Review Round 20 GWS Giants v Sydney Swans - 2.10 pm Saturday 3 August 2019 @ Giants Stadium

[Giant Strides]

Bonar's problem from what I could see was that he was a bit fumbly trying to pick up the ball, so was near the ball but not getting possessions (or getting it second grab and being tackled). I also thought today was not one of Hately better games. Idun allowed a couple of goals for his opponent, but he's a first year defender (and no Sam Taylor at that!), but it was great to see him get a run. I thought Stein was solid again - yes, he doesn't do a lot, but what he did I thought was pretty good. He generally defended his man OK, took a couple of marks, didn't do any rushed or stupid disposals that I saw.

If Kelly, Cameron and de Boer return, I'd reckon Bonar, Hately and Idun are the most likely to go. Stein should hold his spot while Taylor's out. Kennedy potentially tips out Idun too. Not sure what they'll do with Keeffe - they used him as second ruck instead of Tommo today (and as a forward mostly).

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

The least experienced 6 players on each team going in today....

Sydney
Hayden McLean 2
James Rowbottom 8
James Rose 13
Nick Blakey 17
Robbie Fox 20
Jordan Dawson 21

Total : 81 games


GWS
Conner Idun 0
Jake Stein 2
Bobby Hill 3
Aidan Bonar 4
Jackson Hately 5
Brent Daniels 25

Total : 39 games

#justsayin

 

[Danny88]

See, I thought Bonnar was the best of the young guys. I thought Idun looked a bit at sea, Hately was poor when he was up forward. Stein was ok, and Hill showed flashes only (pretty impressive flashes, but still needs more consistency)

If it was me Hately would go out before Bonnar on today’s performance.

Fair enough. I thought Hately panicked under pressure as well so can see your point there

I just don’t rate bonnar that highly and nothing I saw has changed that. I know he pushed forward a bit but he also spent a lot of time on the ball and 12 possessions 4 turnovers isn’t good enough

 

[Orange crush]

Man that was ugly .... the last quarter both teams lost all structure and the umps lost their whistles .... couldn’t get a holding ball or incorrect disposal against the swans .... but with a dozen basically rookies on the field between the two teams let’s just be happy with the 4 points .... imagine if we had lost

 

[Giant Strides]

Another week, another snippet from my favourite AFL media source, https://themongrelpunt.com/afl/2019/08/03gwsswans; as usual, an unbiased and reasonable summation of the game:

Leon Cameron’s midfield really is like a hydra. The losses of Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio and Josh Kelly, the former two likely for the season, would cripple just about every side in the competition. GWS simply find ways to recover though, and even with Tim Taranto a little quiet, their midfield was far better. Jacob Hopper was outstanding, with three goals and nine score involvements from his 26 touches, as well as four inside 50’s, while Toby Greene and Zac Williams were excellent with 66 touches, 20 clearances, 12 tackles and 1024 metres gained between them.

Lachie Whitfield has backed up his inaugural All Australian selection this season. At times he has even looked like a potential Brownlow Medalist, with his class and skills evident so often throughout the year. Of course, it has helped that opposition coaches seem reluctant to send anyone near him, and while Ryan Clarke was nominally given the job, even he gave the 2012 Number One pick a bit too much freedom. Whitfield ended the day with 26 touches, six rebounds and a goal, with that goal coming in the first as a result of underwhelming defensive work.

It was the defence which was ultimately most impressive for the Giants though. With the forwards applying minimal pressure early in the first quarter, the backline had to ensure the Swans didn’t score too easily, and they did it very well, with their hunger evident in the tackle on Ronke to prevent him from running into an open goal in the first. With the amount of experience they have down there, the rushed behind in the final minute or so was exactly the kind of good work you’d have expected, but it was their defensive pillars who stood up for the second week in a row.

I’ve already spoken of Davis’ work on Reid, with five of his eight total possessions coming from intercepts, but it was the work of Shaw, who shone after moving onto Papley in the first; Sam Reid nailing a superb tackle on Robbie Fox to prevent one final roll of the dice; and most predominantly Nick Haynes, who must have only just missed out on the Brett Kirk Medal but wins three Mongrel Votes for his troubles nevertheless. 10 of his 18 disposals were contested, he dragged in 12 intercept possessions, and he also reeled in game highs in contested marks (four) and marks (12). Forget the talk of whether Haynes might be an All Australian; at this stage he absolutely must be, as so often he looks simply impassable as a defender. His one on one win against Blakey running inside forward 50 in the second was a beauty, then he managed to just do enough to spoil another marking contest seconds later.

 

[KevDawg]

I’m quite flat over a win that felt like a loss but we have a lot of players out and a lot of disruption to the side.
I hope we can maintain the close wins until they come back and we settle for finals.

