dlanod
Moderator
- Sep 14, 2006
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- #1
I'll say it up front - I was a lot more concerned about the Gold Coast game than the Swans game. All things considered, we should win this easily and in the last 18 months we've been very good at winning the games we should win (unlike other teams that shall remain nameless) and this has been a big part of why we're up the pointy end of the top 8 instead of playing in the shallow end.
With that caveat out of the way, the biggest issue of writing a preview this week is that I just don't recognise a bunch of players in the Sydney team any more after they've been devestated by injury. Our list might have ticked upwards in the last couple of weeks, but here's a list of players I recognise from the Sydney injury list:
- Franklin
- Heeney
- Hewett
- Mills
- Naismith
- Rampe
- Ronke
Here's a list of players I wouldn't have recognised prior to this year from last round's Swans' team:
- Clarke
- Fox
- McInerney
- McLean
- Wicks
And I recognise Thurlow but didn't realise he was with the Swans now.
The latter doesn't quite outnumber the former but that's only because I saw enough random games to recognise guys like McCartin, Rowbottom and Dawson.
The Swans have one of the more unusual formlines with honourable losses to good teams like Richmond, Collingwood and Port, and bad teams like Carlton, but also wins over top 8 contenders (at the time) Melbourne and GWS and blowouts to teams that aren't (Fremantle and the Suns). They're basically the prototypical young team - bringing energy to pretty much every contest but their skills and timing isn't quite there yet. They're also the prototypical team that we've knocked off without too much concern, depending on how one counts the NM win.
I don't know that there's a heap of substantial analysis warranted here - we should be stronger across the field, with their midfield slightly bolstered by the return of Kennedy but still leaving them with a shallow rotation compared to ours effectively running two whole rotations deep, our forwards should enjoy time without Rampe, and our backline up against inexperienced forwards like McCartin. Papley is probably their best player at the moment but he still plays primarily in bursts, like Rayner but without the supporting cast.
Still interesting tidbit: one of us has made the finals every year since '04 but never both of us in the same year.
With that caveat out of the way, the biggest issue of writing a preview this week is that I just don't recognise a bunch of players in the Sydney team any more after they've been devestated by injury. Our list might have ticked upwards in the last couple of weeks, but here's a list of players I recognise from the Sydney injury list:
- Franklin
- Heeney
- Hewett
- Mills
- Naismith
- Rampe
- Ronke
Here's a list of players I wouldn't have recognised prior to this year from last round's Swans' team:
- Clarke
- Fox
- McInerney
- McLean
- Wicks
And I recognise Thurlow but didn't realise he was with the Swans now.
The latter doesn't quite outnumber the former but that's only because I saw enough random games to recognise guys like McCartin, Rowbottom and Dawson.
The Swans have one of the more unusual formlines with honourable losses to good teams like Richmond, Collingwood and Port, and bad teams like Carlton, but also wins over top 8 contenders (at the time) Melbourne and GWS and blowouts to teams that aren't (Fremantle and the Suns). They're basically the prototypical young team - bringing energy to pretty much every contest but their skills and timing isn't quite there yet. They're also the prototypical team that we've knocked off without too much concern, depending on how one counts the NM win.
I don't know that there's a heap of substantial analysis warranted here - we should be stronger across the field, with their midfield slightly bolstered by the return of Kennedy but still leaving them with a shallow rotation compared to ours effectively running two whole rotations deep, our forwards should enjoy time without Rampe, and our backline up against inexperienced forwards like McCartin. Papley is probably their best player at the moment but he still plays primarily in bursts, like Rayner but without the supporting cast.
Still interesting tidbit: one of us has made the finals every year since '04 but never both of us in the same year.