Is anyone else seriously worried about the Swans forward line?

[rancidpants13]

From what ive heard Vezpremi doesnt have the body for AFL football yet. Do you know anything about him (eg how he plays, where he plays, what he is good at, what he sucks at)?

liz saw him play last weekend in a trial and gave glowing reports
i'm sure she'd quickly re-post her opinion but the praise was flowing
apparently he plays with a class bordering on arrogance, i think she said

 

[Jeffers]

Arrogance is very good to hear, especially considering we have such a dour midfield. (Goodes aside).

 

[LukeParkerno1]

From what ive heard Vezpremi doesnt have the body for AFL football yet. Do you know anything about him (eg how he plays, where he plays, what he is good at, what he sucks at)?

His strengths:

- arrogance (some view this as negative, I disagree)
- disposal, usually very effective
- quick
- goalkicker

Negatives (at this stage)

- doesn't have the body to play midfield all the time- may spend more time up forward
- is he ready, with a interupted year last year and a interupted pre season? That is why I did say get him in the side once match fit!

 

[smasher]

For the first time in a long time there were some excellent kicks into the forward line on Saturday.We need more of these and BBBH to start marking them.
We played one of the premiership favs too so I don't see reason to totally panic yet.

 

[Undisputed_King]

For the first time in a long time there were some excellent kicks into the forward line on Saturday.We need more of these and BBBH to start marking them.
We played one of the premiership favs too so I don't see reason to totally panic yet.

Don't be distracted by the fact that we only lost by 2 points against a flag favourite. The fact is we have not improved at all and our fowards will continue to struggle as long as the ball takes an eternity to get there.

 

[Tuco]

It's an interesting question. I think our forwards are still more than capable of producing winning scores regularly. But I've noticed over the last couple of seasons that we haven't really adjusted the way we deliver the ball to the forwards to best capitalise on the benefits of the new interpretations that favour the man in front. We're still generally putting the passes on top of their heads, and often when they're waiting behind the pack.

In the age of the super flood, it's Hall and co that are currently giving away the frees in contested situations by loitering for unmarkable balls when they should be the ones standing their ground in front.

 

[liz]

I agree with bombersno1 that we seriously lack goal kicking midfielders.

Goodes probably counts - though occasionally he goes forward to play as a marking forward, most of the goals he kicked last year were genuinely from the midfield. And he kicked around 20 of the things. You could argue that O'Keefe is a goalkicking mid too, since he effectively plays as a wingman much of the time. But we can't count him twice, once as a forward and once as a goalkicking mid. Sadly it won't double the number of goals he contributes to the scoreboard.

Even Buchanan doesn't kick as many as he should - though a better conversion rate would make a difference.

The likes of Kirk, Bolton, Mathews and Ablett snaring half-a dozen in a season doesn't qualify them as goal-kicking mids. If you go back a decade or so, you'll find Paul Kelly, Daryn Cresswell and Wayne Schwass all parading our midfield and all more than capable of 20+ goals in a season. They didn't all do it at same time but they all did it more than once in their Swans careers. Even 5 years ago you'd find Williams and Maxfield who both kicked goals more regularly than any of our current mob, Goodes aside.

I think we were hopeful that Malceski might make a difference this year. He kicked, what, a dozen or so last season from the half-back flank. The recruitment of Mattner was partly to enable Roos to play Malceski further up the ground. I don't think it was unreasonable to expect around 20 goals minimum from him. Until 5 weeks ago.

What the team desparately needs is more players who are prepared to run and carry the ball to around the edge of the 50m arc and kick from there. It just breaks the tactics up a bit. Recently, so many of the Swans' attacks have been dependent on taking a mark inside 50m that clogging up our forward line becomes such an obvious and easy tactic for the opposition to implement. Get more players to take running shots at goal and the opposition can't afford to station 16 players in the 20-40m zone. They have to protect the 40-60m zone more effectively.

Sadly we've lost a couple who were capable of this - Schneider and Dempster - even though they didn't do it often. But the likes of Moore, Jack and Barlow have the running and kicking ability to do it. I hope they are encouraged to back themselves as the season wears on.

 

[SouthSwans]

That's the exact reason it was the stupidest decision ever to give up Schneider. Goal kicking midfielder! What we bloody need!

 

[themightybloods]

i reckon our forward line will be back to its best soon. It was a bad night for forwards as there wasnt much space as stk were flooding heaps.

 

[snappy]

Simply, yes i am worried, after coming back from the game it was obvious we are going to struggle to big scores this year.
Its the same setup up fwd as last year and i was spewing not much changed.
Also for the fwd line to have a healthy transition post Hall, Micky O, we need to put some faith in the new guys up fwd.
I dont know if many who were at the game felt the same, but Grundy was ignored a fair bit, it was a pity because he did get himself into some good positions.
Again ill say we need to take the first options and put pressure back onto the defense, as many have said it will at least make us less predictable.

 

[nico]

Paul Roos has always been a fan of midfielders who can kick goals. Most of our midfielders can kick goals on a semi regular basis. Its nice to have midfielders who can score goals but our forwards are still expected to do most of the scoring and unfortunately im not sure they are up to it.




Really it wouldnt take much to turn the Swans into a top 4 side. Most of the ingredients are already there.

I do believe J Bolton kicked about 6 goals last year and McHack about 11 goals 21. Gives us a break, Bolton doesn't have the stamina to run any more than between the 50 metre arcs and even less stamina to make a second effort.

