Expectations for 2008

[mj23]

Cmon guys leo Barry is not finished

 

[bedford]

at no stage have i advocated players, whatever their age and experience, being picked on anything but form
however, i think any opinions on a best 22 right at this moment are based on form towards the end of our disappointing 2007 season, and that being the case we have to look at a few more than just crouch and bevan, both of whom i agree would not be in my starting 22 in round 1 08

first, ben mathews....while he finished top 10 in the B&F, as many keep saying, this is as much a reflection on the inconsistent or injury-plagued seasons of several players who would normally be rated ahead of mathews....eg, barry hall, tadhg kennelly
second, leo barry.....yes yes, a swans legend no doubt, but no one could argue that leo finished the season in any kind of form....his efforts against c'wood got worse as the elim final went on, and no one has yet addressed the combination of his loss of pace and his failing judgment
while he continues to blunder and confuse when with the ball, he is a liability and cannot be picked in the best 22 with any confidence

and while i agree other players need to prove themselves, surely in the case of crouch, bevan, mathews and barry, they were so poor in that last match of 07, it is fair enough to say they would start the new season outside, or at the very least on the brink of being outside that first 22

i am simply going over stuff i've been saying for months, but it's not just a matetr of change for the sake of change
i'm not alone in the opinion that we have become slower and more brittle with age and the effects of the physically intense football of the past 5 years....but more, we have become stale and reactive, almost scared to try anything on the field...whether this is a coaching issue or a failure of imagination among the players, i don't know, and i spose only time will tell, but i do know that through a lot of 06 and certainly most of 07, watching our mighty team was a frustrating, stomach-emptying feeling

i simply believe that going into the new season with largely the same core of players on the field is just treading water or, worse, sinking slowly

maybe the coaching panel has become stale,with no fresh coaches

 

[rancidpants13]

Cmon guys leo Barry is not finished

he's finished as a key defender....we cannot afford for our fullback to be attempting to run the ball out of defence the way he did most of 07, he is too slow but seemingly does not accept it, and he has lost a lot of his ability to judge opponents.....there can be no great illustration of this than when he was run down by josh fraser...JOSH FRASER!!! in the c'wood final loss...he is a heart-in-mouth player who has cost us in the past, and despite his heroics over the years we cannot have such an unpredictable player anchoring our defence....other players have admitted in interviews that they often have no idea what leo is going to do when he gets the ball
that is no longer good enough
play him on a HB flank or out of a pocket, yes, but it is time we set up our defence with LRT and craig bolton as cornerstones, or develop a younger player, but leo IS finished as a key defender

 

[The natural]

Cmon guys leo Barry is not finished

Agree whole heartedly.Yes he was very ordinary in the elimination final,but correct me if Im wrong he was second up after a six week hamstring injury wasnt he ? His opponent that night Rusling wouldnt look out of place in a 100 mtr sprint final and would make most defenders look slow.Not to mention the lack of pressure applied by the midfield that night which allowed Collingwood to bring the ball in very quickly with ridiculous ease.Agree fullback is probably not his best spot anymore but when has it ever been.He has done a mighty job there for years now when in all fairness the blokes built like a halfback flanker at best.As far as having to fight for a place in the best 22,he,s in the starting 18 all day long.Ask Roos and i reckon you would find he is in the first half dozen picked everyweek again next year and at this stage i wouldnt write him off just yet.And just as a sideline anyone who thinks Playfair is going to fill some sought of roll down back next year is kidding themselves.Agree with Rancid on one thing and that is our defence can be built around a big body in LRT whos importance to the side is unquestionable.

 

[ssfc0203]

who would you place into FB? I thought both Bolts and LRT showed promising signs this year. I'd go with Bolts because of the way he led the defense this year, while still maintaining personal goals and jobs!
Roosy will keep Leo at FB for the best part of next year though, so get ready for a cringefest?
He does take absolute screamers, though

 

[FM0226]

Agree whole heartedly.Yes he was very ordinary in the elimination final,but correct me if Im wrong he was second up after a six week hamstring injury wasnt he ? His opponent that night Rusling wouldnt look out of place in a 100 mtr sprint final and would make most defenders look slow.Not to mention the lack of pressure applied by the midfield that night which allowed Collingwood to bring the ball in very quickly with ridiculous ease.Agree fullback is probably not his best spot anymore but when has it ever been.He has done a mighty job there for years now when in all fairness the blokes built like a halfback flanker at best.As far as having to fight for a place in the best 22,he,s in the starting 18 all day long.Ask Roos and i reckon you would find he is in the first half dozen picked everyweek again next year and at this stage i wouldnt write him off just yet.And just as a sideline anyone who thinks Playfair is going to fill some sought of roll down back next year is kidding themselves.Agree with Rancid on one thing and that is our defence can be built around a big body in LRT whos importance to the side is unquestionable.

