Autopsy Swans vs Eagles

[SBD Gonzalez]

Would all those posters who spent the last fortnight declaring Sinkers and Harry were not AFL standard footballers care to now admit that both of them were far from our worst tonight?

 

[Number37]

Would all those posters who spent the last fortnight declaring Sinkers and Harry were not AFL standard footballers care to now admit that both of them were far from our worst tonight?

I will go right ahead and assume the answer is no.

 

[S120]

Kieren Jack looks down right awful atm. Be it through injury or purely bad form, he looks like a shadow of his former self.

 

[CheapCharlie]

Backline is lacking a bit of cohesion from last year....Part of that can be put down to changes in the rushed behind rule and also interpretations of holding the man that are going against defenders

Aliir had a stinker of a night...
Grundy would have been passable were it not for some of his awful turnovers
Mills is not in the form he was last year
Zak jones showed how effective he can be late in the game,. when given a license to run...but all too late

The nature of some of those turnovers was the most painful thing to watch...hard work done, and then a diabolical piece of disposal.

Buddy looked liked he was playing injured after that hit...Sam Reid...Shows a couple of good games then back to his useless ways

I like the look of some of these young guys...

Mids will get it together after the GWS game...

Really, who was expecting that game to be a win anyway?

 

[caesar88]

I'm so glad I took the punt of asking my boss for an early finish tonight to see this game live...

There needs to be some calm here, from all sides. We have been utterly diabolical, illogical and a complete shambles to start this year. Yet we have been right in each game into the last quarter of all four games. That means even though we're off the mark, we're not that far off the mark. Imagine the possibilities if we actually played well... However, everyone on here keeps saying fair-weather supporters and how spoilt we are. Maybe that's true, but pointing out what is going wrong with this club, complaining about it, and having opinions on the team does not make you a bad supporter. You can feel however you want to feel about our team. You can even say we played shit in 2012 and got lucky and it would still make you a good supporter. At the end of the day we all want the same thing here and unless we're burning Swans memorabilia in Moore Park, I think we can all say we're pretty ******* good supporters.

If you want evidence of bad supporters, just take a look at West Coast fans. Now I live to the south of Perth, which means I frequent more Freo supporters than Eagles, and the Dockers are ******** horrid at the best of times. But the Eagles fans have taken the cake. I heard multiple racist and horrible remarks made by West Coast fans tonight, aimed at both the players and the supporters, and I only saw half the game. When your team is struggling to put away what is basically the Swans reserves team on your home deck, why the **** would you be acting like the kings of the world? Absolute morons.

Onto the actual game, we are just so so so bad. I saw it coming, but I also somewhere in my mind expected and hoped that there would be a lift. If anything, this was a huge backwards step. Parker may have had 27 touches, but from what I saw at the ground he did FA, looked lazy and lethargic, and is having no impact. I love K. Jack as much as anyone but he looks cooked. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Doesn't matter, go to the NEAFL, let him get some fine-tuning. He's earned enough trust and respect to go to the reserves, and have a spot saved for him when he comes back. Same for Parker, same for Hannebery, same for Grundy and same for Smith. I don't care if they're All Australians, 200-gamers or flat-out guns. You can't justify having four poor games in a row. It sounds unreal to even say aloud, but 4 crap games from those blokes in a row! It's unheard of, but if tonight's game and last week's game - when there was so much riding on them and so much potential for them to make an impact - couldn't get them to switch on, nothing will.

There's a distinct lack of character and leadership, and I hate to quote David King, but we don't have an identity right now. There's no logic or intent, it's just madness with no method. I mean, Foote - the 183cm midfielder - was caught playing one-on-one with Josh Kennedy, a ******* multiple Coleman Medalist a few times in the back-line. That is not Foote's fault. Heck, it might not even be any of the senior defenders fault. But it's just evidence that all over the ground, we are a shambles. Grundy and Smith don't even look like they're trying, and i echo everyone's sentiments on here that Marsh was our best defender tonight. Aliir is taking the game on and playing with flair. Honestly, at this point, I don't care if he makes a few mistakes. He's a risky player and he's trying to be creative - I will take it because it's precisely what we are missing. Sometimes his efforts will work and produce something quality, other times they won't. Same as Zak Jones' running it out. We need this sort of dynamic playing because guys like Hannebery and Parker and Grundy look capable of doing nothing except kicking and marking (and even then their skills are putrid.)

