Autopsy Round 8 2018 Hawthorn vs Sydney

[AG]

I still can't figure us out. We've won two close games and lost two close games. We are very close to being equal first and very close to hanging around 13th on the ladder.

Losing only home games and looking very solid on the road.

Kennedy well down this year, Buddy and Reid injured so we don't have our ideal structure and Hanners a shadow of the player from a few years ago.

Have NFI if we are genuine contenders. The fixture should ease up a bit now considering 6 of the 8 teams we've played are in the top 8 currently. When you consider that, we've down pretty well.

 

[Joycerama]

This guy!

The Ronytonk was just too damn quick and too damn slick for the slow hawks defence. Awesome stuff. Sicily may have swallowed it every time we bombed it in but when it hit the deck, Sicily leaked goals to the Ronk. At least two bronlow votes, surely.

Re. Umpiring (goal review decisions aside, from which we have been totally rogered), there were plenty of non decisions in the first half that pissed a lot of us right off but looking at q4, we were literally gifted the game with the non calls that should have been called against us. The melts on this board re umpiring are hilarious. It’s like a f$&@/ therapy session where we all take out our aggression on them / blow off some steam. Too funny.

Grundy is building. Some great moments that weren’t there in the first three weeks. Contrary to what some have said, I thought Mc Veigh was composed and pretty bloody handy for us.

Florent now has a tank and is looking pretty classy. Rohan was outstanding. Hayward is mature beyond his years. Heenet was too tired at times and butchered it. I don’t give a toss what people say re. Parker not standing up in big games. Tonight was a big game in the context of the season and he bloody well led by example and stood up.

McCartin did what he was there to do. He looks promising. Looked fatigued in the fourth and was ineffective for the most part.

Credit to horse for putting HC on Isaac and Hewett on Mitchell. I think that kept us in it. Both had no impact. Cunningham totally towelled up Isaac Smith. Metres gained v his opponent says it all.

I dread playing this lot in the confines of the scg. Hope it is either blowing a gale or raining.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

I still can't figure us out. We've won two close games and lost two close games. We are very close to being equal first and very close to hanging around 13th on the ladder.

Losing only home games and looking very solid on the road.

Kennedy well down this year, Buddy and Reid injured so we don't have our ideal structure and Hanners a shadow of the player from a few years ago.

Have NFI if we are genuine contenders. The fixture should ease up a bit now considering 6 of the 8 teams we've played are in the top 8 currently. When you consider that, we've down pretty well.

Agree with each of your points. In some ways JPK being down a bit and the injuries has meant we have been relying on our second and third tier players. The youngsters have all stepped up. Suspect JPK is playing with injury. While his output is down he is still crucial.

I also have no feel whether we are genuine contenders or not.

 

[Kirkswan]

agree with all exceot Heeney...thought he was not as focussed or as competitve he looked to be going through the motions at times and not as assured with ball in hand. I will need to watch the game on tv to see if that impression is fair

We'll agree to disagree then.. He made a few errors, but was really involved in the whole game and essential to our win for mine.

 

[Leg End]

That block could really set up our season.

Umpiring dept really need to
meet and address this crisis. Their form is terrible. Swans are travelling well. The umpires allowed us a few wins although they performed well last night and beat us against NMelb.

Come on umps. Remember your training and mission statement: cheat the Swans; boost Melb clubs.

 

[Maddo11]

Considering how shot to pieces our usual game plan was at the start of the season (by losing every tall we have, naismith tippett reid bud) I'm very happy with the performance of the younger players and the coaching staff for consistently getting us in winning positions.

 

[Joycerama]

Didn’t realise we are the worst in the comp from going from defence to forward

Fix that and we are flag contenders

 

[MF]

Didn’t realise we are the worst in the comp from going from defence to forward

You can see why. Unless teams allow us to switch quickly (which they never do any more) we have some sort of irrational fear of playing through the corridor so we play kick to kick in our defensive 50 arc before bombing it high along thr boundary.

If I have one major criticism of our coaches and game plan it's our lack of line breaking and creativity from the backline. Line breaking and creativity that we suddenly seem to find when we're 2 or 3 goals down in the last quarter by the way.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Damn! I forgot Lloyd... that just makes it worse!!!

and Ollie

 

[grimlock]

You can see why. Unless teams allow us to switch quickly (which they never do any more) we have some sort of irrational fear of playing through the corridor so we play kick to kick in our defensive 50 arc before bombing it high along thr boundary.

