Autopsy Swans beat Suns by 49 on the Gold Coast.

[Ticky009]

 

[bedford]

I completely agree with that comment.
He is penalized for a number of incidents that other forwards get away with. I feel the umps just love paying free kicks against him.
Conversely, he is not paid free kicks for the number of occasions he should receive them. You can't touch Hawkins without giving away a free yet he is allowed to forcefully push his opponent squarely in the back and all is ok.

Post of the week

 

[Bandicoot]

Post of the week

Thanks Bedders.

 

[Zanerednwhite]

What a win, sorry for my absence everyone.
I'll try not to make a habit of it.
Here's my latest episode of my new podcast I'm trying to slowly get better at, still extremely amateurish. I think i figured out for it to be on apple as well now just search zanerednwhite podcast

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Same as those that choose to play , they know the risks . My knees will both need replacing and that's due to footy and cricket , but i wouldn't swap it

The key difference being that brain injuries can’t be fixed.

And medical understanding of head injury is evolving. Players in the 80’s and 90’s didn’t know the risks associated with concussion.

And neither did the AFL - which is why I find the lawsuits a bit hard to swallow.

 

[mtooler]

We looked good, should get a confidence boost this week too.

 

[anotherletdown]

I don't think anyone should be suing anyone. It's a contact sport and everyone understands this when the play.

However with the public scrutiny at an all time high, the afl will not be taking any chances

They've got funny way of showing it. Only two weeks for Pickett is as bad as Cripps getting off last year.

McAdam challenging and using both those cases as precedent is an even worse look.

IMO you should get changed for intent, not injury and if you've left your feet, you've in effect lost control. Snipers don't belong these days. The AFL are trying to walk both sides of the street, it's really poor form and they do know better.

 

[momentbymoment]

We looked good, should get a confidence boost this week too.

Would be nice if we put boot to throat and push down hard this week. We have a tendency to play to the level of our opponents.

 

[anotherletdown]

Would be nice if we put boot to throat and push down hard this week. We have a tendency to play to the level of our opponents.

Absolutely this. It's all mental and doing this would show more evolution in our game beyond, skills, size and the rest we are seeing.
Percentage is on the table for a reason.

p.s if anyone knows how to build that killer instinct and a time maschine please PM me. There's an unfulfilled sporting career back in the 90's I'd like to re-visit

 

[momentbymoment]

Absolutely this. It's all mental and doing this would show more evolution in our game beyond, skills, size and the rest we are seeing.
Percentage is on the table for a reason.

p.s if anyone knows how to build that killer instinct and a time maschine please PM me. There's an unfulfilled sporting career back in the 90's I'd like to re-visit

Not sure you can build it.
We need to draft players that are born with it.

 

[RubbaDuck]

Not sure you can build it.
We need to draft players that are born with it.

I have no doubt a love for the contest plays a big part in our recruitment. You're dead right, some people have it and some don't. I have one son who is ultra-competitive. His judo instructor saw his sheer refusal to be beaten from the first lesson. Most of our players have it. Monty Python's black knight had a little too much of it .

Regarding percentage, when it comes to a game, it's not just the players who determine the score. The coach and support staff have the biggest say in how far a game blows out. Their focus is on wins rather than percentage, which only matters if you don't get the win. One extra win, or even one extra draw, is worth more than any percentage. Just ask the Pies, who finished 4th in 2022 despite considerably less percentage than 11th placed Port. Having a higher percentage than another team is worth somewhere between nothing (to less than 2 points (a draw) at best, so a coach will always focus on maximising wins over the season. For example, did our blowout win over the Saints in Round 15 contribute to our narrow loss to Essendon the week after? Florent, Tom McCartin If we'd banked that as a win we'd have finished 2nd, regardless of percentage.

Horse has to keep one eye on the next game and the season ahead. With a big lead he'll keep enough firepower on the ground to ensure a win but will naturally he'd look at using the lead to advantage the team over the season. That could mean older players like Hickey or Buddy or a player returning from injury balancing their playing minutes against risk of injury or fatigue. They might introduce a sub earlier and/or give extended bench time to some players.

Our hard fought slog against the Pies the week before the GF took a harder toll on us than the Cats, with the easy cruise over the Lions. They Cats had that game bagged by had no incentive to win by anything more, so they took the foot off. In the first tight final against Pies, Geelong played Hawkins and Cameron for 98% and 99% TOG respectively. Against Brisbane they played just 77% and 89%, as the Cats took the foot off in the last term, leaving their key players well rested and uninjured. By contrast Hickey normally plays around 70-75% TOG or even less if he's coming back from injury. Against the Pies the week before the GF he played his biggest TOG of the year.

