Autopsy Round 20, 2021 v Essendon - first win against Bombers at the MCG in 98 years

[the hypnotoad]

Elite talents on the outside.. Dawson, Blakey, Gulden, J Mac, Campbell, Stephens, Florent, Heeney..........
Yep We've got lots of very good to elite outside players. Some/all will need to mix it up for the good of the team. They can't all play on the wing.

You say J Mac butchered some kicks because he was under pressure. All inside players do, all players under pressure do. That pressure is a major key to the Swans success this year. Don't you think its good to learn how to cope with that pressure? Dont you think its good to mix the positions around to create the best match ups for us and destroy the oppositions match up?
eg. Last week Heeney moved to the wing after half time and turned the game..
J Mac still went over 80% disposal efficiency even with all his butchery

Whos Elite on the inside?
Parker - people have been calling him too slow for 18months (not so much recently)
JPK - ditto Parker
Mills - Yes becoming that way
Hewett - No
Rowbum / Warner - to be determined
I don't reckon Hewett will be on the list next year, JPK will play less minutes next year (his final year), Rowbum, Warner and all those outside mids will need to help Parker and Mills

Horse is always developing these players - that's what coaches do

absolutely spot-on ... there are certain posters who analyse every individual moment without any context ... of course it's going to be tougher for someone like mcinerney to be in the mids getting his possessions under a lot more pressure ...
that's what shits me about so many gameday posts ... basically a lack of patience and very little foresight
some on here expect every sydney player to be fckng faultless every moment, every time they get near the ball ... completely ignoring or disregarding the pressure applied by opposition players, even in the shite teams ...

in basketball, at the absolute elite level (nba), no player is expected to hit every shot, generally 50 per cent is considered acceptable ... at that level all players are elite in some aspects of the game, and obviously those skills will have an impact when pitted against another elite player's skills ...
and it's the same in football ... being able to play under extreme pressure is a skill in itself, it's pretty much the decisive factor in most games, particularly finals

mcinerney is an outstanding talent, same with gulden ... i think florent is too ... of course with their skills and pace, they'll look good out in the open but give them time to learn how to play inside (which is exactly what the coaches are doing in rotations, as you've pointed out), and they will be elite players who get their own ball too
i see this potential in wicks and warner, as well ... and definitely rowbottom, i maintain he's been better than what he's copped on this board this year, obviously on reduced time (assuming because of injury, the early season knee thing?) ... but he is class, and will prove that in coming seasons
and mills has been the best example of what the coaches are doing ...

my only real disagreement is on hewett ... who has changed my mind a bit this season ... i thought he might be expendable/tradeable but he's largely won me over, and i include him in this core of our next premiership team ...

 

[Jewelsbon]

absolutely spot-on ... there are certain posters who analyse every individual moment without any context ... of course it's going to be tougher for someone like mcinerney to be in the mids getting his possessions under a lot more pressure ...
that's what shits me about so many gameday posts ... basically a lack of patience and very little foresight
some on here expect every sydney player to be fckng faultless every moment, every time they get near the ball ... completely ignoring or disregarding the pressure applied by opposition players, even in the sh*te teams ...

in basketball, at the absolute elite level (nba), no player is expected to hit every shot, generally 50 per cent is considered acceptable ... at that level all players are elite in some aspects of the game, and obviously those skills will have an impact when pitted against another elite player's skills ...
and it's the same in football ... being able to play under extreme pressure is a skill in itself, it's pretty much the decisive factor in most games, particularly finals

mcinerney is an outstanding talent, same with gulden ... i think florent is too ... of course with their skills and pace, they'll look good out in the open but give them time to learn how to play inside (which is exactly what the coaches are doing in rotations, as you've pointed out), and they will be elite players who get their own ball too
i see this potential in wicks and warner, as well ... and definitely rowbottom, i maintain he's been better than what he's copped on this board this year, obviously on reduced time (assuming because of injury, the early season knee thing?) ... but he is class, and will prove that in coming seasons
and mills has been the best example of what the coaches are doing ...

my only real disagreement is on hewett ... who has changed my mind a bit this season ... i thought he might be expendable/tradeable but he's largely won me over, and i include him in this core of our next premiership team ...

