Freo to win?

[Briedis]

Can the Swans beat Freo at the SCG?

The Swans are going to be under enormous pressure to win and the Dockers are playing for pride which usually brings out the best in a team. The Swans will be very disheartened after yesterdays effort...can they get up for the Dockers?

There's a lot of positive talk about the Swans aggression in the papers today. I disagree. I thought that the Swans had misplaced aggression and gave away two goals because of it. In the end this decided the game. They need to learn to be aggressive at the contest and not the man.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Alarm bells are ringing for this game

As they are everytime we play the Dockers.

Its a fact - we are Fremantles bunny - regardless of how each team is going, Freo have little trouble brushing us aside regardless of where the game is played.

The overall record is 6-3 Fremantle. Its 2-1 Fremantle at the SCG wopuld you believe. We didn't manage to beat them at all untill we had played each other 5 times. And every Swans victory over Freo has been a scrappy, unconvincing performance.

In the Gerard Neesham days they used to kill us with boring regularity. No matter how well we might have been going, we had no chance against their pace and skill. The only decent games Shaun McManus ever plays in his entire career is when he comes to the SCG, he rips us up on our own home ground with consumate ease.

Fremantle are playing OK footy this year, inspite of losing every game. They will fancy their chances against us this Sunday and I fear thatb its not going to be very pretty.

We are down - way down.

- Our 1st ruck is terrible, inspite of some great fill-in work by Ball and Goodes, Stafford is unfit and disinterested, Doyle is finding the pace too hot to handle at this stage of his career.

- Our backline is whats keeping us in the game at the moment but even here we chronically lack height, marking power, and the workrate of our smaller defenders leaves alot to be desired as well.

- Our midfield has now been cruelly exposed as too old, too slow, too soft, too unskilled and lacking depth.

- Our forwards are are little more than pop-guns at the moment. O'Loughlin is doing OK but why can't he stay on his feet in the packs more ? Goodes is struggling to take a mark, Ball and Stafford at FF are both abject failures, Williams and Ahmat should be tied to a chair and made to watch footage of Craig O'Brien vintage 96 for hours on end (thats how a small forward is supposed to play the game you idiots !) All fowards are missing far too many easy shots at goal.

If you remember Round 9 last year, the similarity is eerie.

The Swans went into that one 3-5 and really struggling. Port Adelaide were having the season from hell and were expected to offer little resistance. Port had by far the better of the play but missed most shots at goal. Sydney were terrible but managed to scramble a very sloppy win, thanks mainly to 5 goals from Ahmat including the sealer that was a shocking kick that bounced erratically over and through a crowded goalsquare and somehow managed to wobble its way through the goal.

In keeping with the same theme as last year - it will be a scrappy shocker of a game. Fremantle will dominate on the field but probably not the scoreboard.

cheers - with fingers and toes crossed.

 

[Briedis]

BloodStainedAngel. A Swans fan that actually has some idea of what's going on? Unbelievable! Well done mate. How on earth do you put up with the drivel that comes out of most Swans supporters mouths? It must be embarrasing for you...

Anyway, I agree that you're ruck dept. is poor at the moment. What is the story with Stafford? You're right, he really does look disinterested. Did he have some kind of altercation with the club over the off-season? Sydney should get rid of Feast. He is the worst player I have seen for a long time. I remember watching him in one game this year and he consistently tapped to the opposition for two quarters. I'm surprised the opposition didn't take their ruckman off as he was not needed.

One of the biggest mistakes the Swans have made in recent times is trading/delisting (not sure which) Rhino (can't remember his real name!). He looked like he could fill Pluggers shoes when he retired. He played FF at Essendon before Lloyd came on the scene. The swans never look forward in their recruiting, always older players. Trading Schwass for Grant was a blunder too. Maybe they should try and get McManus when his contract is up.

The midfield is where you can win games, but will always struggle on bigger ground because of their age. Cressa, Schwatter and Maxfield are all good players, but there are no good young players to rotate through the midfield to give them a rest. I think this is part of the reason that the Swans are playing well in patches this year....

O'Lauglin is not a key forward. He is a great player, but he will struggle against the opposition teams best defender every week. He will probably get a serious injury too...defenders are pretty hard at it these days. Swans need another focal point up forward. What about Bolton? Ball should be told to drift forward after the center bounce ruck contest, which he has done a little bit this year.

I think the biggest problem for the Swans is that teams have worked out the game plan and have come up with a counter for it. The Swans predictably switch the play when they get possesion, so most teams have worked out that if you fill the space square of the contest against the Swans, they get stuck and turn it over. (This happened to North as well with the Pagans paddock plan, part of the reason for our bad start, but I think Denis has changed things a little now...)

Lewis should be back this week and he can help out up forward. But it's the midfield where you will lose this game. No depth, and too old and slow. Sorry mate....

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

I dunno what the problem with Stafford is, he does seem to be carrying a slight injusry of some kind, but above and beyond that I get the impression he is just not interested in playing footy anymore. I suspect the club will consider delisting him if the slide continues.

Feast has been a major disappointment IMHO, He was a great player for Sturt in the SANFL and has a Magarey Medal to boot. I have a tape of the 98 SANFL Grand Final and he is pretty awesome in that game, but he just cannot hack it at AFL level. His tap-ruck work lacks technique, and whats worse he is abysmal at the spare-tall-floating-around type role as well. I don't blame the club for recruiting him, its just been a bit of bad luck there.

Ryan O'Connor you say ? - er, well, yes you are right. We did pick him up (along with Jason Ball) with a view to providing a target post-Lockett up forward but it didn't work out that way. I liked Rhino personally but in reality he was too old, too slow, too fat, couldn't take a mark and wasn't tall enough to do fill-in ruck work either.

Disagree with your Schwass / Grant analysis. We expected two years service maximum from Schwass. Its been 4 now and he is still a truly great player. He has lost a little pace and stamina recently but what do you expect from a 32yo ? Most Roos AND SWans people would agree the trade has been good for both clubs and is STILL good for both clubs.

Our midfield is generally too old and too slow, Cresswell and Maxfield are both great players but are not getting any younger. However I disagrre with you in that I would contend we have some youngeron-ballers who are coming along quite nicely. Crouch, Bolton and Fosdyke are all great young players who have recently re-signed long term contracts with the club. In two years time these guys will be ready to take over full time. Here, at least, the future looks pretty good for Sydney.

You are right - O'Loughlin is not a key forward, he makes a better Half-Forward flanker type player where he has more space to creatively use the ball, something he is very good at.

I don't agree about his injuries though. He has shown himself to be remarkably resilient and very fit. He played all games last year and hasn't missed a game so far this season. His endurance and ability to stay out on the paddock week after week is what will make him a great ornament to the game in years to come (if is not already) Likewise Goodes - very reliable, very resilient.

The performace of the Swans post-Lockett should leave absolutely no doubt - we are a team with a ground and a game plan that DEMANDS the traditional Full Forward. A big strong lump of a guy in the goal square who can lead, mark and convert. We don't have the skill to be able to run the ball effectively through HF. Our best approach is to kick long straight from the centre, right down the throat of a leading FF.

The problem with our so-called game plan is not so much that the oppostion have worked it out, but rather we lack the skills to pull it off properly. A short, high possession game is fine when you've got players who can run and create the spaces and who have the disposal skills to make it work properly. However often we just end up going around in circles before lamely turning it over.

We are a good, basic footy team. Not skilled but very disciplined and well coached. We need a good, basic game plan to match the character and composition of the side.

At the moment we indulge in too much fancy stuff - we are just not good enough for that.

cheers