Game Day Match simulation v GWS

[Ticky009]

He does love these shots from the sideline

 

[liz]

Yep. Gave Voldemort access to the kitchen thinking he would stop there.

Au contraire. He was the one with the courage to verbally stand up to Voldemort, and the one who managed to “kill the snake”.

 

[JackHiscoxWasFast]

Mills gets a walk up start (if fit) because he is the captain and one of our best players. Sheldrick is a relative nobody who needs to prove that he is a somebody.

IMO Mills is not within a razoo of being one of our best players. Mills 22 yes, but we ain’t ever seeing that form line again.

I get it on Sheldrick, I really do and he must prove himself consistently.

Regardless of sheldrick, if Mills 24/25 is a walk up start to this team, we ain’t going deep this year.

Nothing against him, but I think we have to deal in the facts that are in front of us. 2024 was a shocker. And 2025 hasn’t even started and he’s being managed.

I like fast tacklers.

 

[caesar88]

IMO Mills is not within a razoo of being one of our best players. Mills 22 yes, but we ain’t ever seeing that form line again.

I get it on Sheldrick, I really do and he must prove himself consistently.

Regardless of sheldrick, if Mills 24/25 is a walk up start to this team, we ain’t going deep this year.

Nothing against him, but I think we have to deal in the facts that are in front of us. 2024 was a shocker. And 2025 hasn’t even started and he’s being managed.

I like fast tacklers.

With all due respect JHWF, you're talking as if Mills is about to drop dead. From all reports he's been killing it over the summer and is primed for a big year. There's no indication yet that this injury is going to change that.

I like level heads.

 

[JackHiscoxWasFast]

With all due respect JHWF, you're talking as if Mills is about to drop dead. From all reports he's been killing it over the summer and is primed for a big year. There's no indication yet that this injury is going to change that.

I like level heads.

I really hope that’s the case. Point taken.

 

[wolftone57]

Too much is being said about Gus, not enough is being said about Campbell as a forward.

4 goals and he had some brilliant craft work. There was a great goal where he ran directly underneath Amartey, waiting for him to drop the mark. Straight away, snap across the body and goal. You could swear Campbell has been a small forward for years.

If he plays like that all season, he'll easily get 35-45 goals

But he bloody has. He played all his juniors as a small forward/mid. He played there in the U18. Then Longmire's bright idea was to **** him up be making him a HB.

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[Bonz]

Yeah I know, signs aren’t good. You’re an athlete, you know we ain’t seeing 2022 Mills ever again. Bonz -as the board fitness guru, can we ask for your pov.

Hard to say without knowing the specifics of his injuries. Using myself as an example I know my knees have never felt the same after a few injuries when I was 32, but I could still perform if that makes sense? Like can still sprint, bound and jump just have enough discomfort to not want to train 16 hours a week.

On the other hand I damaged my labrum in my right shoulder when I was 25, but after surgery and 18 months of proper rehab I found it was stronger than ever before and managed to compete representing Australia in my 30's using my right arm, being comfortably better than ever before. Its not a severe rotator cuff tear (the labrum is seperate to it) but with proper rehab whilst his shoulder might be "tight" it shouldn't impede his ability to play midfield (but could possibly affect his ability to mark overhead).

Plantar Fasciitis is a new development (and can be an absolute bitch to deal with) but even then it depends on how bad it is, sometimes it can require just a few weeks to calm down, sometimes it requires surgery, or you can be an idiot like Robert Harvey and deliberately snap your plantar fascia (one of my favourite sports injury stories).

Overall, who knows if he gets back to his best, but his only 27 and typically athletes peak from 28-31 in the modern age for cross sports similar to AFL, so I wouldn't rule out him getting back to his best depending on exactly what injuries he has had (in face I would say majority of AFL players have probably had surgery by this stage of their careers).

 

[The King!]

IMO Mills is not within a razoo of being one of our best players. Mills 22 yes, but we ain’t ever seeing that form line again.

I get it on Sheldrick, I really do and he must prove himself consistently.

Regardless of sheldrick, if Mills 24/25 is a walk up start to this team, we ain’t going deep this year.

Nothing against him, but I think we have to deal in the facts that are in front of us. 2024 was a shocker. And 2025 hasn’t even started and he’s being managed.

I like fast tacklers.

We haven't seen Mills 25 so not sure how you have judged him

 

[killablood]

My two cents on Sheldrick...

I see both sides of the debate (he should be in vs there's no place for him)

What I don't get is why we talk about Sheldrick as though he's a known entity. Do we actually know Sheldrick is going to be better than any of our current mids in any capacity?

"He's a contested bull who wins clearances."

Based on what? The fact he did it as a junior and has racked up numbers in the VFL?

Going on junior form's not helpful. Heeney & Mills were both seen as top 3 prospects in their draft year, and arguably the best inside mids in their U18s year. Do we think that reverence was built on mediocre contested & clearance work? Doubtful. Rowbottom had the second-most clearances of anyone in his entire draft year at U18s level. I'd put any of these guys' junior performances up against Sheldrick's every day of the week, yet these are the guys many now seem to think aren't good enough. How do we know Sheldrick won't follow the exact same trajectory then?

Going on reserves form doesn't exactly tell the whole story either. Heeney & Mills were arguably having more impact as bottom-agers playing for the Swans NEAFL side in their junior years than Sheldrick has had in the VFL the last few seasons. And Rowbottom's reserves tenure, though brief, blows them all out of the park. He was getting 30+ and multiple goals for fun, and led the entire competition's MVP award at the time he was promoted to the senior side.