Great post, agree with every word

 

[mtooler]

When did anyone say (tongue in cheek comments excluded) that Florent would win multiple Brownlow medals? Seriously, some will pretend anything is true just for a small victory when that player plays a less than amazing game.

Pathetic tbh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just so we are clear, I did not say that Forent would win multiple Brownlow medals, in case anyone was thinking otherwise.

 

[the hypnotoad]

They probably won’t.

a showdown ... surely adelaide's last meaningful game of the season ... reckon they'll be fired up and they're definitely good enough at best to really test port ...

 

[mtooler]

Did some suggest that? I assume you have the quotes handy as I'd be curious for the context.

Context wise, someone may have said it after a week long Ice/MDMA bender maybe? Think it was this guy

Florent for 2 Brownlows Guy

 

[anotherletdown]

Could be.

If that’s the case I’m sorry for being snarky.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Holly crap, is that an apology? on BF?

....thats the equivalent finding rocking horse poo!

We'll played, hopefully it wears off on a few others

 

[kelpie_X]

He was not anywhere near as clean and composed as he usually is. No idea why we'd want to take one of our best runners and decision-makers and put him in a contested scrap. Was one of his least effective games I can recall IMO.

Because we were getting pantsed in the midfield?

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

absolutely spot-on ... there are certain posters who analyse every individual moment without any context ... of course it's going to be tougher for someone like mcinerney to be in the mids getting his possessions under a lot more pressure ...
that's what shits me about so many gameday posts ... basically a lack of patience and very little foresight
some on here expect every sydney player to be fckng faultless every moment, every time they get near the ball ... completely ignoring or disregarding the pressure applied by opposition players, even in the sh*te teams ...

in basketball, at the absolute elite level (nba), no player is expected to hit every shot, generally 50 per cent is considered acceptable ... at that level all players are elite in some aspects of the game, and obviously those skills will have an impact when pitted against another elite player's skills ...
and it's the same in football ... being able to play under extreme pressure is a skill in itself, it's pretty much the decisive factor in most games, particularly finals

mcinerney is an outstanding talent, same with gulden ... i think florent is too ... of course with their skills and pace, they'll look good out in the open but give them time to learn how to play inside (which is exactly what the coaches are doing in rotations, as you've pointed out), and they will be elite players who get their own ball too
i see this potential in wicks and warner, as well ... and definitely rowbottom, i maintain he's been better than what he's copped on this board this year, obviously on reduced time (assuming because of injury, the early season knee thing?) ... but he is class, and will prove that in coming seasons
and mills has been the best example of what the coaches are doing ...

my only real disagreement is on hewett ... who has changed my mind a bit this season ... i thought he might be expendable/tradeable but he's largely won me over, and i include him in this core of our next premiership team ...

I have a mate who I just can't watch games with any more. He just takes it so personally and gets so schitty when our players make a mistake (as, inevitably, even highly-skilled athletes will do in a high-pressure competitive environment...)

 

[Ticky009]

From ESPN weekend analysis:

Sydney
Stocks up: Sydney's ability to stand up to challenges time and again this season has been incredibly impressive, and holds them in great stead going into a finals campaign. A top four finish isn't out of the question yet, so if they can continue to notch the wins, they could earn (and it'll be well earned and deserved) the double chance.

Stocks down: You can't really say any stock is down in this team. They haven't been home in more than a month, partners and children have been left in the lurch in isolation in Queensland and they just keep putting in effort after effort. Massive respect.

