The Positives Thread

[PVF]

Too much negativity around this board lately. I know the game on Saturday night was atrocious but get over it, you don't lose premierships in July. We have one and a half months to work this s**t out.

So this is a thread for people with positive and constructive responses about how we can improve and build ourselves up for a shot at the title. No this is not a troll thread, I firmly believe if we get our s**t sorted we can beat anyone, even the "invincible" Hawks.

The positives:

Well there's not a hell of alot after last night's game but...

- Heeney, McGlynn, Pyke, Laidler and Rohan to come back into the side.

- 90% of people have written us off! Exactly how we want it. We play better when no-one gives us a chance. 2005 and 2012 ring a bell to anyone?

- We won the contested ball, disposals, tackles and only had one less inside 50 last night. The problem was we butchered our delivery into the forward line, missed gettable shots on goal and struggled to keep the ball in the forward 50. All of these are fixable, especially when are a few of those outs come back into the side.

- Remember how quick we got the ball into the forward 50 when Franklin kicked 3 goals in 5 minutes? We need to keep doing that inside of chipping it side to side and waiting for an option only to * it up. This is where guys like Heeney and McGlynn will help out big time because even if we can't hit Franklin or Tippett (really need Pyke back) they can pick up the crumbs and the opposition defenders won't have time to set up.


We certainly have some upside, especially offensively so no need to write us off yet.

 

[SilentHunter_]

Yeah premiership contenders don't get smashed liked that either. Just because people are having a realistic viewpoint of where this club is at ATM, doesn't mean they're being negative. A premiership is further away from us then you may think, we are not the Sydney we have been over the last 3 year. Let's just take it week by week for the moment.

 

[PVF]

Yeah premiership contenders don't get smashed liked that either. Just because people are having a realistic viewpoint of where this club is at ATM, doesn't mean they're being negative. A premiership is further away from us then you may think, we are not the Sydney we have been over the last 3 year. Let's just take it week by week for the moment.

Geelong lose to us by 110 points and go on to win 10 out of the next 12 games last year.

Geelong back in Round 9 of 2008 lost by 86 points to a Colllingwood team that finish 8th. They wouldn't lose again until the Grand Final.

Are Freo still considered contenders after last week?

One loss doesn't mean we are out of it.

 

[Sanecow]

Despite the scoreboard, it was pretty even in the first half. Was an improvement over the Grand Final last year.

 

[melbournehammer]

Most of us have been saying for weeks we can beat anyone except hawthorn.

If it's a battle for second I still back us.

But with hawthorn even when it is an even contest they are five goals to the good. Look at who has been missing against us from their teams when we have beaten them. To beat hawthorn everything has to go right and they have to have things go wrong.

It's even a reverse of 2012 - they can lose the contested ball because they know we will give it back to them.

 

[GoTheSwannies]

*Hopes hawthorn get knocked out by another team

 

[Wayne Swan]

Lack of depth really starting to show us up now. Disposal efficiency and decision making not up to the required standard. We also have a ruck problem that can't be fixed this year.

If we have no injuries we are still a chance as Rohan, Heeney, McGlynn make the forward line a whole lot better which means more scores and less of the damaging rebound we saw Saturday night. Heeney should come back for WCE but the other two are 2-3 weeks away in reality.

We're not dead but on life support. We're all hoping that we can bounce up off the slab and start dancing soon but top two now looks gone and top four may be too after this weekend. Wretchmond in the top four - I feel sick!

 

[momentbymoment]

Strangely enough I thought we played pretty well - especially in the first half.

I believe we need to fix our small forward play. The Hawks didn't always kick it brilliantly inside 50, but they managed to swarm on everything that dropped to the ground.

I think this game was a pretty realistic assessment of where the two teams are at. The Swans were never as good as the hysterical VFL tried to make out. We are a battler team that needs to work hard to get results ...

 

[The King!]

Just beat the Eagles first

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Sheesh folks, the thread title clearly says No Negative Nancys. There are plenty of other threads for us to bemoan our lack of ruck/poor use of ball inside 50/lack of depth/backline shitting themselves.