Our forward line is also a shambles. Reid was out of form to start the year, but he's back in form now - folding like a paper swan in contests and playing like a first-gamer scared of aggression. Buddy has really had a shit year. Yeah he kicked 4 goals in each of the first two games, but last week he was mortifying and even against the Bulldogs only a few moments of Buddy magic made his night seem better than it was. His awareness has been horrible and his field-kicking is even poor (that's when you know something is wrong.) Florent, Hayward, Foote and Fox have all been good and had their really quality moments, but these games aren't giving them any sort of chance of flourishing. How can we expect them to produce little quality moments up forward when they're being worn like gloves by their opposition? Forwards generally rely on the other players up the ground to make their jobs easier - we have a very inexperienced forward line so their reliance on senior quality is amplified, and they're being ripped off. The shame of this all is that guys like Fox and Foote and Florent will get the chop once some stars start coming back from injury, even though they've performed reasonably well at the level you'd expect of youngsters, while guys like Jack and Hannebery and Parker and Smith and Grundy seem content to put in shit effort after shit effort because their spots in the team are cemented.

If the season really is over - I think it is - I would start putting some of these senior guys on notice and keep on getting games into the kids. Improve guys like Florent, Hayward, Fox, Foote, Newman, Marsh etc. and even get some games into Edwards, Cameron, Melican etc. I remember a few years ago when Jarryd Roughead was absolutely stinking it up in the seniors, and Clarkson sent him to the reserves. Everyone thought he was mad, but it was the boost up the ass Roughead needed. If ROK and ******* Adam 'the God' Goodes were poor enough to be playing in the NEAFL, surely guys like Jack and co are as well?

I don't even want to think about who comes in and who goes out of this team right now. They're in such a mess that I can't see how getting rid of Fox and Foote and bringing in Heeney and Rohan is going to improve just how many senior guys are playing like horse-shit right now. Regardless, I'm weirdly at peace with whatever happens this year. I almost want Horse to just put up the white flag right now and just put an eye to 2018 so at least something worthy comes out of this year.

 

[caesar88]

Btw honourable mentions to Hewett, Hayward, Foote and Cunningham. All four had pretty good nights when almost everyone around them was down in their own ways, especially considering three are kids and one i did not rate (Cunningham)

 

[Adza]

JPK is a bull. But the AFL rules hate the bulls now. Every time the guy gets the ball he's sat upon (usually before he's taken possession). Would love to see him just tap it on and get tackled. Would the umps then call holding the man?

 

[Number37]

I'm so glad I took the punt of asking my boss for an early finish tonight to see this game live...

There needs to be some calm here, from all sides. We have been utterly diabolical, illogical and a complete shambles to start this year. Yet we have been right in each game into the last quarter of all four games. That means even though we're off the mark, we're not that far off the mark. Imagine the possibilities if we actually played well... However, everyone on here keeps saying fair-weather supporters and how spoilt we are. Maybe that's true, but pointing out what is going wrong with this club, complaining about it, and having opinions on the team does not make you a bad supporter. You can feel however you want to feel about our team. You can even say we played shit in 2012 and got lucky and it would still make you a good supporter. At the end of the day we all want the same thing here and unless we're burning Swans memorabilia in Moore Park, I think we can all say we're pretty ******* good supporters.

If you want evidence of bad supporters, just take a look at West Coast fans. Now I live to the south of Perth, which means I frequent more Freo supporters than Eagles, and the Dockers are ******** horrid at the best of times. But the Eagles fans have taken the cake. I heard multiple racist and horrible remarks made by West Coast fans tonight, aimed at both the players and the supporters, and I only saw half the game. When your team is struggling to put away what is basically the Swans reserves team on your home deck, why the **** would you be acting like the kings of the world? Absolute morons.