Trouble is, where else do we play him? After years of battling players above his weight, he longer had the pace or evasive skills to play as a flanker. The reason why he was so effective on the rebound in the previous years was that he could out-run all full forwards - now he's getting run down because most of them are faster than him.

In my view, with LRT back, LRT should taking on the Key forwards that leads a bit, but plays in the goal square as well - ie J.Brown, Mooney, N.Thompson (is he still around next year?),Pavlich etc. and resting ruckman like Hale or Lade. C.Bolton to take the leading types like Franklin, Travis Cloke, Hansen, Riewoldt etc. And Ted to take on the slower, high leaping types like Kosi, Nathan Ablett, Westhoff etc. Ted is not a great lead-chaser, but is a decent judge of the flight of the ball and a good spoiler vertically.

Leo is probably only effective as a loose-man in defence from last year's performances.

 

[its game on]

who would you place into FB? I thought both Bolts and LRT showed promising signs this year. I'd go with Bolts because of the way he led the defense this year, while still maintaining personal goals and jobs!
Roosy will keep Leo at FB for the best part of next year though, so get ready for a cringefest?
He does take absolute screamers, though

Yes he does rarely, but it is not worth for every one screamer that he will take, he will get tackled 10 times and turn over possession or get caught in possession. Leo will also give a big bloopy handball to a player who is stationary and surrounded by opposition 5 times a game. He will kick to the opposition 4 times, give away 6 penalties a game in a marking contest with high tackes or in the back, and when not giving away penalties be caught 3 metres behind his opponent who takes an easy mark.

These turnovers/penalites uncanningly always somehow always seem to end up going thru the big sticks. Leo will then look up at the big screen hands on hips, and then shake his head as if he's had a rough deal from the umpires.

Maybe Roosy wearing the purple Wiggles shirt.

Wake up Paul!!

Time to send Leo to the flanks or play loose in defence, he's not KP anymore.

 

[ssfc0203]

Yes he does rarely, but it is not worth for every one screamer that he will take, he will get tackled 10 times and turn over possession or get caught in possession. Leo will also give a big bloopy handball to a player who is stationary and surrounded by opposition 5 times a game. He will kick to the opposition 4 times, give away 6 penalties a game in a marking contest with high tackes or in the back, and when not giving away penalties be caught 3 metres behind his opponent who takes an easy mark.

These turnovers/penalites uncanningly always somehow always seem to end up going thru the big sticks. Leo will then look up at the big screen hands on hips, and then shake his head as if he's had a rough deal from the umpires.

Maybe Roosy wearing the purple Wiggles shirt.

Wake up Paul!!

Time to send Leo to the flanks or play loose in defence, he's not KP anymore.

note the wink


play him in flank, as much as everyone says he's *worthless* i can't stand losing him. I want to see him play out the rest of his playing days in a position that allows him to use his skills to the maximum, not look like a rag doll in FB, a position he did well in, but can only on occassion perform at full potential.

 

[mj23]

Leo would have been a half back flanker at any other team we just haven't had a full back he always seems alot shorter than his oppenents. Don't bag leo for his run out of defence this is what he does best.

 

[is2SWaNz]

Leo would have been a half back flanker at any other team we just haven't had a full back he always seems alot shorter than his oppenents. Don't bag leo for his run out of defence this is what he does best.

And as he runs out of defence, he prances and dances around the opposition giving every Sydney supporter a heart attack. Thats what I like to see more of Leo!

 

[rancidpants13]

And as he runs out of defence, he prances and dances around the opposition giving every Sydney supporter a heart attack. Thats what I like to see more of Leo!

you've got to be kidding....oh, but you're one of those healthy youngsters, right? so your heart can take the stress and panic

i'm sorry, i'm not that far over the hill yet but if i have to keep watching leo do his thang, i'll be turning my toes up before the split round in 08
i still remember round 2 v richmond at the MCG this year where leo actually almost knocked himself unconscious running around in a circle (in the style of the old-fashioned decapitated poultry) and smacked into andrew krakouer......it was last quarter and thank god spida lifted, it may have even been spida that saved leo's bacon in that incident
the point is we CANNOT afford leo's all-too-frequent bursts of madness....
yes, he takes the odd screamer, but how many does he attempt and miss, and concede a free kick in the process....

It's game on's post about the mistakes becoming goals against us, and leo's stading hands on hips shaking his melon at the umpires, is an infuriating sight