A penny for your thoughts

[oldman -pop]

Thoughts on should Sydney change the game plan up alittle bit

One thinks that the current game plan has huge holes in it and it looks like Sydney are a one trick pony well on tonights game


P.s I would say there wont be any big changes this week but for Lrt and Davis

 

[grimlock]

In: LRT, Davis
Out: Grundy, ?

Hope ? is not Schmidt because he played pretty well. (besides the smothered kick). Is Dempster okay, or will he have to sit out 1 week with concussion?

With the game plan, I hope we work something out soon because more sides seem to be employing it by the week. I don't think its anything terribly new but our skills are letting us down whereas in the previous couple of years we could hit targets under pressure.

 

[Corpuscles]

One more game and unless it changes down at Kardinia then massive wholesale changes required, play the kids especially Phillips and either Grundy/Vogels as a key forward I would tell MOL to have a rest for few weeks.

My penny's worth should come as no shock to you Pop.... reserves is our problem. Where as other sides can drop players back to VFL SANFL WAFL and gain confidence and still experience intensity and biff SWANS can't!

The new rules hurt swans more than any other side esp with LRT height missing. Kennelly is super important to defence
There are a lot of ordinary players . Midfield too slow and ROK has to do too much work as a key forward and midfielder as well
Hall was a 80+goal CHF which is a big loss if he is double teamed each week.

Swans have gone from pinch hittin and win on effort & guts to being the MOST hunted as a benchmark for effort . They have been beaten at own game plan now well and truly worked out. It can't be changed quickly except they have to take more risks and strive to take possession of the ball rather than be so tackle and stoppage conscious.

Many in the team need to re-learn how to take a contested MarK! Chest marks were banned by coaches in the 80's! Take it in ya hands!!!!!

 

[TheVideoMan]

We have too many negative stoppers in the middle. We lack a creative free running ball carrier. We don't have any and Spiders dominance in the ruck is being wasted. Time after time he wins the hitout only for it to land in the oppositions hands.

Think when was the last time a swans midfielder dominated the game of his own game? Never? Well that sums up the cortinas.

Another problem is the core of the "leadership" group are C R A P. past it. Rusted old cortinas. Jude Boltons plays like a '67 Cortina on its last pistons. The problem is how does Roos drop one of his mates? How does the leadership group drop one of it own?

I don't like leadership groups at all b/c when they win it's all roses and the love is great but when you loose and loose badly not just once but a few times then its impossible to drop these players.

I can't see changes being made at all this week. If so I will suspect it will be the usual young pups.

Roosy has lost me, he has empowered the players way too much and its about time he take some authority back and act like head honcho. I better not hear of players picking the team no more.

 

[DMJR]

I think the problems highlighted by last night’s game was that when ‘Plan A’ (strangle oppositions sides, Hall and MOL kick enough goals to win) doesn’t work, we don’t have a ‘Plan B’. Which of the many of reasons given for why ‘Plan A’ is not working, ie. lack of skills under pressure, we’ve peaked and are in decline etc I’m not sure. But when we don’t restrict the opposition we are not kicking our own correspondingly higher score.

I wrote sometime ago that a football commentator thought that the game had evolved as a result of the Swans’ successful style, and the game had become more ‘play on’, kick longer, more attacking including being prepared to kick to contests. As a result the Swans might have been found out as they were not capable of changing from their defensive style quick enough when required and becoming more attacking themselves.

I believe we need a ‘Plan B’ which requires:

a. More marking tall options in attack;

b. An attacking mid-field;

c. More height in defence, again with more attack (spot the common theme?).

The problem with implementing any changes is the standard of our Reserves. Constant 200 point wins does nothing to prepare our Reserves for serious Senior footy. They are not ready to walk into the Seniors. They appear to need to go into the Seniors and then pick up the pace over a number of weeks. This is a serious weakness and limits our options if we do go into serious decline and the St Kilda/Collingwood system continues to work against us.

To implement ‘Plan B’ I think the limited options are:

a. Jolly to permanent full-forward;

b. Doyle into the Ruck;

c. O’Keeffe and MOL to effectively inter-change in the forward area as the third tall;

d. Goodes to CHB (RLT needs weeks to get back match fitness so let’s not rush him back. Even when he does come back I would tend to play him at full-back);

e. Leo Barry to play off half-back flank (replacing Kennelly);

f. Play either Grundy/Vogels as the ‘tall’ on the bench and stick with them; and

g. Make a point of playing at least one of the Thorntons, Laidlaws, Brabazons etc and dropping on lack of form one of the more established mid-fielders. This brings in the enthusiasim of youth as well as keeping other on their toes.

I don’t think there will be many changes for Geelong, but I do think the Cats will watching last nights match video as much as they will be watching the video of our match against the Hawks.

 

[Tuco]

One thing I've noticed watching Richmond struggling to bring Richo into form and out of his rut is that they've been trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to create one on ones and kicking the ball long to him. Hall gets no such luck. We really haven't changed the structure at all to help him with his particular problems. And considering hwo often we're feeding him poor ball, this is something we need to address very quickly. We move the ball deliberately and slowly, and then for no good reason kick it to Hall after the defense has organised around our obvious target.

There are many reasons why Hall isn't firing, and there's no magic pill. But if we don't start using the ball more intelligently into our forwardline we're done and dusted.

 

[swantastic]

Grundy,Bevan,B1 were crap and they should be dropped.Last night we didnt play on enough after taking marks and were too slow to make a decision.We continually kick it to Bazza who is triple teamed,we dont back our selves enough and we couldnt hit the side of a barn.Our skill level last night was atrocious at best and really the only shinning lights were ROK,Goodes and Kirk altho Melcho and Fossie were ok.LRT and Davo should replace Grundy and Bevan and its the worst game i have seen since Roos took over maybe its time to go.The score board did flatter us a fair bit and we were lucky the Pies couldn't kick straight.When we play an attacking style of footy we look very hard to beat having said that the young Pies defenders did very well.

So on summation, IMO we need whole sale changers at the top dont perform and your gawn.