Game Day 2019 Round 2: Sydney vs Adelaide, Friday, 29th of March @ SCG

[scaryness]

vs

Friday, 29 March (7:45 PM)
Sydney Cricket Ground

Recent history
Adelaide 12.13 (85) def. Sydney 10.15 (75) - Round 5, 2018 (SCG)
Sydney 13.5 (83) def. Adelaide 11.14 (80) - Round 22, 2017 (Adelaide Oval)
Sydney 18.10 (118) def. Adelaide 12.10 (82) - Semi Final, 2016 (SCG)
Adelaide 16.17 (113) def. Sydney 15.13 (103) - Round 4, 2016 (Adelaide Oval)
Sydney 17.15 (117) def. Adelaide 9.11 (65) - Round 18, 2015 (SCG)
Sydney 21.8 (134) def. Adelaide 9.17 (71) - Round 3, 2014 (Adelaide Oval)

Round 1 review:

The Swans came out extremely flat and got bulldozed early by the Bulldogs in Melbourne. A second half rally created by faster and more direct ball movement almost provided one of the great comebacks but they ultimately fell short by 3 goals. The midfield looks to be a concerning area of the ground for 2019 with the classy Bulldogs midfield winning the majority of stoppages and cutting through out slower, less skilled midfield. Some Swans fans are crying out for a coaching change.

Adelaide - who were finals, and even top 4 fancies for many - were upset by Hawthorn on their own turf by 5 goals. While they lead most of the team stats on the day beating Hawthorn in total disposals, contested possessions, clearances and inside 50s, the forward line proved to be rather dysfunctional with only 1 mark inside 50 from their key position players. Some Crows fans are crying out for a coaching change.


Lineups:
B: Aliir - Melican - Rampe
HB: Lloyd - Mills - McVeigh
C: Cunningham - Hewett - Jones
HF: Ronke - Franklin - Papley
F: Parker - Reid - Blakey
R: Sinclair - Heeney - Kennedy
INT: O'Riordan - Florent - Hayward - Clarke

In: Ronke, O'Riordan
Out: Grundy, Dawson
-----------------------------------------
B: Talia - Keath - Kelly
HB: Smith - Laird - Seedsman
C: Milera - M Crouch - Mackay
HF: Gibbs - Walker - Atkins
F: Lynch - Jenkins - Betts
R: Jacobs - Sloane - B Crouch
INT: Knight - Hartigan - Jones - Murphy

In: Seedsman, Hartigan
Out: Doedee, Douglas

Swans have opted to bring in Ben Ronke to increase our forward pressure and provide a bit more pace over the alternative in Dawson. Heath Grundy has unfortunately made way after our backline was proven to be too tall and the young Irishman in Colin O'Riordan will come in to add more balance.

Adelaide suffered two major injuries with impressive young key defender Tom Doedee tearing his ACL, and veteran Richard Douglas will miss with an ankle injury. Hartigan will directly replace Doedee in defence, possibly on Reid.

Key points
1. The midfield. The Crows midfield are no easy beats on paper with a very good core of inside midfielders with the Crouch brothers, Rory Sloane and Bryce Gibbs being their engine. They have some good options four outside run as well with Brodie Smith, Rory Atkins and Wayne Milera all capable of being weapons on the outside. The Swans with Kennedy, Parker, Heeney and Hewett to name a few have their work cut for them if they are to win the stoppages. Mills moved into the midfield in the 2nd half of the Bulldogs game and was very effective so it will be interesting to see if he just starts in the midfield or if they plan to have him coming from defence again.

2. The Crows forward line has been inconsistent and struggles to show any real structure at times so it's a perfect set-up for our lockdown defence to be in full effect. Rampe has done great jobs on Walker in the past and Walker has not been in the best of form.

3. Swans forward pressure with Ronke added into the lineup needs to be strong. If the likes of Laird, Smith and Milera are allowed to have fun clearing out of their defence we will be in for a long night.

4. The SCG. What was a fortress for the longest time turned into our biggest weakness in 2018 winning only 5 of our 12 games at the venue, including a loss to the Crows. We averaged only 74 points on the SCG last year, compared to the 88 points we averaged in our away games.



Both teams have very talented players up top, but cracks in their game and questionable coaching situations that stop them from reaching full potential. Unfortunately I think the Crows midfield will be far too strong on the inside for us, and with Buddy still under a little bit of a fitness cloud I think it will be an arm wrestle we will ultimately lose.

Adelaide by 17

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Huge stakes for this game, how it goes will likely define our season.

If it's more of the same from the first half of last week I'd say we're done.

Will back our leaders to respond, Parker with a big game as we grind out a 30 point win.

 

[caesar88]

Crows are more experienced across the ground really, with an average of 116 games played from their best 22 vs our average of 96 games. Half of their team have played over 100 games while only 8 of ours have, and we also have 8 players who have played under 50 games opposed to their 5.