Onto the actual game, we are just so so so bad. I saw it coming, but I also somewhere in my mind expected and hoped that there would be a lift. If anything, this was a huge backwards step. Parker may have had 27 touches, but from what I saw at the ground he did FA, looked lazy and lethargic, and is having no impact. I love K. Jack as much as anyone but he looks cooked. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Doesn't matter, go to the NEAFL, let him get some fine-tuning. He's earned enough trust and respect to go to the reserves, and have a spot saved for him when he comes back. Same for Parker, same for Hannebery, same for Grundy and same for Smith. I don't care if they're All Australians, 200-gamers or flat-out guns. You can't justify having four poor games in a row. It sounds unreal to even say aloud, but 4 crap games from those blokes in a row! It's unheard of, but if tonight's game and last week's game - when there was so much riding on them and so much potential for them to make an impact - couldn't get them to switch on, nothing will.

There's a distinct lack of character and leadership, and I hate to quote David King, but we don't have an identity right now. There's no logic or intent, it's just madness with no method. I mean, Foote - the 183cm midfielder - was caught playing one-on-one with Josh Kennedy, a ******* multiple Coleman Medalist a few times in the back-line. That is not Foote's fault. Heck, it might not even be any of the senior defenders fault. But it's just evidence that all over the ground, we are a shambles. Grundy and Smith don't even look like they're trying, and i echo everyone's sentiments on here that Marsh was our best defender tonight. Aliir is taking the game on and playing with flair. Honestly, at this point, I don't care if he makes a few mistakes. He's a risky player and he's trying to be creative - I will take it because it's precisely what we are missing. Sometimes his efforts will work and produce something quality, other times they won't. Same as Zak Jones' running it out. We need this sort of dynamic playing because guys like Hannebery and Parker and Grundy look capable of doing nothing except kicking and marking (and even then their skills are putrid.)

Our forward line is also a shambles. Reid was out of form to start the year, but he's back in form now - folding like a paper swan in contests and playing like a first-gamer scared of aggression. Buddy has really had a shit year. Yeah he kicked 4 goals in each of the first two games, but last week he was mortifying and even against the Bulldogs only a few moments of Buddy magic made his night seem better than it was. His awareness has been horrible and his field-kicking is even poor (that's when you know something is wrong.) Florent, Hayward, Foote and Fox have all been good and had their really quality moments, but these games aren't giving them any sort of chance of flourishing. How can we expect them to produce little quality moments up forward when they're being worn like gloves by their opposition? Forwards generally rely on the other players up the ground to make their jobs easier - we have a very inexperienced forward line so their reliance on senior quality is amplified, and they're being ripped off. The shame of this all is that guys like Fox and Foote and Florent will get the chop once some stars start coming back from injury, even though they've performed reasonably well at the level you'd expect of youngsters, while guys like Jack and Hannebery and Parker and Smith and Grundy seem content to put in shit effort after shit effort because their spots in the team are cemented.

If the season really is over - I think it is - I would start putting some of these senior guys on notice and keep on getting games into the kids. Improve guys like Florent, Hayward, Fox, Foote, Newman, Marsh etc. and even get some games into Edwards, Cameron, Melican etc. I remember a few years ago when Jarryd Roughead was absolutely stinking it up in the seniors, and Clarkson sent him to the reserves. Everyone thought he was mad, but it was the boost up the ass Roughead needed. If ROK and ******* Adam 'the God' Goodes were poor enough to be playing in the NEAFL, surely guys like Jack and co are as well?

I don't even want to think about who comes in and who goes out of this team right now. They're in such a mess that I can't see how getting rid of Fox and Foote and bringing in Heeney and Rohan is going to improve just how many senior guys are playing like horse-shit right now. Regardless, I'm weirdly at peace with whatever happens this year. I almost want Horse to just put up the white flag right now and just put an eye to 2018 so at least something worthy comes out of this year.

