Autopsy Thankgod for our kicking boots Swans by 11 to keep season alive!

[the hypnotoad]

Hickey looks shot , maybe OPSM or Specsavers need a visit

for him or you?

 

[ErrolisGoldun]

Yeah agree.

I dunno, it might be AFL culture down in Melbourne, or channel 7, or just the tempo of AFL resulting in a different commentating style, but I find AFL commentators more aggravating than just about any sport. You can really tell if you switch between a swans game and an NRL game or the cricket what the difference is like.

Agreed the commentators for AFL are on the whole atrocious!

Really shouldn’t be that hard to get right, Adam Papalia is one of the few who just tries to commentate rather than add “something extra” BT’s personality, Darcy’s lame attempts at being insightful, Brayshaws irritating language and Hamishs smarminess all end up with the mute button.

I would actually prefer just to have crowd noise than afl commentators, don’t add anything to the entertainment.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

A really good performance last night and the synergy in this team keeps improving.

I wanna first acknowledge the three inclusions:

Hickey - Has been out the side for a couple of weeks to build some form and probably match fitness (given his injury history earlier in this year). There were moments in the game I thought Briggs was getting the top of Hickey especially around the third and early fourth quarter. He got some rest on the bench and really held himself together in the latter half of the fourth. I think his overall game was really good, provided 50-50 contests most of the time, helped with the spread in attack and defence. It also freed up McLean to do damage up forward.

Francis - Strong marking hands and appears to grow in confidence in one-on-one contests. His disposal efficiency by foot is still a working progress but I'm sure its something that can be improved on with time.

Stephens - Loved that aggression to attack the ball. While some of the kicking is still a bit questionable, his attitude was good and created some opportunities for others. A genuine gut runner to help with our attack and defence. I was really confident he would kick that goal from 50 m but alas Sam Taylor's fingers...Keep it up, this effort should surely keep him in the team.

The return of Mills:

Mills - Pretty sure he only started playing minutes at centre bounces after the start of the third quarter but damn was he influential. He was everywhere in the 3rd and 4th, diving, hand balling and spoiling for the team. Having him play well in the middle definitely helped the others play even better.

The player that deserves more praise:

McLean - This guy has really high footy IQ. Whilst his limitations are well spoken about on here, I feel more praise should be placed on the fact that he always does the right thing in 50-50 moments and is a genuine team player. That kick pass to Warner, the gut running to help out in transition, the strong marking and straight goal kicking. His form wasn't great at the start of the year but thankfully due to his versatility the coaches kept him in the side and he slowly got himself going for the year. In honesty, I feel like McLean embodies the concept of early 2000s bloods culture, he is a competitor and will always give his best for the team. Now hurry up and sign him beyond 2023 please.

I think McLean is my favourite swan. As you say, he not only gets everything out of himself, he also always does the team thing. He will keep getting better bit by bit, and one day the comp will wake up and wonder where he came from.

 

[Wolfgang West]

Why do they have to sing it at double speed though? I like to enjoy listening to them singing the song, but it's over in 10 seconds.

Agreed. Have thought that for some time the way our players sing the song. Just listened to Carlton sing their song and it would seem today's players are dead set butchering these age old traditional triumphant anthems. If the speed they are singing at is not irritating enough the added little hoots and howls that now get thrown in are just down right cringeworthy.

 

[Wolfgang West]

Hickey looks shot , maybe OPSM or Specsavers need a visit

Agree. Hickey was good. Name another ruckman in the AFL that can work back deep in defence to help and then in traffic under pressure manage to hit one of our players 30-35 mtrs away to release the pressure valve ? NONE. He was more than serviceable last night and at his age and injury interruption this year has been terribly judged by most on here. The Buddy's cooked mantra now bestowed on Tom. Surprises me what people are watching half the time.

 

[Arrr]

When I see how we transitioned out of defence so strongly and yet Florent was off early on and Blakey was barely seen, it makes me so happy. Clearly they had a plan to shut down our run out of the defensive half and those two are usually our main outlets for that kind of run and carry. Instead we used our chip kicking and cut them to shreds. Lloyd, Cunningham, Fox, Campbell all used the ball really nicely coming out of the back half and negated the impact of their clamp down on our usual runners.
When we've got such a nice array of options to transition the ball it's no wonder our score rate is so high both for goal percentage per inside 50 and percentage of scores from d50 to goal.
I don't think it's a surprise that now we've got a more settled back line we are looking much more dangerous. That's the biggest change to our team since the first half of the season, player availability in defence.

