Autopsy Swans end our 2024 season

[JakeNeadeFan]

I thought the three turnovers in the first quarter that led to Swan's goals killed our confidence. A world where those turnovers don't happen and we probably go into quarter time with a lead.

Who knows what direction the game goes from that point, but it was noticeable from that point onward the ball use became a lot more tentative.

 

[rogerjames]

Now I'm in my own ' morning after ' mode after being blindsided by the loss yesterday, I'm better placed to offer an opinion on this one. I'm not sure a public rally against your club administration is the way to go. Yes I agree that you guys have every right and reason to rail against Koch et al, but two things - a\ I don't think that's the bulk of the issue, and b\ this has been going on since well before Koch - Greg Boulton was piss weak and too scared to stand up to the powerbrokers at AFL house as well, and allowed the club to be effectively emasculated in his reign. The only official I can ever recall having any balls in your AFL sojourn so far is Brian Cunningham.

In my view, the AFL is the main culprit. It is a totally corrupt organisation with its pernicious agendas set in stone, and changing the guard down at Alberton will have little or no effect.
A better tactic is to boycott the AFL entirely. Don't buy memberships, AFL approved merchandise, pay TV subscriptions to AFL specific channels, etc and don't attend the games. Realise that's hard for diehard supporters and long time members to do, but it's the only way the message will get across.

The AFL has two main agendas that are obvious if you think about it. It has its mind hell bent on cracking the lucrative populous, cashed up NSW market and dominating Rugby League in that State. Why else would they have rescued a dead duck from the jaws of the creditors five times in the last 40 years and introduce a second into an area with a massive NESBy demographic with no interest in Australian football?
South Australia is just nuisance value. Guaranteed revenue stream due to the same level of football tribalism as Victoria but on a much smaller scale. Same goes for WA. Let them have a token flag every so often, and build up their supporters hopes just enough to keep them hanging in there.

On the other side of the ledger, the AFL has to balance this out by assuaging the Victorian ' heartland ' . In other words, they can't afford to shit in their own nest and cut off the huge revenue stream from the Victorian football public spread across 10 clubs. Example - the reluctance to get rid of North Melbourne. North have been a parasite club for decades. There has been perfect opportunities to shunt them off to Canberra, Gold Coast, Western Sydney and , now, Tasmania. But it won't happen.
Hence, the graded draw system, that seems to favour the big Vic clubs to a ridiculous extent, the criminal concessions given to the NSW clubs ( such as COLA, academy development etc ), ridiculously long suspensions handed out to players of the genuine interstate clubs and a gazillion other anomalies too many in number to list here and chew up bandwidth.

The reason for the rant? Well, we wake up this morning and have a Grand Final between two clubs transplanted in rugby cities. The AFL can trumpet loud and long about how its' national league concept has been a huge success because this years' Grand Final is contested between teams based in NSW & Queensland - rugby heartland states - and can claim a double win as this decider is actually contested by the remnants of two foundation VFL clubs - South Melbourne & Fitzroy - two clubs that were by and large bottom two for most of their time in the 1900s and who still have a solid foundation supporter base in Melbourne.
In summary - The AFL have got their all interstate final, while not actually having an all interstate final, it's an all Victorian final. Win win.

Stop and think about the Grand Finals since the birth of the national competition in 1987. How many genuine ' all non Victorian finals ' have we seen, despite all the hype and irrational fear coming out of Victoria in the early 90s about the Eagles and Crows being an omnipotent force within a handful of years and dominating the competition, and again in the early 2010s with the concessions and draft leg ups that were given to Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney?

2004 - Port Adelaide v Brisbane ( Fitzroy )
2005 - West Coast vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2006 - West Coast vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2024 - Brisbane ( Fitzroy ) vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )

Then there's the ones that have been all Victorian by stealth:

1996 - North Melbourne vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2001 - Essendon vs Brisbane ( Fitzroy )
2002 - Collingwood vs Brisbane ( Fitzroy )
2003 - Collingwood vs Brisbane ( Fitzroy )
2012 - Hawthorn vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2014 - Hawthorn vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2016 - Footscray vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2022 - Geelong vs Sydney ( South Melbourne )
2023 - Collingwood vs Brisbane ( Fitzroy )

I totally agree with what has been written in these threads about dead wood at Alberton and the need to clear it out, but in reality the problem goes much further than that. I've long held the view that the genuine interstate clubs should form a ' bloc ' or ' cartel ' to fight the AFL and its' agendas. After all they comprise one third of the member clubs and numbers are about to be increased.

Thanks for the detail. 100% agree with all your points. I'm very close to giving the game away for all the above reasons.

 

[Windy Cindy]

I don't think we had a real crack at all, Hinkley is delusional. Swans players everywhere getting uncontested posessions most of the game. Too many Port players were lazy & played their one & only final against the Hawks.

Score flattered us.. they put the cue in the rack very early.

 

[Windy Cindy]

I thought the three turnovers in the first quarter that led to Swan's goals killed our confidence. A world where those turnovers don't happen and we probably go into quarter time with a lead.

Who knows what direction the game goes from that point, but it was noticeable from that point onward the ball use became a lot more tentative.

The trouble with our players is soon as this happens it’s like we drop our bundle and drop away.

Apart from JHF we have no players who can grab the group and lift the team.

 

[rogerjames]

Horne-Francis had a crack

Some players did for sure but nowhere near enuf. Job was done mentality we see all too often.

 

[Waspy79]

The trouble with our players is soon as this happens it’s like we drop our bundle and drop away.

Apart from JHF we have no players who can grab the group and lift the team.

I thought Jordan Sweet was quite inspirational both last week and this week. But you are right, it’s slim pickings. Powell-Pepper would have been handy instead of a spud like Francis Evans or Meade.

 

[FishingRick04]

If we kept Cahill, we might have lost Tredrea.

Maybe, I suspect we would have been better with Cahill, Tredrea only one part of many cogs

 

[Harlott]

Because Cahill didn't rate him. Tredrea has spoken openly about it and was close to asking for a trade.

Is this anecdotal or a fact? Hard to believe he didn’t rate him. Played 16 games averaging over two goals a game and probably missed the other games due to that knee injury in 1998.