You should go in competition with Chunky for Blog champion of the world.
For sheer volume of words you win hands down.
But we all know it is about disposal efficiency.

 

[zyzzbruh]

I've finally conceded that our year is done and the next couple of years is going to be a transition period. But I've taken so many positives out of tonight and realised that the position we are in is gold. We are further into our rebuild than the teams that have bottomed out, our youngsters are amazing, it's a matter of fazing out smith grundy jack McVeigh and bringing in talia melican maibaum, aswell as transitioning Heaney and mills into the midfield. Along with Hayward and florent running around and Rohan still young our team is going to be lethal in a couple of years if the transition is done right. By then hanners and Parker will be at their peak, and yes they've had an ordinary start but they'll come good that's an easy one for me. I think we give jack his last year or two in the forward line for Heeney, and hewet looks promising pinch hitting in the middle. The other one is McVeigh, I would honestly be happy to finish him up now okeefe style, or allow him to finish up this year mentoring the youngins taking over. Aliir is going to be a premier defender and marsh gained some of my trust today, was composed as. This year has 2009 written all over it will only be a couple of years before we're up there again

 

[caesar88]

You should go in competition with Chunky for Blog champion of the world.
For sheer volume of words you win hands down.
But we all know it is about disposal efficiency.

My posts are like the Swans mids.

Huge numbers, but shit content

 

[Number37]

My posts are like the Swans mids.

Huge numbers, but shit content

Nah you make a lot of good points. A lot.

 

[melbournehammer]

Kick out plan - Kick to self kick up to pack if not kick to self handball to next player under pressure he kicks around body to nobody in particular

I have to say this...when your backline's disposal is as horrid as ours do you really want them trying to pinpoint a 25m pass into a well designed zone ? Lloyd for all his courage simply does not have a penetrating kick and jones is better on the run.

 

[Tedeski]

Missed the first 3 quarters and have one eye on the replay.

Did Cunningham just win a 1-on-1 contest mark inside 50?

Cunningham can play. He just makes a few errors. By far not our worst in that area last night.

 

[Tedeski]

Ted making a second account tsk tsk

Does sound familiar hey?

 

[melbournehammer]

Nothing I saw last night is any different to what I've seen all season. The umpiring was poor - I felt that we'd got a good run in the first quarter from the umpires almost as though they'd read the stats and thought we aren't going to be pro eagles here but the concerted booing got to them and some of the decisions were mystifying.

Our midfield is getting destroyed. Parker is one of the main reasons for this. His man every week has obviously been told to destroy him on the spread and they run off him at will. Further his errors in the first two games - in particular getting intercepted when kicking into the corridor - have caused him to panic with the ball. His disposal was at the towers level of panic at times. He can still tackle and mark but he is being bullied in matches.

I said against the dogs the contest between jack and jj showed jack was clearly in trouble and his shocking play in that match but for one or two pieces of play in the last quarter showed he had real issues. Everything since then has confirmed this even down to the brainless 50 metre penalty which I suspect happened because he knows he can't go with people once they leave the mark. As an aside I would say that there isn't a match that I've seen with buddy - and I'm sure those hawks fans who lurk around here would confirm - where his opponent runs over the mark at least once as a way of trying to stop him from playing on.

Hanners is running hard but our lack of leg speed - including from him means that he always has one or two players going with him. This coupled with his generally poor skills means that even when he is getting free - which is increasingly rare because other teams know that if they stop his run they stop the swans run - he is not threatening.

The great depth that people went on about last season is proving mythical. Our midfield depth is less than geelongs.

But last season even when our midfield was getting destroyed - see the preliminary and grand finals as exhibits a and b - our defence held up. And this is occurring again. The defence is holding together. Despite some shocking moments for example the lecras mark where smith rolled off and allir who was playing on Giles got stuck with the job but should still have spoiled, they are actually rarely getting beaten in one on one contests - mills being one exception.