It has never been Roos's game plan to have midfielders kick goals, just see how many run to the fall of the ball or are front and centre in the 50 metre zone, zilch. It is one of our glaring weaknesses along with our lamentable ability to win a centre clearance. If we can go 50/50 on centre clearances we will be top 4 because our forwards would get first dibs at the footy without being flooded out of the contests.

 

[rancidpants13]

you're right about baz's decision to kick to bird in a pocket AFTER ignoring davo running past him free and directly in front, a bad decision by hall
however, apart from his dropping some marks, at least baz moved better than at any time last season, and he actually jumped for some marks
i think we have to give him the chance to get his confidence and timing back
i AM worried, however, that we have hall and micky o, two ageing forwards who barely make even an aerial contest, let alone grab high marks
i thought davis was okay last night, looked like he was trying to put himself into the game, and he is still probly our most dangerous shot at goal anywhere around the 50m, but he suffers i think from his past reputation for laziness and inconsistency, and is not given much service
o'keefe has not been a true forward for two years, he remains our best marking option on the half forward line, he seems to have great aerobic capacity and keeps running
grundy's hands, supposedly a strong point, continue to be a worry although again, leave him up forward and let him get some confidence
jesse white is the obvious choice as a big marking forward target, but the probolem is how to fit them all in
someone would have to go, apart from maybe picking ROK on the halfback flank or wing and use his running game

once again, micky o steps up to prove me wrong
and who else is feeling a bit silly now hall and micky o have combined for nine goals (and coulda been more) a week after they were being scrutinised???

 

[RUNVS]

once again, micky o steps up to prove me wrong
and who else is feeling a bit silly now hall and micky o have combined for nine goals (and coulda been more) a week after they were being scrutinised???

Im not feeling silly at all as odds are both players will retire at the end of 2009 which will make our Forward line incredibly weak unless we start drafting forward this year.

 

[grimlock]

I thought LRT looked good in the forward line today, more so than I thought he would. Ripper of a kick from the pocket as well.

 

[is2SWaNz]

once again, micky o steps up to prove me wrong
and who else is feeling a bit silly now hall and micky o have combined for nine goals (and coulda been more) a week after they were being scrutinised???

I think we'd rather be proved wrong than right.

The forwards stepped up this afternoon. Too bad Pebbles couldn't kick a straight goal. Deserved a couple of goals.

 

[rancidpants13]

Im not feeling silly at all as odds are both players will retire at the end of 2009 which will make our Forward line incredibly weak unless we start drafting forward this year.

o'loughlin must be closer to pulling the pin, this year might be his last
baz, if fit and hungry like today, could go on for at least two years, maybe a third

 

[Jaymeee]

I thought LRT looked good in the forward line today, more so than I thought he would. Ripper of a kick from the pocket as well.

he was very good today. Threw his body into the ruck and created a contest which is all we can ask of him when he's up against bigger bodies.

 

[rancidpants13]

he was very good today. Threw his body into the ruck and created a contest which is all we can ask of him when he's up against bigger bodies.

i keep saying ... LRT will be A STAR
he even found hall with a prefect pass from the boundary today that hall converted
just looks more and more comfortable on the field, with the ball, has more awareness
and is surely one of the more athletic big men in the league

and has anyone noticed how he has very slick hands? got a couple of very nice handballs away in heavy traffic today

 

[mortizy]

u have an aging forward line, but also remember that ur ruckman r getting old as well, to solve both of them in one player get nick natauai from WA, gonna be a gun player.

 

[bedford]

i keep saying ... LRT will be A STAR
he even found hall with a prefect pass from the boundary today that hall converted
just looks more and more comfortable on the field, with the ball, has more awareness
and is surely one of the more athletic big men in the league

and has anyone noticed how he has very slick hands? got a couple of very nice handballs away in heavy traffic today

yes and who on here bagged him last week,great call rancid.
can mchack keep it up.

 

[RUNVS]

u have an aging forward line, but also remember that ur ruckman r getting old as well, to solve both of them in one player get nick natauai from WA, gonna be a gun player.

Next year we will have the Ruck combination of Darrwen Jolly and Daniel Currie which should be quite effective. We also have Jake Orreal who the Swans are teaching Aussie Rules from scratch who is very tall and apparently very athletic (he has a basketball and volleyball background). I will be seriously pissed off if Paul Roos uses a high draft pick on a ruckman as the Swans deserately need a young version of both Barry Hall and Leo Barry.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

u have an aging forward line, but also remember that ur ruckman r getting old as well, to solve both of them in one player get nick natauai from WA, gonna be a gun player.

Isn't Jolly 26?

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

I said it 3 years ago, when opposition supporters were bagging LRT on a weekly basis, that he'll be one of the premier defenders in the league within a few years.

He's not there, yet, but I don't think he's far off. Will be a gun for Sydney for many years to come!

 

[rancidpants13]

yes and who on here bagged him last week,great call rancid.
can mchack keep it up.

well, i thought mcvague was better today than last week, so two good games outa two is an indication of consistency, so we can only hope

 

[ssfc0203]

In regards to the goal kicking midfielders concern. I was at the practice match for our reserves team before the main game today, and one of the stand-outs of the game for me would have to be Veszpremi.Four goals, hard running, clean hands and good decision making. Excellent prospect for both our midfield and forward line.