Autopsy Deja Voodoo - Clawed at the Cattery

[LukeParkerno1]

what do people think of Papley starting every quarter at the centre bounce?

Not against it but clubs would get used to it. Don't see why we wouldn't just get Sheldrick in there

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Sports psychologists would probably have insisted that players come to terms with the loss and have the chance to process the personal impact of the GF loss before moving on. I suspect the Swans ignored the psycholgists and moved on too soon. The hurry to do so has left a form of trauma. Anger may feel momentarily good, to lash out, but it rarely achieves much. Ask Ladhams.

Our guys are professional sportsmen. They will have effective coping strategies but my concern is they simply did not pursue them long enough.

I'm not sure why you hold the views of Eastern Suburbs fans and our sponsors responsible. The fans I know from the Eastern Suburbs are just as passionate for their club as anyone else, they just don't feel the need to thump anyone in anger. Developing psychological tools to allow us to deal with trauma, to care for others, even those we don't know, is not only the right thing to do but it's also the human thing to do. It's one of the traits that separates us from apes.

Who cares if Duncan is laughing. We can get past the trauma of the GF loss without having to lash out at him. I don't have to be from the Eastern Suburbs to know that

Fair points.

I think to some degree we are talking past each other. I never mentioned anything about anyone hitting or thumping anyone.

My comments about anger and being human were about giving the boys a chance to express it. You are probably right about what a sports psychologist would do and what the club may have done instead.

I think you can express anger in healthy ways, and while ideally the boys would have processed everything in a few months, I would be shocked if many of players weren’t at least somewhat at the anger stage of the grieving process from losing the grand final. Saying it is all behind you only bottles it up.

I don’t think the is anything wrong with admitting that the rematch against Geelong meant more than your average round game, and to intentionally lift to the occasion by being particularly hard at it, making your tackles stick, making firm contact at the marking contest, etc, etc. When you play like that, opposition teams don’t laugh at you.

We could have a long discussion about Sydney supporters across several codes, but this is not the right thread. Calling out eastern suburbs specifically wasn’t productive, so I apologise for that. At a high level though, I think the Swans fans are some of the nicest people you will meet, and they create a great atmosphere when the game is hot, but no opposition coach has ever spoken about scoring early to take the crowd out of the game, and umpires rarely hesitate to blow the whistle because subconsciously they are worried about how the crowd will react.

My main point though is that I think the Swans’ desire to have a clean image (and to their credit also genuinely seeking to be that clean image) has got slightly out of skew with having a winning culture.

 

[Punts]

90 odd points

I still can’t get over the performance

It’s seriously bad what we have dished up this season

Most coaches would be under massive pressure

 

[LukeParkerno1]

We had several options to draft big bodied midfielders in last years draft. We went with a small forward.

Those big bodied mids were gone. We tried to trade up, no one was handing over top 10 picks. We then tried to trade with Calton in order to have access to Hollands who would have helped our wings. These big bodied mids who was there? I’d have love Phillipou too but it wasn’t happening

 

[TheMase]

90 odd points

I still can’t get over the performance

It’s seriously bad what we have dished up this season

Most coaches would be under massive pressure

I disagree. No team can replace their three key tall defenders, their reserve key defender and on top of that three key forwards, all of which have claimed to be best 22 or on the cusp of it.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I disagree. No team can replace their three key tall defenders, their reserve key defender and on top of that three key forwards, all of which have claimed to be best 22 or on the cusp of it.

There’s getting beaten and then there’s whatever we dished up…and poor selection didn’t help.

 

[Punts]

I disagree. No team can replace their three key tall defenders, their reserve key defender and on top of that three key forwards, all of which have claimed to be best 22 or on the cusp of it.

I disagree

Midfield was at full strength

Some excuses I understand but a drubbing and not to even kick a goal after half time is not afl standard

We are a joke

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I disagree

Midfield was at full strength

Some excuses I understand but a drubbing and not to even kick a goal after half time is not afl standard

We are a joke

Not the first time and you’d think after the GF they would have wanted to put in. We’re stages on Saturday where they weren’t and that’s the disappointment more than anything

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

90 odd points

I still can’t get over the performance

It’s seriously bad what we have dished up this season

Most coaches would be under massive pressure

Over on the main board there’s now a Longmire thread and a huge number of opposition supporters are saying he’s a great coach.

And no, they’re not taking the pish.

 

[TheMase]

I disagree

Midfield was at full strength

Some excuses I understand but a drubbing and not to even kick a goal after half time is not afl standard

We are a joke

I didn’t say it was good enough.

Suggesting that our key position players missing don’t effect the confidence of or the way they players (midfield) play is a very narrow view indeed.

 

[TheMase]

There’s getting beaten and then there’s whatever we dished up…and poor selection didn’t help.

Poor selection? Who Gould as sub?
He got led to the ball by Hawkins.
Seriously

Did you watch the VFL? There is a single player in the queue.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I didn’t say it was good enough.

Suggesting that our key position players missing don’t effect the confidence of or the way they players (midfield) play is a very narrow view indeed.

