Opinion Our coaches, leadership, game style, and everything else

[The King!]

Note sure what's happened to the coaching team over the last year, but it's like they're stuck in reverse.

Team looks bereft of ideas and like all free thinking has been beaten out of them. Only group of players that are remotely holding up are the defenders. Midfield has shown glimpses and when they're on and firing we're still right up there, but far out, it's so few and far between.

yesterday was the first time in ages the defence did not s**t the bed IMO

 

[MaryClayton]

I was more angry at players like Hanners than Horse.

Hanners since he signed his cosy deal has become lazy. Yesterday in the first half he was pathetic.

Some of you have taken a real dislike to a coach who has done more good than bad, why, i dont know, but its shitty to read tbh.

 

[The Swans Blog]

Ranked 18th in the league for one-on-one contests is holding up?

Considering the midfield has been non existent without any defensive running or acceptable level of skill since the bye...

 

[bungwahl]

I was more angry at players like Hanners than Horse.

Hanners since he signed his cosy deal has become lazy. Yesterday in the first half he was pathetic.

Some of you have taken a real dislike to a coach who has done more good than bad, why, i dont know, but its shitty to read tbh.

I think the frustration stems from our game plan constantly being too defensive when we look so much better with an attacking plan. The last few weeks have proven that putting two spare men behind the ball does us no good.

 

[MaryClayton]

I think Dew has a lot to answer for. I hope he leaves to become a coach then we can see how good he really is.

 

[The King!]

I think Longmire appears to make some odd match day calls.

However bar stealing Alistair Clarkson who is the tactical genius to replace him?

The more I look at it Calmly I think there a few issues at play

1- ok tactically we do not make a lot of sense with our forward set up, the structure seems non existent, a new forward coach would seem apt, how we can add one of the greatest forward to ever play and a player of reasonable good ability in Tippett and struggle to get to 100 consistently is beyond me.

2- we overrate our midfield- the names and reputation do not match the output who is an elite midfielder at Sydney right now? im talking a top 10-20 midfielder? I am not 100% sure where i sit on this but i just think taking an honest look at the names they arent as good as people think

3- we are expecting horse to work miracles with a list that has two huge holes in it
i) a weak backline- dont give me points against- our backline relies on mids pushing back we have no key defensive dept at all and we have two warriors in Shaw and Richards who are done- they try their guts out but when the ball hits the ground they arent good
ii) no ruck division- Pyke tries his guts out, Tippett is meant to be a forward ffs, we basically do not have a number 1 ruck who is ready to go at all, we are the worst ruck division in the comp IMO unless you honestly want Tippett to be the full time ruckman


Considering that the fact we sit fourth is actually perhaps more a testament to the coaching?

The big issue is when you see us play patches like the 2nd quarter run v hawthorn or the late 3rd early 4th yesterday where they just take it on they look fantastic, i would rather go down that way, we clearly are capable of at least being more competitive against the best and that is on Longmire


But he is being handicapped in my opinion overall by the list management- how much say Does he have in it? I dont know but I think whoever builds our list, be it Mr Beatson or a panel of experts are the biggest issue, they have continued to fail to recruit and draft for our needs, the trade ban has become an easy out

There were issues before that and even during that like

Why Did we re sign Drex when he is clearly a s**t truck, why not get a shaun mckernan or someone

why did we not get a Mitch Brown type to address the defensive needs

Why did we draft Dean Towers- regardless of what you think of him, we were not not in need of players of his make up even if he was a good player

Why are we signing players to long term deals who do not warrant such? Dane Rampe- great yesterday and is a good player but 4 years? f off

Can we play better? hell yeah, we are out of form big time, but even full strength the list is relying on far too much to go right, I mean seriously Rampe on Kennedy? that wont work long term- it is not even fair on Rampe, but what other choice is there

If you cant get the depth management correct how can you execute a decent gameplan

sorry for the ramblings, i am just annoyed I think we shoot ourselves in the foot

 

[bedford]

It just shows we can play attacking footy, but why when you're behind and there's only one way to win he continues to have 8 in their forward line. Its hard to bag him, but remember he has been number 1 or 2 for over 10 years. We need a freshen up, but with our restrictions it will be hard. In fact this trade ban is just as bad as what Essendon and Carlton have had when they cheated.

