Preview Qualifying Final - Sydney Swans vs GWS Giants

[Dangas]

AFL website saying...

"The fixture for week one of the finals, including confirmation of dates, times and venues, will be released on Monday morning."

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Horse certainly has some tough calls to make.

To help, I’ve scrolled back through Bigfooty to ascertain which players haven’t been subject to howls demanding they be dropped this season.

In summary:

Gulden
Grundy
McInerney
Papley
McCartin
Chad
Heeney
Melican (surprisingly)

All others have been whipped at times & therefore clearly should not be selected for such an important final.

 

[Millky95]

What does our record look like without the 112 point smashing from Port?

No sure but probably closer to 6-2 and 120%

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Ok the qualifying rounds are complete (and you would argue they have been somewhat of a success) and now the main event begins.

I know people get angry at Longmire and we had a period this year where we looked pretty average, but once again Longmire and co have put us in the perfect position going in. So without further ado, may I present your first finals preview for 2024.

I will add graphics and such later

View attachment 2091429
Sydney Swans vs GWS Giants

Date and time: TBA, but most likely shaping up as the Thursday night matchup.
Location: Sydney Cricket Ground
Weather: TBA

Recent Form

Sydney: W-W-W-L-L
GWS: L-W-W-W-W

After a poor middle part of the Season (Potentially training load impacted), the Swans have come to life with 3 wins on the trot to secure the minor premiership. The Giants were on a 7 match winning streak before a horrible crash against the Bravedogs (Overall was actually an incredibly poor showing).

Home and away season summaries

Sydney: Minor premiers, honestly its pretty hard not to give the Swans an A+ for that, but there is that question mark, that small period in the middle of the season where we were losing games. Part of this was due to training loads (at least I believe), a large part of this was due to injures (Rampe, McCartin, Papley, McInerney and Melican are all crucial parts of our team and arguably top 10 players). But even then we had too much of a drop off. Luckily the start of our season was simply something else and was probably the best I have seen the Swans in my lifetime (33 years and counting). When we are on, we are the best team in the competition, the issue is not only keeping it up week by week, but actually delivering a 4 quarter performance.

GWS: The Giants kind of had a somewhat similar season to us, started off like a house on fire, then had a big down patch before recovering form... only difference is they had their down patch a bit earlier in the season, if they had won against the dogs they would have been arguably the form team in the competition, but they somehow didn't turn up (although I do wonder if the result was a little "manufactured" to ensure they get to play us in the first round of the finals. Overall whilst the Giants are a little inconsistent I do believe they are in the premiership race up to their eyeballs.

Likely changes (For the Swans)

How do we manage to fit in Heeney, McInerney, McCartin and Papley all into a side that has somehow found itself in ideal health right before the finals? Well I have given this my best crack below.

• Papley in for Clearly - I didn't enjoy reading this one, as Clearly has been a great contributor over the last few weeks, but Papley is one of the barometers in our team, a walk up start and I doubt the Swans will want to move Campbell away from his forward position currently.
• McCartin for Francis - No words need to be said, I am actually disappointed we played Hamling as a forward instead of a defender as I rate him. Francis shouldn't be getting a look in our side and McCartin is nearly first picked.
• McInerney for Fox - Sorry Fox, I rate you highly and believe you will be the first emergency to come into our team, but McInerney is critical for our set up. With McInerneys return look at one of Florent, Llyod or even McInerney himself playing as a HBF, but the increased run will be critical here.
• Heeney for Adams - I genuinely rate Adam's (Or Taytay if you prefer to call him that) i feel he helped increase our training standards over the offseason, he has fantastic leadership and is going to make a seamless transition into coaching, but with Parkers return he is the odd player out in our side right now and if he does stay in the squad he is likely going to be the emergency (and I would rather us use Fox here or even Campbell).

Other options: A few weeks ago I would have had Campbell here, but he has found his spot as a pressure forward and has exceeded my expectations that being said, if they keep Adams he is probably first to go. Parker I think has secured his spot in the side.

