2018 JLT series vs Brisbane (Moreton Bay) and GWS (Blacktown)

Remove this Banner Ad

Jun 19, 2011
11,071
15,778
Sydney
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Wallabies
Some really good signs ahead of the season and some not so good.

Florent played another good game and I think has won a spot for round 1. Fox will be very close and I'd pick him. Cunningham played a much better game last night and perhaps it'll come down to him and Fox for a spot across HB. I'd pick both at this stage. I'm not moving Cunningham from defence given we can get this kind of performance from him there. Mills played well too. I liked Marsh's game too. He's not best 22 but if we had to call on him to play in defence I'd be fine playing him. He shouln't play on the likes of Jeremy Cameron because that's way more than he can handle, but he can play a consistent role in seniors for us if needed.

Parker was our best, nothing overrated about that kind of performance - although I hope to see it more often in important games this year. Good to see Heeney return to good form. Jones played a really good 3 quarters.

Newman's stats were misleading, he was OK and got better as the game went on but made quite a few bad decisions. Not secure for round 1 imo but I think I'd pick him. Rohan had another bad game and he looks unmotivated or disinterested. I'm not picking him for round 1 in his current state. I'd only be picking one of Rohan or Hayward and I'm happy to stick with Hayward. They'll both win about 9 touches a game but at least Hayward's ceiling is far higher and he's more reliable in front of goal even at his age. His skill/class are very tantalising.

Darcy Cameron around the ground looks promising but he needs to get a lot stronger before he can be entertained as a long term number one ruck option. He gets pushed around easily. If Sinclair isn't right to go, I'd play Cameron rather than trying to make it work with Aliir/Towers, but I'd much rather Sinclair (despite him also being sub-par, he's much more competitive than Darcy atm). I want Cameron to get multiple full NEAFL games playing 80-90% of game time there.
 
Last edited:
Didn't see the game but looking at the stats and going off last week too, Parker looks primed for another huge year.
Didn't see the stats but did see the game and thought the same going off the vision!

Therefore: Confirmed, Parker is going to be awesome this year!!!
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Thought our ball movement was the standout in the 1st and 3rd

We were hitting up leading forwards regardless of there height , buddy was up the ground

It is Richmond like I know but it works

We do not need 2 rucks , imo we will go the lazy option and bomb away like we did with Kurt knowing we might bring it to ground

Haynes didn’t dominate which shows me we lowered our eyes at times
 
Aug 9, 2016
4,377
5,573
AFL Club
Sydney
Rohan wasn't. Rather than stick the knife in now I'm happy to see how he responds

Oh god yeah knives make a real mess. Just use the boot for now.....can still do as much damage if you connect properly. Better aerobic workout too. You can always plunge deep with the knife later if the opportunity arises. The blade tends to dull a bit if you use it constantly this early.
 

Kapanis

Cancelled
Sydney Swans - Gary Rohan Player Sponsor 2018 Sydney Swans - George Hewett Player Sponsor 2017
Jul 26, 2015
3,758
4,830
AFL Club
Sydney
You can watch the highlights on the AFL website. Not sure anyone would've uploaded a replay of a JLT game.
The full replay is on the afl app, Apple TV or chrome cast works on replays not live games.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Fox on Tobes.

I really do not think the team can carry all three of Harry C, Faulty and Rohan. At the most only one of the three should play. Didn't watch last night but I gather HC played ok and the other two were quiet. Given our ruck issues and that he can chase, Faulty prolly has the inside running.

Sounds like Macca, Dawson and Hanners will miss R1. This provides opportunity for those in the 21-30 rankings.

In some respects I think the preseason has been about determining the ranking of players 21-30.

I think most of us would agree the two big improvers in the pre-season have been Foxy and Good Golly Mr Ollie. Both look to have sewn up spots for Round 1.

How did Haymaker go last night and did he play forward or in the mids?
 
Jun 16, 2012
25,003
25,548
AFL Club
Sydney
I think hanners will come in...he has super human cardio...if his body is right, he will play.

Defence last night played reasonable considering we had reg and rampe out. Fox has played his part really well...not sure i have full trust in him yet for home and away games.

We need to figure out what to do with rohan, he needs to contribute more than he does.

That was the sort of game i wanted to see from heeney, he still has a lot to improve obviously but if we are to be successful he needs to be a major part of our midfield. I wouldnt mind he and parker alternating rests in the forward line. Both can be weapons.

