FFS. Honestly the ****ing dribble in this thread is off the charts.
The
"let's trade him while he still has currency" call is the stuff of AFL Fantasy coaches universe. Teffy would have went off his rocker. I can't believe someone would even contemplate that shit.
Wanna know why we capitulated against Collingwood? Or failed to fire a shot against Fremantle? The lack of his presence in the centre square is probably your first point of call. Smashed in that 2nd half in clearances/contested possessions, and the Fremantle whitewash was nothing short of a debacle around the stoppages. We were straight up demolished inside.
Spitta's greatest asset is his ability to not only win contests around the stoppages, but at worst halve them and if that fails, his defensive output and tackling makes up for it. And, yes he tackles well because he is one of the best exponents of the technique in recent memory. Not because he lacks explosiveness to get to the ball first. I mean, really? **** me, his first 20m is more than adequate. Further to that, tackling numbers for an inside-mid has nothing to do with a lack of explosiveness but
everything to do with positioning and recovery, when worked out of position, which happens often.
Elimination Final 2014 - "Zieeeeeeebell", "Petrie around the corner", all that Frank the Tank bullshit to follow. Yeah, well without Swallow willing himself through that contest and stoppage, like he consistently does in big moments, who knows how that game pans out. Hang on though, I guess his handball was a bit iffy with four guys hanging off him and he shouldn't have nearly missed his target in Goldy who is 7ft tall, and he probably didn't choose to kick because he knows he lacks the explosiveness to break away and/or he just knows he is a shithouse kick. Yeah, I'd probably consider trading him to be honest, because I wouldn't classify that as dragging us over the line. Others in our side drag us to more victories, more consistently. *wankmotion
You know what? I don't think he's the greatest leader and I would have Ziebell skipper the side from next season onward. He's also not the greatest kick. But he's more than serviceable and from 40m out directly in front, I would back him in over a host of others. But yeah, definitely, "country standard by foot at best". Brett Kirk couldn't kick over a jam tin, but his value was undeniable and Spitta is a better footballer than Kirky.
He has his limitations, but like most others who perform his role, they go incredibly underrated. I think it was
NiceCunnington who has consistently said he is vastly underrated. Well, it seems like it has been the case with our skipper for some time now and it's just absolute crap. Just off the top of my head, a midfield combination of Liberatore, Priddis, Swallow and Kennedy would be just about the best centre/stoppage ball winning unit I could think of. I'm sure the clearance statistics over the past few seasons would reflect that and I would back Swallow in against all three of them to win the footy if the ball was thrown into the middle of them.
A good mate of mine I played footy with who works for the Hawks as an operations co-ordinator, and is apart of their match day logistics, has long told me that it isn't Harvey and Wells that become their primary or first point of focus during match committee or pre-game meetings, but it's Swallow's influence on the game in the clinches. Hodge smacking him with the elbow ring any bells? At the time that we were into Dal Santo he said to me that Swallow getting those three the ball will remain their key concern.
I've seen his year as being pretty good but inconsistent. He's not near his Syd Barker form of 2-4 years ago, but without his tackling pressure and ball winning ability against Essendon and WC in those close games a few weeks back, we probably leave without the four points. He's not far off the pace where he set an outstanding 183 tackle year in 2010, which suggests to me that it's only a matter of time before everything else comes along.
If he was to ever win a Brownlow (and he polled well in 2013 from limited games) the same people who naively potted Priddis would give Swallow the same treatment. They're not pretty/flashy footballers who grab the eye, and their abilities/contribution to the team, should by no means be diminished.
Maybe we need to refresh some memories of what he is capable of. This quarter is a consistent example of what he dished up during the middle of a wonderful 3 year (2010-12) period of football.
Keep setting the example Andrew. Love you champ.
Rant over/