Who to watch out for

Giants

Lachie Whitfield: Will be the James Jordan matchup, if we can hold him to less than 20 disposals we will win this match.

Giants intercepting tall's: GWS have some of the best intercept marks in the competition, Himmelberg, Buckley, Taylor, Perryman, I expect Haywood to play a negating role on Buckley and whoever is on Taylor to try and lead him away from the contest.

Giants small forwards: The Giants have some of the most dangerous small forwards in the competition in both Greene and Daniels(Bedford and Jones are no slouches either), I expect Rampe to go to Greene and Cunningham to Daniels. But we are going to have be switched on around defensive stoppages to fully put on the clamps here.

Swans

Heeney: Heeney is BUILT for finals, has had the season of a lifetime and I fully expect this finals series is going to be where he creates his legend at the Swans. If Heeney has a large impact on this match, the Swans win it is as simple as that, so I expect the giants to put a hard tag on him.

Defence: Yes our defence has had some worries this year, BUT when we have our personal on the field (and we will for this final), it has been rock solid, A great combination of intercepting ability, rebound, and exceptional disposal, if we are back to our best of absorbing blows and then rebounding this is ominous for the competition. The fact that Mills is now back there as well is even more scary for the Giants as his really secured things back there and given us another intercept option.

Parker: Since coming back into our team has had a point to prove, his a brilliant one on one forward option and has helped us get out of jail in the midfield on multiple occasions, if his up and about the Swans team rises with him and I firmly believe he is our spiritual leader behind the scenes.

What to expect from this match

I wouldn't have believed it if you had told me earlier in the season, but surprisingly the Giants are actually a decent match up for the Swans. Our midfield can go toe to toe with theirs, and if we can get body to body with Tom Green around the stoppages we will most likely come out ahead in the contested ball.

Both teams really excel when the ball is in transition, we need to ensure we are bringing the ball to ground in our forward 50, and not allowing the Giants to get quick rebounds down the corridor, with the speed they have in their forward line (Not to mention Hogan who terrifies me), if they are allowed easy transition from defence it will be game over for very quickly.

Luckily I believe Hayward will play a great shut down role on Buckley and we can use one of McLean, Amartey or McDonald to lead Taylor away from the contest, if we can do this, we can back in our midfield and some of our better ball winners to take control of the contest.

The Giants are going to come hard for us from the first whistle, they aren't afraid to put their body's on the line and will try to both physically and mentally blow us away early on. But if we can withhold this pressure (or even better get off to a good start ourselves), we should be able to win this match.

Sydney by 27 points.

Great write up

 

[RUNVS]

I would have rathered play Geelong in the first week of finals but GWS is not too bad.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Barrett reckons we are Saturday twilight

Insane if true. It’s the biggest game of the round.

That said, swans generally do okay with twilight games and Saturday gives another day for Papley and Macca to get right.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Feels weird not speculating as to whether Sam Reid

20

Sam Reid

Age

32

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

4.7

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

12.0

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

6.0

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

0.0

1star

G

1.0

4star

D

9.4

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.4

3star

will be selected.

 

[Daniel B]

Horse certainly has some tough calls to make.

To help, I’ve scrolled back through Bigfooty to ascertain which players haven’t been subject to howls demanding they be dropped this season.

In summary:

Gulden
Grundy
McInerney
Papley
McCartin
Chad
Heeney
Melican (surprisingly)

All others have been whipped at times & therefore clearly should not be selected for such an important final.

You forgot that Angus Sheldrick MUST be selected. That oughta do it.

 

[RUNVS]

Feels weird not speculating as to whether Sam Reid will be selected.

Don't give Longmire ideas.

 

[RUNVS]

You forgot that Angus Sheldrick MUST be selected. That oughta do it.

I think he should given our desperate need to at least half the contest in the clearances but I know he won't be.

 

[zyzzbruh]

Surely Hamling comes in for this one. Amartey out of form and can swing back to nullify Hogan if he gets off the leash. You know, premiership player and what not.

Wouldn't be surprised if Magor gets his opportunity here either (although i would not recognise him if he popped out of my bowl of corn flakes).