If Hickey was in preseason his training and competition loads would be based on his fitness levels. Coming back from an injury he'd gradually increase his training load. Coming back mid-season is harder, with less than optimal prep. As a football player (and part of a team) his training load will still reflect his fitness, but during a game some of his load will be carried by others, allowing him to play his best football but for a shorter period.

Having no Reid and no Ladhams in the back half of the Pies final and in the GF put a huge load on Hickey. He must have been half cooked from the start.It's no wonder Hawkins ripped the ball off him twice in the ruck.

I expect our guys learned a lot from 2022

 

[the hypnotoad]

I have no doubt a love for the contest plays a big part in our recruitment. You're dead right, some people have it and some don't. I have one son who is ultra-competitive. His judo instructor saw his sheer refusal to be beaten from the first lesson. Most of our players have it. Monty Python's black knight had a little too much of it .

Regarding percentage, when it comes to a game, it's not just the players who determine the score. The coach and support staff have the biggest say in how far a game blows out. Their focus is on wins rather than percentage, which only matters if you don't get the win. One extra win, or even one extra draw, is worth more than any percentage. Just ask the Pies, who finished 4th in 2022 despite considerably less percentage than 11th placed Port. Having a higher percentage than another team is worth somewhere between nothing (to less than 2 points (a draw) at best, so a coach will always focus on maximising wins over the season. For example, did our blowout win over the Saints in Round 15 contribute to our narrow loss to Essendon the week after? Florent, Tom McCartin If we'd banked that as a win we'd have finished 2nd, regardless of percentage.

Horse has to keep one eye on the next game and the season ahead. With a big lead he'll keep enough firepower on the ground to ensure a win but will naturally he'd look at using the lead to advantage the team over the season. That could mean older players like Hickey or Buddy or a player returning from injury balancing their playing minutes against risk of injury or fatigue. They might introduce a sub earlier and/or give extended bench time to some players.

Our hard fought slog against the Pies the week before the GF took a harder toll on us than the Cats, with the easy cruise over the Lions. They Cats had that game bagged by had no incentive to win by anything more, so they took the foot off. In the first tight final against Pies, Geelong played Hawkins and Cameron for 98% and 99% TOG respectively. Against Brisbane they played just 77% and 89%, as the Cats took the foot off in the last term, leaving their key players well rested and uninjured. By contrast Hickey normally plays around 70-75% TOG or even less if he's coming back from injury. Against the Pies the week before the GF he played his biggest TOG of the year.

If Hickey was in preseason his training and competition loads would be based on his fitness levels. Coming back from an injury he'd gradually increase his training load. Coming back mid-season is harder, with less than optimal prep. As a football player (and part of a team) his training load will still reflect his fitness, but during a game some of his load will be carried by others, allowing him to play his best football but for a shorter period.

Having no Reid and no Ladhams in the back half of the Pies final and in the GF put a huge load on Hickey. He must have been half cooked from the start.It's no wonder Hawkins ripped the ball off him twice in the ruck.

I expect our guys learned a lot from 2022

generally, i agree with most of this (not so much the percentage debate but the ability to ease up a bit) ... particularly reference to the close win against c'wood
but i also think the experience factor came into it, from that game into the grand final (which i have barely talked about, on here or generally)
we went into the gf probably having overachieved through last season ... to me, that came from the sheer talent of the playing group

but emotionally, it's likely we played our grand final against the pies, as much as you don't want to think of such things going into the big one ... and the worst possible thing for our young, inexperienced players was being stunned early ... we really did seem like rabbits in the headlights with each geelong goal in that first quarter, but not just the goals ... every big hit, fumbled ball, missed kick and umpiring decision seemed to just make it worse and our blokes couldn't compose themselves quickly enough to respond ... and it escalated

what comes out of that is, quite obviously, the experience ... the players would've learned so much, been toughened by that horror show ...
in recent years, yesterday might have been a "danger game" but rather than ease off when we were 5-6 goals up, we smashed them and kept smashing them until into the fourth quarter we were on track for a 100-point win, and only then did we ease up
the swans players looked like they were thoroughly enjoying being out there with each other playing good, attacking, winning football (which goes to a mindset developed from the grand final ... "that isn't happening again ... but the only way to prove that is out on the field")

and i'd argue the best of that running, supporting style was on show at various times last year, hopefully we've continued to improve on it