 

[Giant Strides]

Some interesting stats related to clearances. JPK had zero clearances in the game - the first time ever as a Swan, and only second in his career (the first being his second game apparently). And Hewett, who's normally a leader in that stat for the Swans, also had a duckegg - the first time since 2017.

Conversely, GWS clearance leaders were - not Taranto & Hopper - but Toby Greene and Zac Williams; so their zippiness a big factor in winning that aspect of the contested battle.

 

[Danny88]

We did smash them in clearances but I think they killed us off the half back

Our midfield accountability when we didn’t have the ball was really poor

The injection of experience next week will be critical

 

[Determinant]

Some interesting stats related to clearances. JPK had zero clearances in the game - the first time ever as a Swan, and only second in his career (the first being his second game apparently). And Hewett, who's normally a leader in that stat for the Swans, also had a duckegg - the first time since 2017.

Conversely, GWS clearance leaders were - not Taranto & Hopper - but Toby Greene and Zac Williams; so their zippiness a big factor in winning that aspect of the contested battle.

It looked Hewitt's job was to blanket Tim, that said I wasn't watching that contest a lot and typically when he does the run with gig he gets plenty of the ball himself, wonder if it ended up being a two way tag lol

 

[Simmofreo]

If it's the one I'm thinking of he's done the kick for cash as well, though didn't make that one.

The people sitting around me think that the win was a setup for the Stinger, that they were always going to give it away. They reckon the Sting clearly ran slower than normal

I can't see the reason why the would to be honest

On SM-N960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Giant Strides]

It looked Hewitt's job was to blanket Tim, that said I wasn't watching that contest a lot and typically when he does the run with gig he gets plenty of the ball himself, wonder if it ended up being a two way tag lol

He's certainly done that run-with job before; bit hard to tell from my position near the goals, but if he was running with TT - who was quieter than normal - then you're right in that it worked two-ways!

 

[dlanod]

The people sitting around me think that the win was a setup for the Stinger, that they were always going to give it away. They reckon the Sting clearly ran slower than normal

I can't see the reason why the would to be honest

On SM-N960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

It's not like they give the kick for cash away every year.

 

[gee whiz giant]

they killed us off the half back

 

[dlanod]

Hey dlanod - just wanted to let you know the guy who beat the sting to win the car is the guy who sits next to you, just over our right shoulder.

Very cool.

Yep, just watched the replay. Didn't recognise him in his running gear but recognised the girl he comes to the games with.

I think after that first week it was pretty clear that if they hit any semi-serious runner they'd beat the Sting because of the massive headstart. We've just had a heap of non-runners.

 

[Mr Magic]

GWS need to respect opposition threats a little more. Its all very well to get everything right at your end but one should acknowledge you are playing an opposition and sometimes they contain ability that can defeat you if not unchecked no matter how well you do what you would like to do ball in hand offensively!!

Issac Heeney, as the most talented player on the field, was not given enough attention in terms of matchups and consequently stung the Giants a little as well as a few other threats for the Swans.

No matter how good your list is every team has two external factors being the opposition and the umpires and, as a result, can be beaten!!

Taranto gave away too many holding the man free kicks for example. Composure and not crossing the line is important even simply to build pressure for the opposition if they can't get relief from the umpires!

 

[fridgeman]

Lucky again to come away with the 4 points and the team is fading out in the last quarter of games going back to the Dockers and Demons games from earlier in the year and I think it goes to the inexperience and personal changes on the list and not missing those experienced players to close out the games, I can see a lot of work on forward defensive pressure during the week as the Swans transitioned the ball so easily all through the game
A few big performers in the mids with Williams, Greene and Hopper the pick of the bunch imo and TOJ had a great game with 2 goaks and 2 assists and if he had packed his kicking boots it could have been 4 and he will see some big money offers at the end of the season and I hope he sticks around because with another pre season and the year playing forward he will improve further and be a very damaging forward with his pace and left foot. I hope we dont see another Sunshine situation where he wants the money but the club keeps him to his contract i know it doesnt have the go home factor and the club has developed him from a teenager in the academy so hopefully he respects that
the amount of younger players on the field showed and it will be interesting to see who sticks around as I think Hately needs a pre season to build up his tank and bulk up and I think Bonar played ok for his first senior game of the year and he has that x factor so hoepfully he gets another run on friday

 

[dlanod]

I agree - it didn't click until after that last game but we're playing four debutants at the moment (Hately, Hill, Idun, Stein) plus another two from last year's draft (Daniels, Bonar, and I'm not counting Reid nor the fact that Taylor is in our best 22). That's brutal for a team pushing for top four contention - the fact that we've won the last two games by an average of 1.5 points looks a lot better with that context.