Our style has moved on and can be seen when we move the ball sharply and quickly. Unfortunately our players struggle to execute somre pretty basic skills under pressure. Believe me, they are not instructed to hesitate then bang it in long when going forward. Nor are they instructed to drop simple marks or miss goals from right in front.Was at the game. I am generally very cynical of anyone talking about umpiring bias but that was pretty ridiculous.
I don't claim to be any tactical genius, but there was a 10 minute patch in the 1st quarter where we were dominant in the contest. That is obv what Horse prides himself on so I have to give him credit for that. The issue was that as we moved the ball forward of centre, there seemed to be no plan. The player with the ball typically looked hesitant, and ended up bombing it to a 2v2 or worse.
It feels like the sentiment of most Swans fans is that we continue to play a 2004-2012 defensive pressure game plan with players who aren't suited to it, in a league that has moved on and figured out that style. The counter argument is always that we continue to make finals and in fact should have won another flag since 2012.
I always give the professionals the benefit of the doubt. When BT is shitting on complaining about De Goey going off after kicking a goal, I assume that he is wrong and the Pies coaching staff are right, because they are being paid a lot of money to do it full time, and he is just crapping on about what happened in his day.
So I am honestly loathe to criticise Longmire, given I have never even played AFL at any level. However being at the game, I just didn't understand wtf we were doing going forward. In some ways I hope we have a terrible season and some heat is put on us and Horse, because the way we play has been a true mystery to me the past few years, and I would like someone who knows what they are talking about to explain it to me.
That goal buddy kicked from the boundary was ridiculous. I was in the perfect spot and the moment he gathered it in everyone knew what was going to happen.
I though Blakey looked really good.
Blakey needs to be consistently good but that's fine. He'll be up and down for a few more years yet.