On the surface it doesn't seem like much but it shows we do have a few more youngsters popping up in each position of the ground than the Crows do, so I won't be surprised if once again we get a patchy, inconsistent effort, with quarters that will be unrecognisable from each other. Just like last week, and just like last year. Think Crows have too much class and too much experience and will bounce back from their shocker last week.

I would just like the fringe players (ie Ronke, Blakey, Clarke, Melican, COR) to really just push their case and give good showings even if the team around them is struggling. More importantly I'd like us to just show some ticker. Not expecting a win, but I'd be happy if we turned it over or made horrible errors if it was at least on the back of some gut running, hard ball wins, showing some grunt on the inside, a real physical fight or even just the smaller things like shepherding for a team-mate or helping each other out. These are things we applied last week but cherry-picked when to do it. I'd like to see it across the board tomorrow even if we're not much chop.

 

[sataris]

Looking forward to it

Tipped the crows, but cmon swans, prove me wrong.

 

[Punts]

No idea who wins

Our midfield is 2nd rate this year to most teams so we will probably be beaten in this area most weeks.

Don’t play the game in our backhalf

 

[TheMase]

A few interesting stats from Footy Live from last week (as it is start of the season).

Swans took a mark from 30% of kicks inside 50 last round - #1 in AFL
Scored 33 points from clearances - #4
Scored 18 points directly from Lewis Melicans defensive half intercepts last round - #1
Scored 33 points from defensive half intercepts - #3
Recorded 46 tackles away from stoppages last round - #2
Scored just 19 points from chains started in forward half - #18

 

[Donza]

Good chance of a storm/showers between 5pm and 9pm tonight

May not make the SCG though

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

A few interesting stats from Footy Live from last week (as it is start of the season).

Swans took a mark from 30% of kicks inside 50 last round - #1 in AFL
Scored 33 points from clearances - #4
Scored 18 points directly from Lewis Melicans defensive half intercepts last round - #1
Scored 33 points from defensive half intercepts - #3
Recorded 46 tackles away from stoppages last round - #2
Scored just 19 points from chains started in forward half - #18

You and your worthwhile discussion points.....

That Melican one is interesting. I had him as the tall defender to be omitted. Perhaps my assessment was wrong.

With that last one I think we can just put that down to rust. Some horrible decision making went on in our forward line last week and you'd expect that to improve.

 

[scaryness]

You and your worthwhile discussion points.....

That Melican one is interesting. I had him as the tall defender to be omitted. Perhaps my assessment was wrong.

With that last one I think we can just put that down to rust. Some horrible decision making went on in our forward line last week and you'd expect that to improve.

Being #1 for offense created by Melican intercepts makes sense because we are the only team with Melican

 

[S120]

We've got talented forwards who can do damange if given opportunities. It all comes down to if our midfield can split possession with Adelaide's. The Crouch brothers, Sloane, Gibbs are a lot to deal with and I'm pessimistic our midfield can withstand it. If they can, we'll win, but if things go as they have been over the last year or two and we lost the I50 count substantially yet again, I'm going Adelaide by 2 or 3 goals.

 

[RainMachine]

Me

 

[The King!]

p[lay like the first 5 mins of the game last week and the start of the 4th

And the result is almost secondary

just dont do this chip , hesitate, lack of midfield running/workrate go to sleep s**t we keep doing

 

[RUNVS]

Please please please Longmire play Mills and Heeney as midfielders for most of the game today. I know you don't think it will work for some reason but please at least give it a go.

 

[Punts]

Please please please Longmire play Mills and Heeney as midfielders for most of the game today. I know you don't think it will work for some reason but please at least give it a go.

Mills will play back let’s be serious mate

 

[TheMase]

Being #1 for offense created by Melican intercepts makes sense because we are the only team with Melican

Poorly typed by me. #1 in AFL for Rd 1.

 

[Sketi]

Hey guys, would anyone like a free ticket? The old man was going to go solo but has had to pull out

Here it is minus the barcode:

 

[MarkP]

Being #1 for offense created by Melican intercepts makes sense because we are the only team with Melican

Dammit - you beat me to it

 

[MarkP]

No idea who wins

Our midfield is 2nd rate this year to most teams so we will probably be beaten in this area most weeks.

Don’t play the game in our backhalf

Agree totally.

Problem is with your (correct) second sentence you make the last sentence really hard to achieve

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Re Melican - the 18 points from his intercepts was a poor return against the large number of scoring opportunities he provided Footscray.

I hope he lifts tonight.

I tipped us to win. I am not sure if it is the meds but for some reason I am feeling optimistic. I am convinced Horse will use JPK only sparingly in the middle but heavily at stoppages around the ground. I am also convinced Mills and Heeney will start at centre bounces and George will be allowed to attack.

Horse will show he is capable of mastercoach moments by:
* getting Cunningham to lock down Eddie to a one goal game
* encouraging run and searching kicks to position
* ensuring structure is maintained on the forward line with injury manacled Buddy being the decoy and freeing up Reid, Parker and Blakey (Buddy to still boot 3).