 

[the hypnotoad]

I have a mate who I just can't watch games with any more. He just takes it so personally and gets so schitty when our players make a mistake (as, inevitably, even highly-skilled athletes will do in a high-pressure competitive environment...)

ha ... i understand and empathise ... for some time now i prefer to watch any sport on my own, for various reasons ... but i've learned (that whole age and experience thing) not to dwell too much on individual moments, or even individual games
and there's definitely players i like, and will defend, and others i question, criticise and simply don't rate ...
but it's frustrating to see the relentless negativity during gameday posts because you'd get the impression we're a crap team going nowhere ... i'd imagine this has been the case in gameday threads for years, and a long time ago i was probably guilty of posting stuff during games without taking a breath and thinking about the crap i was spouting
but this year, geez, it's been clear from the start we're building something ... and pretty much every player who's had a run in seniors this season has contributed something, even if they're not (and never will be) superstars or matchwinners ...
and if we go on and win this premiership, which even now would still be regarded as something of a shock, all of us will look back with great affection and respect and much much love for our 2021 premiership heroes ... yet so many posters still won't be able to give up on their personal favourite whipping boys (reid, bell, florent, rowbottom, melican, heeney!??!, et al)
personally, i was never a big j mcveigh fan but the guy was a swans premiership hero who played through many (in my eyes) questionable early games in his career until he 'arrived' ...
paul bevan, ben matthews, luke ablett ... no superstars, not even close, but swans 2005 premiership heroes, they played their roles ...

 

[Superstar swan]

Its amazing how quickly we have turned the foot skills around. My entire life supporting this great club, we have always been very dower with deplorable skills as a whole.

Right now we are sharpest team in the game, and it’s not close

 

[Prez]

It may not be his best position, but 29 disposals at over 80% efficiency with the 2nd most clearances and the most contested possessions is a good game. Very handy to have players that can come from half back, or the wing, or half forward and play stints in the inside.
Also, I reckon Horse sees J Mac and others having stints inside in the long term.

C88 - I give up, you're never wrong

Agree with jmac having a good stint in the middle, the main issue I see is our recieving mids tend to move towards the drop of the ball rather than staying on the outside and waiting for the extractors getting it out to them. There were a number of times a bomber outrider did hold position and was able to take advantage in clear space. I do note that we do rotate positions at centre clearance at each bounce and the hit to player does change depending who is in the middle. The young guys will get better at this with more exposure in the middle.

 

[Kapers]

Watched through the second half again and had a few thoughts I would like to share.

1 - We got most first touches in the centre, but a lot of the time Essendon were most damaging off our first touches (Parker twice gave a disposal directly to an Essendon player, this isn't to shame him, just mentioning an example)

2 - We struggled to find a matchup on Stringer as Parker gave up 3 frees against (imo the frees were soft, but they were there)

3 - The coaches realised that they needed a speedy defensive midfielder. This is the odd one, but I realised watching it again that we weren't getting to Kennedy, Mill, and Parker's first handbells enough and we lacked pressure when Essendon got the ball on a turnover. IMO we added McInerny to almost be an outside inside player. To create pressure on our own turnovers and to get into the right space for the others.

4 - We have all the parts of a good midfield but are struggling to put them together. We probably need a more defensive-minded midfield with our current list, as any mistakes hurt us more than other midfields.



This is purely my opinion, but I think a good player to put into the fast defensive midfield slot when the cb are getting out of control would be Wicks. He is obviously a great small forward, and I wouldn't want him to spend the whole game in the mids, but I think his turn, speed, and tackling pressure could really be an asset when the ball gets tapped down. I don't think McInerney is a long term fix and neither is Wicks, I think our long term fixes are Warner, Rowbottom, and Stephens. This is assuming we want a midfield centred around Mills/Parker/Hewett.

Finally, I wanted to say that I hope we pull Stephens out of reserves and give him McInerny's recent role (putting McInerney back on the wing). I would love to see Stephens be gives some time being that defensive midfielder, but I understand if he's still a bit slight for that job.

 

[the hypnotoad]

Watched through the second half again and had a few thoughts I would like to share.