Again our disposal is deplorable, gws foot skills make us look like a vfl team. Even simple 20-30m kicks, too often we over cook it or simply miss the target by a couple of metres and turn it over. Whenever i watch another team kick the footy short and their target is off screen,i know they have someone on and they will connect, when we do it, my heart is in my mouth. I simply dont trust anyone by foot except for buddy
 
This is a weird read, man. Towers gets selected as an interchange flanker/wing who has the added benefit that he can ruck if needed (or play CHF, lol), sparing Reid, Aliir, etc. His position in the side is in no way dependent on his ruck-work.

Exactly, what he can do in the ruck is a bonus on top of a pretty average player. He did very little throughout this pre-season but because we’re suddenly endeared to him having a crack in the ruck he’s now all of a sudden a lock in the side. He needs to do a lot more regardless of whether he’s in the ruck or not
 
Exactly, what he can do in the ruck is a bonus on top of a pretty average player. He did very little throughout this pre-season but because we’re suddenly endeared to him having a crack in the ruck he’s now all of a sudden a lock in the side. He needs to do a lot more regardless of whether he’s in the ruck or not
You are underestimating how much more taxing it would be for a guy his size going against pure ruckman
 

Jack2Jack

Club Legend
May 3, 2011
1,901
2,436
Western Australia
AFL Club
Sydney
Positives:
- Jack in both games looks to be moving a hell of a lot better than he has in quite some time.
- A couple of the big guns Parker & Franklin looks set to go from round 1 this year, which is promising after both had indifferent starts during Owen 6.
- Defence was decent without our 2 Generals Grundy and Rampe (although GWS did let them off the hook with a few easy misses), Melican developing nicely into that Key Defender we need.
- Florent, Stoddart and Fox giving us some things to think about. If Ollie can get 12-16 possessions a week he should easily overtake some of the other bottom 6'ers who have been stagnate for about 3 years. Fox right on the edge of selection discussions as well.
- Marsh was the fringe/bottom 6 type players who has been around a while that actually looked alright at times. Will never be a star but is probably a more reliable role player than some of the fringe guys who seem to often get games ahead of him. If he could play a 3rd tall or lockdown small role that could give us the flexibility to release a Rampe/Mills type for bursts more often.
- There were some nice passages of ball movement, still needs some work but you can see they have actually at-least been tinkering a little over the off season. Actively looked like they were trying to look for the better option and spot up targets.

Negatives:
- Kicking skills still a big problem (especially the into 50 kick), we'd set up quite a few nice scoring chains that were brought undone by a s**t kick. Still is preseason so we should get a little better and a few of the nicer kicks like Florent looked like they be ready to start playing some more seniors which can help there. Hopefully it improves over the season proper and/or we don't regress to constant long bombs to Buddy.
- Rose and Robinson still look like state league players at best, meaningless JTL games I know, but you wouldn't have thought those 2 would be amongst those just going through the motion. Both would need to do something pretty special from this point on to still be on the list next year imo.
- Umpiring standard still looks pretty awful (cannot stand all the dropping the balls that get let go).
- Historically we seem to have our best years in the real stuff coming off bog average pre-season performances.

Overall reasonably happy with the practice games, albeit you can never read too much into them.... the ruck situation is ordinary -but lets face it, it was ordinary before Naismith went down anyway...just less option of much of a much-ness to choose from now.
 

brad cooper

Premiership Player
Jul 5, 2014
3,199
5,984
AFL Club
Sydney
I think hanners will come in...he has super human cardio...if his body is right, he will play.

Defence last night played reasonable considering we had reg and rampe out. Fox has played his part really well...not sure i have full trust in him yet for home and away games.

We need to figure out what to do with rohan, he needs to contribute more than he does.

That was the sort of game i wanted to see from heeney, he still has a lot to improve obviously but if we are to be successful he needs to be a major part of our midfield. I wouldnt mind he and parker alternating rests in the forward line. Both can be weapons.

Again our disposal is deplorable, gws foot skills make us look like a vfl team. Even simple 20-30m kicks, too often we over cook it or simply miss the target by a couple of metres and turn it over. Whenever i watch another team kick the footy short and their target is off screen,i know they have someone on and they will connect, when we do it, my heart is in my mouth. I simply dont trust anyone by foot except for buddy
Not sure how gws foot skills made us look like a vfl team when our kicking efficiency was recorded at 70% and theirs at 64%
 
Only was able to watch the first half but my big takeway is that Jason Dunstall needs to * right off and not commentate our games.