And that's all before you get to what they've all done at senior level. Sheldrick had four nice games in the middle of 2023 where he provided some nice support in the midfield with his clearance work. Meanwhile Heeney just had one of the great Swans seasons of all time at the feet of Grundy, Mills was the best two-way midfielder in the competition in 2022, and in the same year, Rowbottom's clearance work got us into a grand final.

So on Sheldrick's exposed form vs what our current mids' form at those same levels, I've actually seen nothing to suggest Sheldrick is, or will be, better than any of our current mids.

Does this mean Sheldrick can't be any good or AS good as our current mids? Absolutely not. He'll need the chance to prove and work at that.

But he was given the chance to prove that yesterday and, IMO, he didn't fully take it. Was he bad? Not at all. Was he good? Maybe? Was he as good in the midfield as Heeney or Rowbottom or Warner? No. And I think those guys were only in second gear. So he then spent time forward, because that's where he'll have to spend portions if in the senior side. He was more anonymous there, and not as effective as Warner Jr. and Adams who are vying for forward spots. So am I picking Sheldrick over these guys if I'm the coach? Probably not.

Ultimately it just feels like there's a lot of angst over someone who A) is yet to show any discernible point of improvement on our current players, and B) didn't even fully take the chance given to him yesterday.

In summary.
Sheldrick looks promising, potentially good...but our midfield is stacked.
Personally, he looks like excellent depth with loads of potential.
Injuries, form slumps or vfl excellence he is in and nobody will be disappointed.

 

[killablood]

I just don't get why Hamling's papers would be stamped though. He's an option. Not saying he's in my best 22 or I'm a huge fan or anything, but he's still an option we could look at and consider using. And a decent option, too. He's played on great players, he's played in big games before, he's been part of elite defensive groups. That's just not someone we should be not bothering with, especially at a time when we're trialling one of our key defenders of the last five years as a forward.

Why recruit him if there's no intention to use him? We don't even use him in his preferred and I can only assume intended position in the VFL. One of the stranger list management decisions if he remains unsighted as a defender.

 

[The King!]

Why recruit him if there's no intention to use him? We don't even use him in his preferred and I can only assume intended position in the VFL. One of the stranger list management decisions if he remains unsighted as a defender.

The only key defender on our list with a premiership.

 

[rustycrate]

But he bloody has. He played all his juniors as a small forward/mid. He played there in the U18. Then Longmire's bright idea was to **** him up be making him a HB.

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What insane inane planet do you live on?
Show me one game Sheldrick has played halfback.

You do write some c**p.

 

[.Shotties.]

What insane inane planet do you live on?
Show me one game Sheldrick has played halfback.

You do write some c**p.

The post he was responding to was about Campbell.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

I just don't get why Hamling's papers would be stamped though. He's an option. Not saying he's in my best 22 or I'm a huge fan or anything, but he's still an option we could look at and consider using. And a decent option, too. He's played on great players, he's played in big games before, he's been part of elite defensive groups. That's just not someone we should be not bothering with, especially at a time when we're trialling one of our key defenders of the last five years as a forward.

He played forward in the VFL for the entire season.

I don’t believe (?) he was ever even named as an emergency.

I remain puzzled as to why the club makes the decisions it does - but I can’t see any scenario by which he suddenly re-emerges as a defender.

 

[JackHiscoxWasFast]

We haven't seen Mills 25 so not sure how you have judged him

I love making the big calls - I called Heeney December 23 that we would see the very best of him in 24.

Hope I’m wrong but based on last year and this new development of PF, my call is he’ll play closer to Mills 24 form than Mills 22.

If he doesn’t perform, Cox needs to be ruthless with all players inc Mills.

I like fast tacklers.

 

[The King!]

I love making the big calls - I called Heeney December 23 that we would see the very best of him in 24.

Hope I’m wrong but based on last year and this new development of PF, my call is he’ll play closer to Mills 24 form than Mills 22.

If he doesn’t perform, Cox needs to be ruthless with all players inc Mills.

I like fast tacklers.

You also called a premiership last year

 

[JackHiscoxWasFast]

You also called a premiership last year

Undefeated iirc lol

 

[rustycrate]

The post he was responding to was about Campbell.

Doesn't look like that. BloodySwan was talking about Gus.
Then Wolftone blurted in with his usual rubbish.

 

[Kiama Chris]

Was Ladhams more effective than Grundy at centre bounces yesterday, or that just my imagination? I didn’t watch the whole thing but seemed ok to me

I read that Ladhams was very effective against the second string rucks but that Briggs gave him a bath in the brief period they matched up.

 

[.Shotties.]

Doesn't look like that. BloodySwan was talking about Gus.
Then Wolftone blurted in with his usual rubbish.

View attachment 2232599

Read the first two lines.

 

[SydneyBlood]

The only key defender on our list with a premiership.

With Parker and Reid gone, is he now the only premiership winner on our list? Or maybe I'm forgetting someone.

 

[The King!]

With Parker and Reid gone, is he now the only premiership winner on our list? Or maybe I'm forgetting someone.

Jordon?

 

[bedford]

With all due respect JHWF, you're talking as if Mills is about to drop dead. From all reports he's been killing it over the summer and is primed for a big year. There's no indication yet that this injury is going to change that.

I like level heads.

I think he's lost his tackle

 

[bedford]

I really hope that’s the case. Point taken.

You did it thank god

 

[wolftone57]

What is wrong with Wicks as a small defender?

I thought Wicks was good. He kept Toby quiet. No goals and very little involvement. Maybe Greene is finished but I doubt that. He might not be as good as he was but still gets involved. He had to go to the mids to get a kick. That is the job Wicks did on him