1 - We got most first touches in the centre, but a lot of the time Essendon were most damaging off our first touches (Parker twice gave a disposal directly to an Essendon player, this isn't to shame him, just mentioning an example)

2 - We struggled to find a matchup on Stringer as Parker gave up 3 frees against (imo the frees were soft, but they were there)

3 - The coaches realised that they needed a speedy defensive midfielder. This is the odd one, but I realised watching it again that we weren't getting to Kennedy, Mill, and Parker's first handbells enough and we lacked pressure when Essendon got the ball on a turnover. IMO we added McInerny to almost be an outside inside player. To create pressure on our own turnovers and to get into the right space for the others.

4 - We have all the parts of a good midfield but are struggling to put them together. We probably need a more defensive-minded midfield with our current list, as any mistakes hurt us more than other midfields.



This is purely my opinion, but I think a good player to put into the fast defensive midfield slot when the cb are getting out of control would be Wicks. He is obviously a great small forward, and I wouldn't want him to spend the whole game in the mids, but I think his turn, speed, and tackling pressure could really be an asset when the ball gets tapped down. I don't think McInerney is a long term fix and neither is Wicks, I think our long term fixes are Warner, Rowbottom, and Stephens. This is assuming we want a midfield centred around Mills/Parker/Hewett.

Finally, I wanted to say that I hope we pull Stephens out of reserves and give him McInerny's recent role (putting McInerney back on the wing). I would love to see Stephens be gives some time being that defensive midfielder, but I understand if he's still a bit slight for that job.

agree with this ... just think it'll take a bit of time ... just let this group keep playing together ... this time next year, geez, how good?
and i also agree on wicks, i can see him as a hard-at-it midfielder

 

[Kiama Chris]

Watched through the second half again and had a few thoughts I would like to share.

1 - We got most first touches in the centre, but a lot of the time Essendon were most damaging off our first touches (Parker twice gave a disposal directly to an Essendon player, this isn't to shame him, just mentioning an example)

2 - We struggled to find a matchup on Stringer as Parker gave up 3 frees against (imo the frees were soft, but they were there)

3 - The coaches realised that they needed a speedy defensive midfielder. This is the odd one, but I realised watching it again that we weren't getting to Kennedy, Mill, and Parker's first handbells enough and we lacked pressure when Essendon got the ball on a turnover. IMO we added McInerny to almost be an outside inside player. To create pressure on our own turnovers and to get into the right space for the others.

4 - We have all the parts of a good midfield but are struggling to put them together. We probably need a more defensive-minded midfield with our current list, as any mistakes hurt us more than other midfields.



This is purely my opinion, but I think a good player to put into the fast defensive midfield slot when the cb are getting out of control would be Wicks. He is obviously a great small forward, and I wouldn't want him to spend the whole game in the mids, but I think his turn, speed, and tackling pressure could really be an asset when the ball gets tapped down. I don't think McInerney is a long term fix and neither is Wicks, I think our long term fixes are Warner, Rowbottom, and Stephens. This is assuming we want a midfield centred around Mills/Parker/Hewett.

Finally, I wanted to say that I hope we pull Stephens out of reserves and give him McInerny's recent role (putting McInerney back on the wing). I would love to see Stephens be gives some time being that defensive midfielder, but I understand if he's still a bit slight for that job.

An excellent post. Others have talked about structural issues but this is as clear an exposition as I have seen. Do you make the assumption that Mills, Parker or Hewett cannot/should not play this role?
If so, we can never afford more than two of them (including JPK) in the CBA at once. THAT certainly makes sense.
I like the idea of Wicksy in there and have said so in the past. He played mids in ressies in 2019 and did well. Stephens certainly wants that role. Structure ressies like that and start building him into it from now.
The other guy who can do occasional visits there is Papley.
Interesting.

 

[Ticky009]

Its amazing how quickly we have turned the foot skills around. My entire life supporting this great club, we have always been very dower with deplorable skills as a whole.

Right now we are sharpest team in the game, and it’s not close

I'm not sure its a quick turn around. I think we've been recruiting good kicks and letting those go who weren't for some time now, and we finally have the team we've been building.