But their kicking has always been suspect. Grundy and smith have always turned the ball over. Dunstall - correctly in my view said after 2014 that our Achilles heel was getting it out of the backline. We've tried Jetta Rohan jones mills and they all do ok but no better than that. Rampe and allir are all we've got. I've said repeatedly that the failure to replace tadgh mattner Malceski and then shaw has killed us. And this is where our list management has failed. We've gone for a succession of hff types without really trying to find the genuine hbf.

Lastly I've no doubt horses game plan is keeping us in matches. But we can't win them if we are averaging 80 points. We've got to find 6 more goals. Maybe that's in the players to come back but generally they will be underdone and susceptible to further injury. I'm with those who think that with luck we could jag 12 wins and make finals, but that basically the season is done. And if that's the case I'd prefer us to see how to get up to the 100 points and what happens down back if we do.

 

[Punts]

Parker is getting beaten week in week out

Now last night by priddis

He is to slow to get back to his man , there pushing forward and he can't run with them

Starting to get exposed

 

[Grongey]

Cooked list:
Grundy
Smith
Jack
Horse and his ******* gameplan (**** off honestly)
This season

Probably forgetting a lot more as well
Newbies were excellent. How good is hayward?
Play the kids because this year is done. Time for 2018.
As a side note. Is this even a sport anymore? Dead set absymal state of affairs regarding the umpiring. Truly. And idk of they're biased or not but they are definitely incompetent.

I'll tell you something else. Playing Carlton in Rd 6 away at the G is no gimme, the Blues are playing with a lot of pride. So it could get to 0-6.

 

[Tuco]

2002, we lost 6 in a row. Rocket got the sack.

Yep Schwatta, Plugger 2.0, and Eade gone at the bye.

 

[Mick Oxlong]

Does sound familiar hey?

Single handed touch typist, two keyboards...hey it makes sense, why else did god give us us two hands and two nuts?

 

[mabruzo]

We looked slow, small and unskilled. There is not a lot of positives coming out of any of our games this season.

 

[Theprofessional]

I don't think the season is dead yet- but certainly wouldn't be against dropping K.Jack next week. Show that nobody is off limits from being dropped and hopefully he can get some form/confidence. If we lose next week it's not season over- I still am vaguely positive we will be at the bye 5-5 or 4-6. If we're any worse than that seasons done drop Jack/Grundy.

Hopefully turn it around soon, couple wins, get couple players back after bye and push on for strong second half of the season and finish top 6.

 

[MarkP]

I think you're majorly overplaying this, he's had a couple of marks taken on him by bigger, stronger opponents but he's not exactly getting towelled up.

It isn't just this game I was referring to though.

We wouldn't play Kennedy in defence. Not sure why we play Mills there is all.

Wines etc seemed to start playing where it suited from the get go.

Just to be clear I think he is a beast and rate him higher than Heeney personally (not by a mile mind you).

Just another decision I find strange particularly after he has had a season to acclimatize or whatever.

I have this whacky out of date theory that playing forwards as forwards, backs as backs and mids as mids is a fairly good default way to pick a side.

 

[J_Moore]

For all the: play the kids stuff. Barbone or two, the kids have been pretty shit for 80% of each match. Hewett, Fox, Florent, Foote, Aliir & Papley hardly lighting the world on fire, and still contributing much less than the maligned senior players (who have been pretty shit)

 

[Zaky]

i rekon we start a change.org petition to get all of the coaches sacked, start a gofundme campaign and we replace them with a few geniuses around here. MarkP can be senior coach.

I have always wondered how good arm chair coaches can be, lets find out.

 

[Mick Oxlong]

i rekon we start a change.org petition to get all of the coaches sacked, start a gofundme campaign and we replace them with a few geniuses around here. MarkP can be senior coach.

I have always wondered how good arm chair coaches can be, lets find out.

We need to keep Blakey for 'academic' reasons!