 

[TheMase]

Re Melican - the 18 points from his intercepts was a poor return against the large number of scoring opportunities he provided Footscray.

I hope he lifts tonight.

Pretty difficult to defend the lace out disposal given to his opponent due to a lack of pressure provided by the midfield.

 

[Punts]

IMO I see JPK very one dimensional (swallow like) and when he is done as a stoppage beast thats when he is done as an AFL player.

He lacks pace and imo he would be a liability in the front half , I see it going like ROK

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Pretty difficult to defend the lace out disposal given to his opponent due to a lack of pressure provided by the midfield.

True, but the lace out was more the exception. Lewis showed a lack of anticipation, was slow and fumbly and gave opportunity like a cashed up sailor in Port after a long time at sea.

I hope he finds his land legs this week as I can see Jenkins (his likely Oppo) being a real threat.

 

[Wolftone]

Huge stakes for this game, how it goes will likely define our season.

If it's more of the same from the first half of last week I'd say we're done.

Will back our leaders to respond, Parker with a big game as we grind out a 30 point win.

Reg was not dropped. He is injured. This would have been the perfect game got him with all of Adelaide's tall forwards. Let's see: Walker, Jenkins and Lynch. Greenwood would have made a fourth but he is, injured.

Reg being injured gives us a bit of balance down there and Macca to point the finger and tell the defenders what to do. So we still have direction.

Agree about the midfield. Our mids have been poor for some time. I was disappointed Horse chose to have a limited midfield and left players there for far too long that were getting flogged. He chose not to play Heeney, Mills or Dawson through the mids.

Then there is our chaotic forward set up. All players please run to the same place and we'll just bomb the ball to you all. Then you will all fly for the mark leaving no crumbers. This is a chronic problem we have all over the ground. Too many players up and too few at ground level. Our forward structures were non existent last week for the most part. Reid needs to get psychologically match fit because he ran to all the wrong places last week. He ran where only very few players could hit him up, 65-70 metres from the kicker. Way out of position.

If we are to get withing cooee of this mob we need to have some sort of game plan in that we hot players up. Our blokes need to work harder too. Our mids are holding onto the ball too long and therefore making life very difficult for the forwards. We need to lose the bomb and to do that we need our mids to make split second decisions. Ours don't. Thry don't seem to trust their own ability to deliver enough to take that first lead option.

Buddy is, a great player but no team has won a premiership relying totally on Buddy. Hawks in 2008 had Bud, Roughy and Willo Williams. In 2013 they shifted Bud further up the ground because they had come to rely too much on him and promptly won a premiership. If we don't do the same I can't see a premiership in the near future.

In saying all that I am in agreeance. The Crows should comfortably beat us because we have changed little or nothing and the changes we have made have been all defensive and I believe the most successful teams under this new system are the attacking teams. Collingwood (were more defensive against Cats and got beaten but attacked Tigers and won), Freo, GWS, Cats etc all attacked.

If we can rearrange the forward set ups, lose the winger starting as a defender, not get roped into rope a dope bombing and get some grunt into the mids we might get close.

On ANE-LX2J using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Wolftone]

Crows are more experienced across the ground really, with an average of 116 games played from their best 22 vs our average of 96 games. Half of their team have played over 100 games while only 8 of ours have, and we also have 8 players who have played under 50 games opposed to their 5.

On the surface it doesn't seem like much but it shows we do have a few more youngsters popping up in each position of the ground than the Crows do, so I won't be surprised if once again we get a patchy, inconsistent effort, with quarters that will be unrecognisable from each other. Just like last week, and just like last year. Think Crows have too much class and too much experience and will bounce back from their shocker last week.

I would just like the fringe players (ie Ronke, Blakey, Clarke, Melican, COR) to really just push their case and give good showings even if the team around them is struggling. More importantly I'd like us to just show some ticker. Not expecting a win, but I'd be happy if we turned it over or made horrible errors if it was at least on the back of some gut running, hard ball wins, showing some grunt on the inside, a real physical fight or even just the smaller things like shepherding for a team-mate or helping each other out. These are things we applied last week but cherry-picked when to do it. I'd like to see it across the board tomorrow even if we're not much chop.

There are several teams in the AFL with the same sort of figures as you just quoted for us and they won last week. I don't think it is just our young players who are to blame. In fact two of our most experienced players had 4 & 8 disposals at half time last week and thry are mids. Bud got 7 disposals for the game. Reg ended up being moved to Ruck. Rampe was a disgrace for a captain. Reid was poor, he just did not get to the right spots. If he shits it this week please can we have McCartin back. There were not too many really good players from our over 100 group. So who are the youngsters learning from? Are they providing a good example? Rampe was right, the experienced players let down the kids last week.

By the way when Is Horse going to allow players to Shepherd. Other sides know we don't do this so they hunt us.

On ANE-LX2J using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Wolftone]

Pretty difficult to defend the lace out disposal given to his opponent due to a lack of pressure provided by the midfield.

Sometimes he was a long way from his opponent though.

On ANE-LX2J using BigFooty.com mobile app