 

[The King!]

It just shows we can play attacking footy, but why when you're behind and there's only one way to win he continues to have 8 in their forward line. Its hard to bag him, but remember he has been number 1 or 2 for over 10 years. We need a freshen up, but with our restrictions it will be hard. In fact this trade ban is just as bad as what Essendon and Carlton have had when they cheated.

Can still target the type of players that fill a need

What i find puzzling is if the trade ban is as clear cut as presented, why are we not fighting more? take it to bloody court, Essendon inject then go to court ffs

 

[RW]

I thought we might drop off a bit after playing in 2 grand finals, like what happened after 2005 and 2006. I think we can still freshen up our list with Mills and Dunkley, and retirements will free up a bit of cap space after our trading restrictions end. I like Horse but we need to back ourselves to kick a winning score. Tackling and pressure will always be the hallmarks of our game but they aren't much use when there's no-one forward of the ball.

 

[bungwahl]

Can still target the type of players that fill a need

What i find puzzling is if the trade ban is as clear cut as presented, why are we not fighting more? take it to bloody court, Essendon inject then go to court ffs

I'm rarely one for legal action in sports, but I agree. The trade ban is a clear unfair restriction on the Swans being able to manage their own affairs. If the AFL was so concerned about the Swans ability to decrease TPP under the salary cap by the end of 2016, why did they remove one of the primary tools that would allow us to do so?

 

[The King!]

What bothers me is we seemed more obsessed with the glamour forwards than list building for a flag

Thought we evolved beyond that

 

[bedford]

What bothers me is we seemed more obsessed with the glamour forwards than list building for a flag

Thought we evolved beyond that

Remember its all about the Sydney market, we now have diehards who love the club as much as us from South, but we will always have the bandwagon mob that only go when we are winning, it show on here as well you can pick them. They s**t me as they don't know what the hard times are like.

 

[The Swans Blog]

Yeah I've jumped on the gameplan is s**t thread. Not sure why they wanted to * with the '12 premiership formula. Coaching team definitely isn't the same.

 

[bedford]

We all go in to the contest, that's what we're about, no back up plan

 

[bungwahl]

Remember its all about the Sydney market, we now have diehards who love the club as much as us from South, but we will always have the bandwagon mob that only go when we are winning, it show on here as well you can pick them. They s**t me as they don't know what the hard times are like.

Interestingly Ticketek is showing red zone tickets as sold out for the Crows game. So getting thumped twice in two weeks has somehow brought the fans back... ?

Either that, or the Saturday afternoon time slot ties in very nicely with Saturday evening drinking..

 

[The Swans Blog]

Got rid of Membrey for Towers. Oh well, * it. Coaches must know something I don't.

Sir Swans interesting points but it isn't anything that hasn't been discussed to death already. Yes there's been significant recruiting issues in the last 5 seasons. Yes the coaching is a little ****ed up. Yes the ruck division is easily the worst in the league at the moment. Yes our defence is ageing too fast for our liking and it's costing us.

But how do fix these things?

We would have been able to recruit to replace Richards, but we've been forced to develop, which is quite frankly the correct approach. Alex Johnson has been injured the last 3 years so we're short 1 defender. We've done well to replace Mattner and Malceski with Rampe and Laidler, but they're not quite as good.

Our mids are clearly off the boil and it happens and they'll eventually come around. But in the mean time we can't wait for that because it's costing us. Other clubs usually have someone they can bring in, or a developed youngster who's hungry and chomping at the bit. Solution? We're just going to have to drop them and force them to regain confidence and form with less pressure. This has to apply to all of our midfielders including Jack and Hanners.

