Opinion Posts That Don't Deserve a Thread (Random Opinion or Questions)
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- Jul 5, 2012
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- Kidding, right?
I see the GWS Giants are now referring to themselves as the GWS GIANTS.
Yep, upper-case always wins respect. Way to go. (LOL)
Yep, upper-case always wins respect. Way to go. (LOL)
- Apr 26, 2016
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I have just started my re-watch of the 2020 season (I'm a glutton for punishment) and it's amazing how optimistic the year started. Sam Gray had his first possession as a Swan, a shank kick at goal, and the commentators are saying what a great acquisition he will be for us. The other Sam, of the Naismith variety, is dominating in the ruck with Ollie Florent at his feet. Adelaide were rubbish opposition but I haven't seen a ruckman & midfielder actually partner up and dominate like that for us in literally years.
Little do those commentators know that the season will be put on hold for a few months after that game, Gray will end up a bust, Naismith will last only one more game before doing his knee again, and Florent will promptly find himself banished from centre bounces. Funny how things can turn on a dime in footy.
Little do those commentators know that the season will be put on hold for a few months after that game, Gray will end up a bust, Naismith will last only one more game before doing his knee again, and Florent will promptly find himself banished from centre bounces. Funny how things can turn on a dime in footy.
scaryness
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- Oct 19, 2008
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Early season hype from commentators is out of control. Did anyone actually think this?
- Apr 26, 2016
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No, though I did think there was potential. I think I was actually more optimistic about Gray's recruitment than Hickey's. Which shows what I know really!
Hickey surprised even the most optimistic (I count myself amongst them). Still amazed.
Gray was a massive disappointment given good history at Port. Big mistake for all concerned.
Lewy Taylor has played for us at the standard he was playing for Brisbane. I actually respect him plenty. Digs in and doesn't drop his head. Reckon he, Sinkers and Clarke will contribute a lot to the development of our draftees in VFL. Not everyone can be AA.
Can see why we kept Clarke and let Thurlow go. We had enough Thurlows.
Pity Brand didn't work out though. I can't believe one bad handball cost him a contract. Had to be more than that.
Thought Zac Foot was unlucky but Matty Ling for mine lost his acceleration and pace. Maibaum was the same size as Gould but less talented, whatever has happened subsequently.
Riley Stoddart never came to grips with the pace of seniors.
The others I have no clue.
A year of massive change.
One thing I really like is that the last two drafts we have taken kids who look like genuine competitors, not just skilful.
- Apr 26, 2016
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Wow KC, thanks for the spoilers. I'm only up to round 2 and the season's just been put on hold!
- Oct 18, 2018
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I have posted this before
We decided to go youth and the draft
We traded in Thurlow, Clarke, Taylor, Menzel, Brand etc as DEPTH while the draftees developed.
We have progressively delisted these guys as as our draftees have come onboard and progressed.
I find it almost boring when people on here saying we have traded poorly. These guys were only traded as experience. Thats all. Look at Carlton who draft in young guys with no experience around them. You go nowhere.
Sydney have subsequently delisted these experienced players one at a time. They have fulfilled their role. Our draftees have grown up with experience around them.
But everyone will forget I have posted this again.
scaryness
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IIRC Rampe is insane in R2
Can't see how what I said conflicts with what you have previously and now again posted. I totally agree that's what we did.
Just reminiscing about some specifics.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
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I did not post in opposition. I just get on a roll and yeah...I'm sorry You are a great poster and I respect you more than most.
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- Apr 26, 2016
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I'm up to round 5 of my season 2020 re-watch. My god the Bulldogs match was such an awful night. JPK's grandfather passing away the day of, then coming out and starting, frankly, awful. But as all the greats do, he just built himself into the match and was a key in stemming the bleeding in that match. Then Naismith does an ACL again late in the match. Not a good night.
Some other observations:
- Lewis Taylor wasn't a bad pick up tbh. The Essendon game where he kicked three pretty impressive goals might be one of his only highlights, but I think any time you pick a player up cheaply and they have a game like that isn't all too bad. The length of his contract is the only real downside to it.