 

[Ticky009]

I think McLean is my favourite swan. As you say, he not only gets everything out of himself, he also always does the team thing. He will keep getting better bit by bit, and one day the comp will wake up and wonder where he came from.

Fun fact from today's Mongrel Punt paywalled review <see media thread for link>: The Swans are 7-0 over the last two seasons when McLean kicks multiple goals.

 

[BloodySwan]

Campbell given a 1 match ban

 

[the hypnotoad]

Campbell given a 1 match ban

that's the afl invoking the "swans won again" rule

 

[bedford]

The poster who has no idea

 

[Wolfgang West]

Campbell given a 1 match ban

WTF for ????

 

[bedford]

Agree. Hickey was good. Name another ruckman in the AFL that can work back deep in defence to help and then in traffic under pressure manage to hit one of our players 30-35 mtrs away to release the pressure valve ? NONE. He was more than serviceable last night and at his age and injury interruption this year has been terribly judged by most on here. The Buddy's cooked mantra now bestowed on Tom. Surprises me what people are watching half the time.

That really was what we want from him , old mate it's the have NFI about the game

 

[wilsonmatic]

- He's not our most polished or prolific, but Rowbottom is our most damaging player. I don't think there's a single player on our list whose involvement makes the team actively better as much as Rowbottom's.

So it's no longer a 'no brainer' for him to be dropped next week?

 

[caesar88]

Campbell given a 1 match ban

The fact that literally our fairest and least malicious players - Campbell, Parker, Rowbottom, JPK - have been given suspensions in recent times show how ridiculous the system is.

Have said it before and I'll say it again, there is no point in suspending players for split-second actions that mortal humans can't control or change. It won't stop them from doing it again in the future, because they couldn't stop themselves from doing it in the first place!

 

[The King!]

Stephens might get a game I guess

but surely that is overturned

 

[The King!]

bit sloppy i guess

 

[caesar88]

So it's no longer a 'no brainer' for him to be dropped next week?

No it's not. Because when he plays like he did last night where he shows more intent to win the ball than to tackle an opponent there's a place for him in this team every day of the week. When he's not, then I don't think there is. It's pretty simple IMO.

 

[wilsonmatic]

Blakey looked proppy as anything after qtr time, could barely run. No mention of it from the expert commentary team though, so who knows.
How good was Aaron Francis, we're one of the best scoring teams from d-50 in the comp, so why not keep an intercepter
in the team! If that's our strength we may as well make the most of it.

 

[Edmund hunt]

What exactly is Campbell's 1 match ban for?

On SM-A515F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Kiama Chris]

I think McLean is my favourite swan. As you say, he not only gets everything out of himself, he also always does the team thing. He will keep getting better bit by bit, and one day the comp will wake up and wonder where he came from.

I think it was Rd 1 last season he dropped a sitter about 35 out in front but had the presence of mind to knock it into the path of Gulden or Wicks, not sure which, for a goal and I thought "this bloke is OK". Never changed my mind - might have less than some but gives it all and has a good footy brain and has built his tank year on year.

 

[The King!]

What exactly is Campbell's 1 match ban for?

On SM-A515F using BigFooty.com mobile app

cos

 

[DeathlyAccurate]

Ffs we get a little tiggy touchwood report every week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Olian]

Campbell given a 1 match ban

Late bump on Whitfield after he disposed of the ball in the first quarter. Whitfield was awarded the free kick and managed to play the game out.

If that is reportable then half a dozen players would miss from each game as it occurs a lot.

 

[Edmund hunt]

Late bump on Whitfield after he disposed of the ball in the first quarter. Whitfield was awarded the free kick and managed to play the game out.

If that is reportable then half a dozen players would miss from each game as it occurs a lot.

Would it be something that could be challenged?

On SM-A515F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Olian]

Would it be something that could be challenged?

On SM-A515F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Seems an innocuous football contest that happens all game. Whitfield played out the game so low impact. However it’s the AFL tribunal so it’s a lottery.