 

[Big Blood]

Papley gets another GOTY nomination

Goal of the Year - AFL.com.au

Watch the nominees each round, vote for your favourite goal and register to go into the running to win the major prize of $5,000!

www.afl.com.au

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

ha ... i understand and empathise ... for some time now i prefer to watch any sport on my own, for various reasons ... but i've learned (that whole age and experience thing) not to dwell too much on individual moments, or even individual games
and there's definitely players i like, and will defend, and others i question, criticise and simply don't rate ...
but it's frustrating to see the relentless negativity during gameday posts because you'd get the impression we're a crap team going nowhere ... i'd imagine this has been the case in gameday threads for years, and a long time ago i was probably guilty of posting stuff during games without taking a breath and thinking about the crap i was spouting
but this year, geez, it's been clear from the start we're building something ... and pretty much every player who's had a run in seniors this season has contributed something, even if they're not (and never will be) superstars or matchwinners ...
and if we go on and win this premiership, which even now would still be regarded as something of a shock, all of us will look back with great affection and respect and much much love for our 2021 premiership heroes ... yet so many posters still won't be able to give up on their personal favourite whipping boys (reid, bell, florent, rowbottom, melican, heeney!??!, et al)
personally, i was never a big j mcveigh fan but the guy was a swans premiership hero who played through many (in my eyes) questionable early games in his career until he 'arrived' ...
paul bevan, ben matthews, luke ablett ... no superstars, not even close, but swans 2005 premiership heroes, they played their roles ...

Beautiful post mate. This board is enriched by contributions like that.

 

[Ticky009]

Coaches Votes:
Essendon v Sydney
9 Zach Merrett (ESS)
9 Tom Papley

11

Tom Papley

Age

28

Ht

177cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

9.1

4star

HB

5.0

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.5

5star

D

12.3

3star

K

8.9

4star

HB

3.4

2star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.5

2star

G

2.4

5star

D

13.4

4star

K

8.0

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.4

4star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.6

5star

(SYD)
5 Jake Stringer

25

Jake Stringer

Age

30

Ht

192cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

8.5

3star

HB

4.4

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

4star

G

1.8

5star

D

8.5

2star

K

7.0

3star

HB

1.5

1star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

4star

G

2.5

5star

D

7.2

2star

K

4.8

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.4

5star

(ESS)
5 Callum Mills

14

Callum Mills

Age

27

Ht

188cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.2

5star

K

10.8

4star

HB

7.4

5star

M

5.3

5star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.6

3star

D

18.4

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

6.9

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

3.4

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

17.0

5star

K

9.4

4star

HB

7.6

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

2.8

5star

CL

1.2

4star

(SYD)
2 Luke Parker

26

Luke Parker

Age

32

Ht

183cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.2

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

11.6

5star

M

3.8

4star

T

5.6

5star

CL

5.8

5star

D

22.1

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

9.9

5star

M

3.9

4star

T

5.0

5star

CL

5.5

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

8.0

5star

CL

5.2

5star

(SYD)

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Parker 2 votes?? not sure about that.

 

[Dan87]

Coaches Votes:
Essendon v Sydney
9 Zach Merrett (ESS)
9 Tom Papley (SYD)
5 Jake Stringer (ESS)
5 Callum Mills (SYD)
2 Luke Parker (SYD)

Each of these player's games would be a worthy 10. Some serious individual performances over the weekend I thought

 

[TheMase]

Parker 2 votes?? not sure about that.

26 disposals at 88% (not a typo) with 9 clearances, 4 tackles, 7 score involvements and 2 goals (clutch) is a pretty handy return.

 

[BloodySwan]

Parker 2 votes?? not sure about that.

I thought he had a bigger impact than Mills but both were pretty impressive

 

[Kirkswan]

Context wise, someone may have said it after a week long Ice/MDMA bender maybe? Think it was this guy

Florent for 2 Brownlows Guy

I wonder if he's related to Peter Garrett...

 

[SM]

26 disposals at 88% (not a typo) with 9 clearances, 4 tackles, 7 score involvements and 2 goals (clutch) is a pretty handy return.

I assume he thinks he should have had more votes.