If I have one major criticism of our coaches and game plan it's our lack of line breaking and creativity from the backline. Line breaking and creativity that we suddenly seem to find when we're 2 or 3 goals down in the last quarter by the way.

We basically have no run from the backline and that is to do with personnel. Jones looks like the only one who can provide this kind of service but he doesn’t always play in defence. Therefore we are almost always restricted to slow buildup from the back which relies heavily on kicking to an open man. If the opposition is well coached and well organised they can set up to cut off to kick down the wings.

Perhaps this is why we can’t win at the SCG lately, lack of space means we are less likely to find a target coming out of defence.

 

[Maddo11]

The game plan coming out of defense seems to be work the ball to 25ish meters out, then bomb it to the wing, force a stoppage then let our tank mids win clearances.

 

[S120]

I don't even know what to say about Ronke. I'm still speechless. What a find though.

Parker sensational as I posted elsewhere. This is what's expected of him and he was magnificent. He led the midfield while Grundy marshalled the defence superbly. He just keeps keeping on.

Best game of the year for Lloyd. Great running and defence and linking up.

Best game of his career for Florent. Clean, industrious and bold in taking on tackles with the confidence to beat them. Really trending upwards this guy.

Good battle between McEvoy and Sinclair which I thought McEvoy won slightly but no shame in that.

Great game by Hewett on Mitchell and that went a huge way to winning it for us. His discipline and smarts are just so handy to have.

Cunningham won a hell of a lot of ball but he still looked a little timid. One day I wish he'd just go for broke and run with purpose with the ball and take on tackles like Florent did. I suspect it won't happen but he's having a good year nevertheless.

Hayward is growing genuine consistency in his game which is really exciting. Meanwhile I'm not sure where Papley is, going through a very lean patch atm and seems to be stuck between midfield and forward without really knowing where he fits.

I actually liked Dan Robinson's game. He wasn't outstanding but he tried his guts out and won the 2nd most contested possessions of our side. He'll probably go out for Hannebey next week (although if Parker gets suspended he might get a reprieve) but I continue to like this guy.

One guy I think is going under the radar despite our inconsistent play is Jones he's become far more reliable this year in disposal and discipline. Happy with his play off HB SO far.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

It’s just a better morning!

Makes the lack of sleep due to the baby so much better!

 

[Joycerama]

Oh bullshit... You've been sucked in by the AFL.com headline. Don't fall for it.

Clarko spoke perfectly well about the Swans. Gave you guys full credit. Said you wanted it more and showed our blokes up. Said you showed more polish and hunted the ball better than us around the contest and used it much better going inside fifty

He PRAISED your backline and complimented the way Rampe and Grundy block for each other. He openly admitted that we had no counter and said we were soundly trounced in this part of the ground.

What more do you want from an opposition coach?

Sure, he was disappointed to lose. Yes, he was frustrated with the inconsistent application of the marking interference rule & said your defenders get away with a lot. But he was philosophical about it & acknowledged we aren't going to get those frees in the goal square. I think he was just expressing his general frustration with inconsistent umpiring rather than bitching about you guys or the loss.

We are deficient up forward. We can't take a mark. We can't even half a contest & bring the ball to ground. Roughie, Gunston and O'Brien are getting no favours from the umps. They're getting pushed around too easily and the lack of a marking target (or presence) is costing us dearly. Clarko is clearly unhappy with all of that.

I will never understand why opposition fans always try twist every press conference of Clarkson's into some imagined poor loser moanfest. The utensil heads at afl.com also seem to take weird pleasure in plucking quotes of his out of context and beating things up. Clarko's press conferences are always pretty good, I think.

Do you wanna see a poor loser? Check out this coach's after match presser vs Sydney: http://www.afl.com.au/video/2018-04-28/full-postmatch-cats


Well played last night. Hated losing that, but I thought you guys were the better team.
Horse is doing a pretty good job. I think you're a good chance of getting back to the Grand Final this year

The problem is that Clarkson intimates that other teams are cheating and getting away with it. And that is piss poor. He should just suck it up.

 

[The Gong]

You can see why. Unless teams allow us to switch quickly (which they never do any more) we have some sort of irrational fear of playing through the corridor so we play kick to kick in our defensive 50 arc before bombing it high along thr boundary.

If I have one major criticism of our coaches and game plan it's our lack of line breaking and creativity from the backline. Line breaking and creativity that we suddenly seem to find when we're 2 or 3 goals down in the last quarter by the way.

Bang on. Very astute.