- As someone who spent all of 2020 saying the ruck wasn't as big of an issue as many on here made it out to be, I've never seen a game decided so blatantly by the ruck contest as the West Coast one. We matched them in pretty much every facet of the game and were nearly even with them at half time. Then Naitanui goes beast mode and it was curtains for us. He's literally shoving it down their mids' throats like Gawn on amphetamines.
- You forget how good Rowbottom can be when he's firing. He hits every ball with such speed and power and even then as a teenager(?) he was winning some big 50/50 contests in clutch moments. I reckon we missed his energy and class and maturity at times around the contest last year. I think we've got an abundance of players who have energy and class and maturity on the outside and use time and space very well, but not really any who have it actually in the thick of it at the coalface.
- I maintain our coaching of McInerney was absolutely exemplary. He started the year in the team, showed some promise without asserting himself, and then got dropped. He came back and looked even better in the last two games I watched in rounds 4 & 5, but again, still played like a "kid." I think he gets dropped again around here, and we don't see him again until later in the season when we know he gets a RS nomination and never looks back. Drip-feeding senior experience into him just gave him such a good opportunity to really fine-tune his game and come back from each reserves stint even better. Textbook player development. As I always say, "dropped" and "reserves" are not dirty words!
- Some stat showed up in the Eagles match saying we're very strong at scoring from defensive rebounds. But I'm not seeing a lot of drive or attack in any of these rebounds. They're pretty slow build-ups, and I stand by my point that Dawson, as elite as his kicking was, fails to launch a lot when he has the ball in defensive 50. He looks sideways and takes a lot of short kicks, and if his name was Jake Lloyd he'd be getting shat on for it. His best kicks so far have been front of centre. (Irrelevant anyway given he's no longer a Swan.) This just reinforces my belief that kicking out of defence isn't as reliable as running it out.
- I think we start getting bent over a barrel with injuries from here on out, so this should be fun!
Some other observations:
- Lewis Taylor wasn't a bad pick up tbh. The Essendon game where he kicked three pretty impressive goals might be one of his only highlights, but I think any time you pick a player up cheaply and they have a game like that isn't all too bad. The length of his contract is the only real downside to it.
- As someone who spent all of 2020 saying the ruck wasn't as big of an issue as many on here made it out to be, I've never seen a game decided so blatantly by the ruck contest as the West Coast one. We matched them in pretty much every facet of the game and were nearly even with them at half time. Then Naitanui goes beast mode and it was curtains for us. He's literally shoving it down their mids' throats like Gawn on amphetamines.
- You forget how good Rowbottom can be when he's firing. He hits every ball with such speed and power and even then as a teenager(?) he was winning some big 50/50 contests in clutch moments. I reckon we missed his energy and class and maturity at times around the contest last year. I think we've got an abundance of players who have energy and class and maturity on the outside and use time and space very well, but not really any who have it actually in the thick of it at the coalface.
- I maintain our coaching of McInerney was absolutely exemplary. He started the year in the team, showed some promise without asserting himself, and then got dropped. He came back and looked even better in the last two games I watched in rounds 4 & 5, but again, still played like a "kid." I think he gets dropped again around here, and we don't see him again until later in the season when we know he gets a RS nomination and never looks back. Drip-feeding senior experience into him just gave him such a good opportunity to really fine-tune his game and come back from each reserves stint even better. Textbook player development. As I always say, "dropped" and "reserves" are not dirty words!
- Some stat showed up in the Eagles match saying we're very strong at scoring from defensive rebounds. But I'm not seeing a lot of drive or attack in any of these rebounds. They're pretty slow build-ups, and I stand by my point that Dawson, as elite as his kicking was, fails to launch a lot when he has the ball in defensive 50. He looks sideways and takes a lot of short kicks, and if his name was Jake Lloyd he'd be getting shat on for it. His best kicks so far have been front of centre. (Irrelevant anyway given he's no longer a Swan.) This just reinforces my belief that kicking out of defence isn't as reliable as running it out.
- I think we start getting bent over a barrel with injuries from here on out, so this should be fun!
Good observations from my memory.
I've always thought Taylor was close to the mark and gave his best. Now just best 30 but then he was best 25 or so.