Broken record lol, and i rekn 99% aint even sarcasm.

All jokes aside, don't want to be the one choosing between Campbell and Adams. But imo Adams is vastly more important to our midfield structure than what Campbell otherwise provides. I worry our midfield could potentially capitulate without him in there, and would rely on more mid minutes from Parker which i'd rather keep him forward plucking a few goals and covering that Wicks role. Need to keep in mind Campbell was no where near it a couple weeks back, and Mcinerney is more like for like. So Bob Irwin the unlucky one to miss out for mine

 

[Millky95]

Feels weird not speculating as to whether Sam Reid will be selected.

I think this is the best time to see if Gould lives up to his hype

 

[wills2g]

forward line balance is going to be key

with Cleary out for Paps, will Paps be a team player and play the pressure forward? he's more interested in attacking and kicking goals than defending (just being realistic)

so if we then keep Parker forward, who will be the harassing small forward to keep the ball locked in f50? just campbell? or do we permanently move florent into the pressure forward role?

if we then move Adams out of HF/out of the side, we seriously will lack leg speed and players that can do multiple short burst sprints to apply pressure

my biggest worry is that GWS walks the ball out of their d50

 

[Bloods86]

Need one of Campbell or Cleary in the team.

Neither Parker nor Papley are going to play a pressure forward role.

Picking the best team doesn't equate to just picking the top 22 players.

 

[The King!]

If Cleary goes , Parker will have to remember how to tackle

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

I think there is a substantial probability that the coaches will make Parker sub, assuming Macca and Papley both return along with Heeney and McCartin.

 

[caesar88]

If Cleary goes , Parker will have to remember how to tackle

4 tackles in 4 weeks for Parker. I don't think it's through lack of effort at all, but just ability. He's just not quick or agile enough to be effective at pressuring much at present. Which is fine if he keeps delivering in other areas like goalkicking, marking, the occasional hard ball win or clearance. But the question does remain, where else is the pressure and heat gonna come from? It's something we've been suspect in for months and now there's a chance we'll drop a few more (Cleary, Adams) of the very few players who look genuinely damaging in a pressure sense.

 

[Benmacca33]

Saturday arvo is dogshit ..
Top of the ladder ,cross town rivals ,clear best game of the first week of finals and bang Saturday arvo terrible .Dogs complaining about playing Friday night give us that slot prime time all eyes on Sydney

 

[mattpolo8]

I don't mind saturday twilight at all. A little selfish opinion. Good for those travelling from Melbourne etc.

Also those scg sunsets and the view from the bill

 

[Jack2Jack]

Actually crazy that we might literally have all of our best 26 available to pick a side from, like even with the best injury runs you'd usually go into finals missing at least 2-3.

If we get no injuries over the break and do have all 26 to pick from, interesting call between Campbell and Adams. Gut feel it will be Campbell out as a more like for like switch with McInerney....although they could choose to play Parker more midfield or McInerney more inside instead and keep Campbell. Whoever we keep of the two will likely be the sub regardless....feel like Adams would have more impact as sub.
Shows how much Roberts has shown/improved in the last 6 weeks, in what seemed the extremely unlikely event of having a full side to pick from was certain he'd be the weak link or at best the sub, there's almost no way he's not playing in the starting 22 in the QF now.

 

[Bonz]

Bonz Sydney have a newer logo.

Prefer the older ones

 

[Bonz]

How does Sportsbet confirm times for finals before it is officially released. Something is wrong.

Insider information.

They would find out about injuries and such and adjust odds accordingly before the public, wouldn't surprise me if someone from a club advised of it.

 

[Cadsky]

It pretty obvious imo. Adams has not been dropped all season. Horse won't drop him now.

 

[TheGoatBaron]

How can I unsubscribe to this unwanted spam in my notifications?

Follow a better team like the Swans.

 

[Jeffers]

No Stevie J to snipe Josh Kennedy this time.

We owe this mob big time for not beating them in finals. Time for our cream to rise to the top.

It’s go time.