We're very conservative but can move it beautifully when we need to. I'd love to see a higher risk, high reward approach but we still need to work on delivery.

 

[Glenn_]

It seems like the Sydney game plan has gone to a Polar opposite of what it has been, in the past Sydney have been susceptible to having problems on larger grounds, while the tight contested Football had made the SCG a Fortress. This year the opposite has been true so far, Sydney are finding the space on the larger grounds to chip the Ball around and find space for players.
Last Night again a lot of bombing long to the Forward line, but this time Sydney had players there to bring it to ground and let the smaller forwards go to work, also the defensive pressure on the Hawks players was on from the opening quarter, with Sydney capitalising on the turnovers forced, underlined by Ronke winning the HTB free to end the first quarter, then getting the Goal as the siren sounded.
What more can be said about Ronke, Third game in Seniors and a Seven Goal haul , most impressive thing for me not all were straight forward but showed a game maturity such as managing to shrug tackles and keep his composure to kick a goal, and a good turn of speed to outpace defenders when the ball was on the deck. Only fitting he sealed the game for Sydney with a strong Mark under pressure.
Not much has been mentioned about McCartin on debut , but worked well making a contest when the Ball came in his direction.
Also pleasing to see a maturity in the performance from Jones, put away the aggressiveness and along with Hayward really instrumental in the Swans midfield and getting the Ball into the Forward 50.

 

[BloodySwan]

I still can't figure us out. We've won two close games and lost two close games. We are very close to being equal first and very close to hanging around 13th on the ladder.

Losing only home games and looking very solid on the road.

Kennedy well down this year, Buddy and Reid injured so we don't have our ideal structure and Hanners a shadow of the player from a few years ago.

Have NFI if we are genuine contenders. The fixture should ease up a bit now considering 6 of the 8 teams we've played are in the top 8 currently. When you consider that, we've down pretty well.

Some of the teams we've faced so far this year currently sit 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th & 8th. During that time there was only 1 match where we had a fully fit team (ignoring Naismith). We've had the toughest run in the AFL and we've come out alright. We're in a great position to be finding form

 

[Tuco]

Horse is rubbish. Players no good. Won't make finals. No effort. Embarrassing.

Am I doing this right?

Heh.

Players have said they were embarrassing last week. Pretty sure Heeney even mentioned our home form in the post match. I'll take their word for it.

Ball movement last week to this week was like chalk and cheese.

Can never fault our endeavour.

 

[Tuco]

Clarkson has just guaranteed further scrutiny to Rampe and Grundy.

Coaches talking about umpiring is creeping back in. Chris Scott gets to say what he wants by saying we have to be careful here in what we can say then proceeds to say it anyway. Simpson on Nic Nat and MRP.

Either it's ok to criticize umpiring and every coach should get their say or not then it needs a please explain to Clarkson.

It's deflection 101.

Straight out of the Malthouse playbook.

Funny. We've seen Clarko and Beveridge commenting a lot on the umps since their teams started dropping down the ladder last couple of years.

 

[Ticky009]

Ronke. Hard as a cats head and with a bit of mongrel. YES!!!

 

[Carolyn]

Just listened to Clarko’s presser. Wtf our defenders get away with “blue murder” despite umpires ignoring all their blocks, Sicily’s fresh airy right in front of goal, gunstons jumper hold. Haha turn it up you massive sook. Reaching near Chris Scott levels of sooking.

 

[Banyo Bloods]

On the flip side Gunston is well um a gun.

We barely have a match up for him.

Quick, strong overhead, footy smart, accurate goal kick. He looked like he was going to be the one to nail us. For a wiry light bloke he can play.

 

[The King!]

To what end? After COLA and the trade ban, you think the AFL's gonna respond posititively to any Swans whinging? They're just as likely to double down on screwing us. Our coaches should stick to worrying about the s**t we control. The way the Scott brothers particularly carry on in the box and at pressers is a total embarrassment.

Clarko did it sensibly , doesn’t come across like a Scott brother, but you are probably correct

 

[The King!]

On the flip side Gunston is well um a gun.

We barely have a match up for him.

Quick, strong overhead, footy smart, accurate goal kick. He looked like he was going to be the one to nail us. For a wiry light bloke he can play.

His kicking is so accurate

You wonder how good the crows would be if guys all stayed

 

[Tuco]

Just on Hayward, I remember an early comparison to Gunston.

I'm really seeing that now. Elite goal sense. Great contested mark. Mobile enough to cameo through the midfield and defence.

If he isn't part our next decades' planning I'll eat my hat