When Swans get a free kick: "Oh lucky to get that one"

When Swans don't get a free that they should: "Nah not much in that" or *cricket*

When GWS get a free kick: "Yep that was definitely there, good umpiring"

When GWS don't get a free that they should: "Are the umps even watching the game?! That was definitely a free kick!"


Mate it was nearly 6 years ago, get over 2012.
 

Kiama Chris

Norm Smith Medallist
May 10, 2016
7,417
16,677
Kiama
AFL Club
Sydney
Florent, Fox and Stoddart were all impressive but to me Florent is the only one I'd consider for a round one selection. The other two probably need a little fine-tuning before they play senior footy but they're close.

I'm not a massive fan of Newman and Cunningham but there is no way they aren't selected with the numbers they got.

Marsh was good but I don't see a spot for him with Grundy and Aliir to come back.

I'm indifferent regarding the ruck situation. Towers is OK as ruck but gives us some run. Cameron is better as ruck but doesn't give us some run. Same as Sinclair. IMO only one of those three can be in the side at any given time, because Towers just hasn't done enough other than pinch-hit in the ruck to be a lock.

Rohan has every right to have his head somewhere other than footy given his situation, but if that's the case he needs to be in the reserves getting that balance right. Cannot justify selecting him in the senior side with his output over the past few weeks.

Low-key disappointed with the JLT series for Hewett and Heeney both of whom i am massive fans of but eh, I back em in to lift when it matters.

One thing that really stood out to me is... we miss Hannebery. You don't realise how crucial he is to our side til he's gone.
Actually I think Cunningham's last two games have been amongst his best. Last night he played as the loose man in defence and did a bloody good job. However, not enough to keep Sir Dane out. To me he's not best 22 when all fit, but in the next 5 or 6.
Another bloke who had a decent game last night was Harry Marsh.
Fantastic to see these guys putting the pressure on for spots.
 
Actually I think Cunningham's last two games have been amongst his best. Last night he played as the loose man in defence and did a bloody good job. However, not enough to keep Sir Dane out. To me he's not best 22 when all fit, but in the next 5 or 6.
Another bloke who had a decent game last night was Harry Marsh.
Fantastic to see these guys putting the pressure on for spots.

Cunningham has put pressure on for spots before and then flopped once given that spot. Which is why I have little to no confidence in him.
 

Kiama Chris

Norm Smith Medallist
May 10, 2016
7,417
16,677
Kiama
AFL Club
Sydney
Parker really influential.
Hewett lot of minutes fwd, Heeney mainly mid.
Really like that we have number of players we can rotate through both areas (incl of course Paps/KJ and hopefully JPK this season as well).

Florent 83% of game time. Solid performance and unlikely to get those minutes unless a likely rd1 starter.

Undersized defence held up relatively well. Mills we knew was capable of playing above his height, pleasantly surprised with the efforts of Fox in that regard.
For me Fox's performances down back have been arguably the standout of the pre-season.

Only recall seeing Jones in one centre square bounce and he broke free for the clearance. Like to see him in there more often, he brings a different dynamic.
Good to see KJ up and about, still very much a valuable member of our best 22.

I like that we are trying to control the ball/tempo more, but some of the decision making/execution still needs work. I thought we were caught out going into the corridor too early and allowing GWS to challenge/take possession in our half.

Our disposal out of our back 50, particularly when we created a turnover, was also an issue. I reckon Papley was the target of our outlet kick on 3/4 occasions.
We need to ensure a marking option for that kick. In the past Reid/Towers/ruckman have primarily been that choice. Noticeable that Reid has been staying mainly deep fwd in our pre-season games (except of course for his mandatory loose man in defence minutes).

We've invested much more in the 3 pre-season games than normal and pleased with the attitude/performances.
Results are of course not the be all at this time of the year, but 3 wins in the pre-season; believe the last time we did that was 2012. :)
Thoughtful post.
 

Kiama Chris

Norm Smith Medallist
May 10, 2016
7,417
16,677
Kiama
AFL Club
Sydney
Probably see McCartin out of FF this week

Sinclair Might strap up and play
Watched McCartin carefully in last night's Ressies praccy. He had a pretty quiet one. Pink played a lot better against their best defender and I don't see a lot of suggestions to play him. Cameron didn't have a great game in JLT1 but was better last night. If Sinkers has to play ruck I vote we play last night's structure with Just Bud and Reidy as the talls. Both looked cherry ripe. Our smalls are in better form I think and Kizza looked bloody dangerous staying forward the whole time. Big learnings there.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back