If you win the middle you take the pressure off a weakened defence pity we moved our AA midfielder to defence though…

Yes the odds were against us but you win the middle you are a chance our mids we’re flat out horrible

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Poor selection? Who Gould as sub?
He got led to the ball by Hawkins.
Seriously

Did you watch the VFL? There is a single player in the queue.

Francis should have played back at least, Gould could have played back. Get rid of Cunningham playing him sent the wrong message form has been horrific. Mills stays in the midfield where he’s an AA midfielder!

 

[Donza]

I didn’t say it was good enough.

Suggesting that our key position players missing don’t effect the confidence of or the way they players (midfield) play is a very narrow view indeed.

This.
Undermanned and hammered. Against the premiers. On their home deck for the 1st time this season.
In front of 250 swans fans.

Its the same hyperbole after every loss.
This point last year. You should have seen the comments posted on the board.
Some of them are word for word.



I have faith in the club, the coaches and the players.

 

[Punts]

Excuses excuses for this club is a joke

 

[TheMase]

Excuses excuses for this club is a joke

I prefer to call them reasons.

 

[Gimmeafree]

If you win the middle you take the pressure off a weakened defence pity we moved our AA midfielder to defence though…

Yes the odds were against us but you win the middle you are a chance our mids we’re flat out horrible

This. You said it perfectly. Let’s concede it in the middle and band aid in defence by putting mills on Andre the Giant

 

[LukeParkerno1]

This. You said it perfectly. Let’s concede it in the middle and band aid in defence by putting mills on Andre the Giant

I mean it wasn’t the ONLY reason we lost but if Mills is in there maybe we don’t get belted in clearances and then maybe you are even or only a goal or so down at 1/4 time. You leave the clearances for Warner, etc who aren’t ready to go against a seasoned midfield and you are asking for it.

 

[TheMase]

I mean it wasn’t the ONLY reason we lost but if Mills is in there maybe we don’t get belted in clearances and then maybe you are even or only a goal or so down at 1/4 time. You leave the clearances for Warner, etc who aren’t ready to go against a seasoned midfield and you are asking for it.

Mills went into the middle in the second half.
0 clearances.

Averages only 2 clearances in 2023.
Warner had 7 clearances, averages 5 in 2023.

By the way, we lost clearances by 1.

 

[caesar88]

Mills was in the midfield against Melbourne and we got killed in there. Obviously I think he makes us a lot better in the mids (I spoke about this in the Bloods Performance thread), but one player wouldn't have made a difference to the outcome. It's also worth remembering that Mills wasn't down back just for the match-up on Hawkins. He was basically organising our structures as the leader in the absence of Rampe.

I think where Horse & co can take some ownership is with the mids. Look at the names who were in there and I still don't see any reason they couldn't have performed better. You have Parker who is a leader and supposedly an elite mid we were so eager to sign for 4 years. You have Warner who was in the AA squad last year. You have Rowbottom who was arguably BOG in 2 out of our 3 finals last year. You have Papley who is an AA player and dangerous centre bounce player. And you have Gulden, who is a prodigious if developing talent.

Horse & co need to be asking themselves why that group didn't work, and what needs to change. I don't believe it's a personnel problem.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Mills went into the middle in the second half.
0 clearances.

Averages only 2 clearances in 2023.
Warner had 7 clearances, averages 5 in 2023.

By the way, we lost clearances by 1.

Don't care about the second half, you start with your best midfielders in the middle in the first half and first quarter especially. Second half was a write off you are down by 10 goals then. Warner may have had 7 but jeez he was as bad as they came, turned it over all night long. Look was putting Mills in the backline the reason we were down by 50 at halftime no, but did it have an influence yes. As I said start Francis/Gould in defence and Mills in the middle you back your mids to win clearances and get territory. Instead we were smashed in the first quarter there, our mids got pantsed again all while our ONE AA midfielder from last season is playing defence on Hawkins. At some point the finger has to be on coaching/selection and gameday tactics because a blind donkey could tell you this plan was never working.

 

[The King!]

Mills to the midfield is not the panacea for success , but imo it sends a message that we are trying to win. Sending him back for the first half says we are trying to minimise the loss.

We played on the back foot from the start.

We also are saying to Gould we don't rate you, so what do you expect when he finally gets a go, not an excuse , but he is copping the well he made no difference comment.

Francis up forward. why? again we went small down back against two star talls? Even if you had Gould or francis as a spare to provide a contest.

I tipped the cats, and maybe there is literally no move that makes a s**t of a difference , but s**t you may as well give Gould a full game down back, try francis there and give them some experience.

We can't bang on about a lack of experience if we won't expose guys to the game when we have the chance

 

[The King!]

Rowbottom is just out there chasing Dangerfield , what a waste of ******* time imo

 

[The King!]

The effort on the weekend was not good enough for any AFL team simple as that , i don't care who was available or not, they were the up there with the most embarrassing performances ever seen in the league imo

 

[The King!]

This.
Undermanned and hammered. Against the premiers. On their home deck for the 1st time this season.
In front of 250 swans fans.

Its the same hyperbole after every loss.
This point last year. You should have seen the comments posted on the board.
Some of them are word for word.



I have faith in the club, the coaches and the players.

Easy to have faith if you don't watch