I was as critical as anyone after Saturday night but we can definitely still win this.

 

[Olian]

Of course we can win it.
We need to play the way we did in the second quarter and take the game on.
Hawks defence is like any other when the ball comes in quickly.
No more chipping around moving the ball sideways.

 

[bungwahl]

Of course the Swans can still we the flag.

8 weeks ago the Hawks were struggling, Freo were unbeatable, Richmond were a rabble.

Anything is possible over the next 8 weeks leading up to finals and no one should be surprised to see the balance of power shifting over that time.

 

[MarkP]

 

[alanlau34]

We weren't that bad on Saturday. Hawthorn were just that good.

Against any other team we would have won - our turnovers and terrible f50 entries wouldn't convert to easy transition goals for most teams, but Hawks just have too much quality.

I never hope for injuries to other teams, but it's little things like that that could open the way up to the GF. I'm personally hoping for West Coast outgunning them in a prelim, and we meet in a throwback GF.

Well, let's see what happens next week first.

 

[Tedeski]

In 2012, we lost 3 of the last 4 games of the season to our main rivals in Collingwood, Hawthorn & Geelong.
Grundy was rubbed out for the first final & we dropped to 3rd possition (or 4th) leaving us with an interstate final against Adelaide.
No Grundy!
LRT steps in & the rest is history.
Backs against the walls & we dig deep.

It can still happen & the best remedy for the boys to get things rolling in the right direction is time together.
No better way than a big trip to the West against the Eagles.

We like playing interstate.
We played Freo at full peak early & just lost.
The other 3 losses have been at home.
So the boys go alright when they have to get on a plane to play the next game.

This week will be no exception.

We may not win but we won't dish that out again.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Sure why not sport can throw up all sorts of surprises.

But we have to make top 4 first which means we can really only afford to drop 2 games at most for the rest of the year with our %

 

[Bloods]

It never felt like a 15 goal flogging to me. In general play, I reckon they controlled it for two and a half quarters. I thought we controlled the other quarter and a half. While we were in control, we didn't make the most of it. They're outrageously efficient and make you pay.

Need to find a way to become more potent. We've effectively got one forward. He's a superstar but he can't do it on his own. Rohan, Heeney and McGlynn will help but it seems to be more than just personnel.

 

[Olian]

In 1998 Round 10 St Kilda belted us by 101 points
In the Qualiflying Final that year we beat the Saints by 2 points.

So you can always turn around results in a season.

 

[Dangas]

We can, we have the list. Gameplan needs a real shuffle though.

 

[vonn]

The minute our forward line clicks next week, the rest of the league better watch the * out.
#2015Premiers

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

This year, Hawthorn have lost to Essendon, Port, Giants and us. They are not invincible. Anything can happen come finals time. After all, they have scraped over the line (some would say with a helping hand from the umps) in two recent Prelims. They may go out in straight sets. Or we may only have to beat them once.

Noe of this is likely, but none of this is impossible, and there are many weeks to go yet, with many twists and turns. And we are 4th, on 11 and 4. Fourteen other teams would be only to happy to be in our ladder position.

And I think red and white is a really nice colour combination.

 

[The Swans Blog]

First final: away to Fremantle
2nd final: home to dogs
3rd final: away to hawks (lol)
4th final: mcg vs eagles

Good luck.

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Absolutely! Put simply, we just need to play better and have a bit of luck.

 

[RW]

Sheesh folks, the thread title clearly says No Negative Nancys. There are plenty of other threads for us to bemoan our lack of ruck/poor use of ball inside 50/lack of depth/backline shitting themselves.

I was as critical as anyone after Saturday night but we can definitely still win this.

Agree with this. We are playing a poor brand of footy at the moment, but I think we are still a more than capable side.

Will we win the premiership? I don't know, but there is plenty of room for improvement in this group.

 

[Teaser_]

Most of us have been saying for weeks we can beat anyone except hawthorn.

...and Richmond...