McInerney has always been very coachable. I was at Henson Park when Laidler said to Perris at half time to tell McInerney not to take that last step before kicking. He did in the second half and found his targets better. Great kid, if a little excitable at times.
- Apr 26, 2016
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That may be true, but you still need the right environment to learn and be coached in. Quite often that is not in AFL matches, but at a lower level where they can just work on their individual game without having to focus so much on what the team requires of them. I am not sure McInerney would be where he is today if he was cemented in the seniors from early on and not given a chance to iron out the flaws in his game like a certain other dark haired wingman.
Any interest in a fantasy league?
- Oct 18, 2018
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The
btw I remember reading somewhere that Horse apologized to McInerney for not playing him sooner late in the season.
Injuries could be a blessing in disguise as players on the fringe may get games and establish to some extent in the side. Also different roles such as inside mid vacated by Mills might change opportunities too.
Great post.
btw I remember reading somewhere that Horse apologized to McInerney for not playing him sooner late in the season.
Injuries could be a blessing in disguise as players on the fringe may get games and establish to some extent in the side. Also different roles such as inside mid vacated by Mills might change opportunities too.
- Apr 26, 2016
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He needn't have apologised since he made the right call. McInerney looked better after every stint in the reserves and you could really tell he'd learned a lot each time. Those opportunities to learn might not've come in the senior side, particularly one that was struggling as we were in 2020. That is one thing I will say watching these games back. There's been so much talk about how hard the last few years have been for developing squad players in the reserves. While that is undoubtedly true, it's also worth mentioning how tough it would've been developing players in the senior team.
Watching these games from 2020 back, our kids don't have anywhere near the support that they had in season 2021. They're looking up into a forward line with no Buddy and (now) no Heeney, they're trying to rove the ball off Sinclair's taps and watching it just get smashed away from them, there's not a lot of leadership or structure when trying to exit from defence, there's no big bodies like Kennedy or Hewett or Mills to protect them in the guts, and the shortened quarters have killed off every momentum swing that has gone our way. Just an awful season to be developing kids in and I think we did the right thing by just giving (most of) them small doses of senior experience without putting them through the grind of playing in this team every week.
You only need to look at all the talented youngsters who the likes of Melbourne, Carlton and Gold Coast burned through over the last 20 years of being shit to know that it can stuff with their development.
- Oct 18, 2018
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I agree with the lack of experience with teams that have received many high picks and they have not developed. You need experienced payers around to properly develop kids. Tt is sort of sad. Parents of kids drafted to Sydney could not have any reservations in that regard. If they want it enough Sydney will extract the best out of every player and leave no stone unturned.
- Apr 26, 2016
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Absolutely. We're so lucky to follow this club and the players who are drafted to us are so lucky. A club and it's successes or failures are really made up of hundreds of decisions, big or small. We aren't perfect but we just get so many of those decisions right.
- Oct 18, 2018
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Yeah. Its funny to compare supporter expectations between clubs for example before a draft. I am not worried. I know we will probably get it better than most. At least that is my frame of mind. Compare that to supporters of say Carlton, they as supporters don't have the same expectations that I have I imagine.
I know we have leaders at the club in the team that drive excellence in many ways and it is imparted on younger players in a positive way. Compare that to other clubs and it is a point of difference. Like you say little things can make big impacts both negative and positive. We probably get more right than wrong.
A few on here wanted Kennedy gone to create opportunities for others. Maybe his experience is needed for one more year. Little things.
We are lucky to support this club.
100% this
- Oct 18, 2018
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I would be. I've created a team.
The main reason I'm pleased that the club has hung on to Taylor, Clark, Sinclair and Reid. VFL isn't AFL, and isn't even what VFL used to be, but those experienced guys will help a lot in the development of our youngsters. All of them unselfish types. The others clawing to get into seniors need to be able to concentrate on their own games.
Taylor was immense in VFL last season, expect him to do the same this year, although with the influx of new mids, he'll have more backup. I was (and probably still am) on the "never give Taylor another AFL game" train, but if you can sheer will yourself back into contention, he's up there. Clarke wasn't that far behind in some games. I guess we can obviously afford them, and you'd expect that it'll be their final years on our list, but they'll give their all. Valuable lessons to pass on.
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