 4.

 

[the distributer]

His 3 games this year have been well below what we've come to expect from him, looks disinterested IMO, get some fire in ya belly man, the team looks to you when we're up against it, TBH i've seen funeral directors with more inspiration, time to step up bro.

 

[Ed D]

Pendles just signed a new contract too guys...

 

[Footy guru]

Is it really this hard to explain this? We are not talking about his ball winning ability. He is elite at finding the footy. It is his intensity defensively. Here is a good example, go and watch the 2010 prelim against Geelong and see how hard Swanny worked back and forward and how hard he chased, now watch a replay of any of the first 3 games of this season and tell me you dont see an unbelievable drop off in intensity. Granted, one was a final, but to me that is exactly the point, Swan is choosy when he needs to give effort. He will give effort if he can get a stat, he will give effort if he can run forward, he will not give effort around the contest when an opponent has the ball, and he will not chase. 1 tackle against Carlton, and this after Luke Ball went down and we needed some pressure around the packs.
Watch him closely, and only him if you can see a replay and you will see that he is just running around doing what he wants.
The reason I am not going to come on here and criticize guys like Sinclair and Dawes is because they give absolute effort and at the moment their skill isn't up to the standard we need it to be. Swan is far, far worse to a teams morale because he just doesn't care enough. And it hasn't just been the start to this year, it was last year as well.
I can remember a game against Geelong in 2010 when we won and Swanny ran along side Ablett for a while, and it was a great contest, both players were not completely one way. If Swan played on Ablett now, Ablett would get 50 possies in the game and kick 5 goals, while Swan picks up 40 ordinary disposals.
If he didn't have all those tatts, and wasn't built really thick we would all be saying what we really think of him. He is SOFT at the moment.

Can't believe this thread Dane swan wins a brownlow and you simply now say that he is not trying watch the second quarter and see how he runs up and down assisting the back line boys even last week he grabbed a couple of marks in the back line. The mention of tarts is ridiculous half the players in the afl have them. Saw this thread a few weeks ago can't believe it is still going, I assure you he is not thinking about possessions he wants another grand final especially for his mate tarrant. You obviously know what he is thinking you obviously don't like the guy so back off he played better than the first game each game his getting better if he doesn't carve up port Adelaide like he has done in the past or doesn't try and chase then comment, he is not simply interested in possessions he likes to win.