Urgh, coaching is just ****ed at the moment.

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

Let's not fight amongst ourselves.

We had to get Tippett because we needed a forward. We had to get Franklin because we could not afford for him to go to GWS.

Injuries are killing us but I was thrilled with XR, Heeney, and BJ yesterday. We have two quality midfielders to come on the list and I really like Rose. AJ will return, Naismith is pretty damn good (they say) and I like Nanka. We are not heading South any time soon.

Let's just see how September plays out.

 

[MaryClayton]

Injuries are killing us but I was thrilled with XR, Heeney, and BJ yesterday. We have two quality midfielders to come on the list and I really like Rose. AJ will return, Naismith is pretty damn good (they say) and I like Nanka. We are not heading South any time soon.

I think we do have a lot more injuries or serious ones which the club is being light on with the info they provide.

I knew Buddys ankle was shot.

We are not playing like a side who is healthy and all going in the same direction. We look spent, tired and mentally shot.

Even Horse knows it as his reactions in the box havent been as angry as they were earlier.

There is something the club is keeping from the fans.

 

[The King!]

Got rid of Membrey for Towers. Oh well, **** it. Coaches must know something I don't.

Sir Swans interesting points but it isn't anything that hasn't been discussed to death already. Yes there's been significant recruiting issues in the last 5 seasons. Yes the coaching is a little stuffed up. Yes the ruck division is easily the worst in the league at the moment. Yes our defence is ageing too fast for our liking and it's costing us.

But how do fix these things?

We would have been able to recruit to replace Richards, but we've been forced to develop, which is quite frankly the correct approach. Alex Johnson has been injured the last 3 years so we're short 1 defender. We've done well to replace Mattner and Malceski with Rampe and Laidler, but they're not quite as good.

Our mids are clearly off the boil and it happens and they'll eventually come around. But in the mean time we can't wait for that because it's costing us. Other clubs usually have someone they can bring in, or a developed youngster who's hungry and chomping at the bit. Solution? We're just going to have to drop them and force them to regain confidence and form with less pressure. This has to apply to all of our midfielders including Jack and Hanners.

Urgh, coaching is just stuffed at the moment.

Yeah done to death, but still lethargic to discuss especially when there are calls to sack the coach, the point is it is not all on him.

When clearly imo we have missed the boat in the off season

how do we fix it in this particular season? simply attack, forget the defensive bs

 

[sataris]

I just don't understand the point of bringing in an absolute superstar forward when we have such a defensive mindset as a team.

 

[SilentHunter_]

I don't know how many thrashings it is going to take for the coaching staff to realise that whatever they're doing is not bloody working. We tried the slingshot yesterday no doubt about it, simpson had it all covered. Just goes to show since 2012 teams have put so much work into us and it is finally being broken down. Need a new idea, and I may be a bit harsh, but imho it isn't going to change until Horse goes. He's too stubborn to even think about changing it.

 

[RW]

It almost seems unfair to bag the players, they are only doing as they're told. They certainly stuck to the plan. I think they actually still believe in it.

 

[The King!]

It almost seems unfair to bag the players, they are only doing as they're told. They certainly stuck to the plan. I think they actually still believe in it.

Theres little patches where they seem to think stuff it and go for it

and despite calling for his head I have to give massive Kudos to Shaw for these moments

Where he almost seems to say f this and moves closer to the forward line and just goes down the guts and others follow

give me Shaw mid/HF and i will just about keep him in 2016

backline shaw can go though

Id rather lose to the Crows by 100 trying to attack than watch us chip around and play insipid footy

 

[RW]

Id rather lose to the Crows by 100 trying to attack than watch us chip around and play insipid footy

We weren't insipid yesterday at least. We just didn't have a forward line.

 

[sataris]

It almost seems unfair to bag the players, they are only doing as they're told. They certainly stuck to the plan. I think they actually still believe in it.

Can you explain the plan to me?