Autopsy Swans vs Roos. Things you learnt

[Angry Red Bull]

I would say we were on the end of lady luck for a change.

Many of the games this year we were on the end of worse stats. Less inside 50s but still win. It says a lot about our structures that we can do that. Don't know the stats but our shooting accuracy seems to be better than most rivals too.

 

[CD__]

So after that win I guess we're banned from Tassie for another 3or 4 years

Hopefully! Give us an extra Melbourne game instead.

 

[The King!]

If smith gets paid his mark we win by 40
North were gifted a close game

 

[MF]

If smith gets paid his mark we win by 40
North were gifted a close game

That was a pathetic decision.

 

[The King!]

That was a pathetic decision.

Then umpire schmidt had checked his online banking and started to rig the game

 

[Olian]

That deliberate he got pinged for was a joke

Not really took the ball over the line. Papley kicked a goal in the first from something similar.

 

[The King!]

Not really took the ball over the line. Papley kicked a goal in the first from something similar.

I may be getting confused by the play i mean

 

[Kiama Chris]

It's a good result in the scheme of things to have an ugly win like that. We have been brilliant for a month or so and it's very hard to keep that sort of form up. The most important thing is we closed the game out to get the 4 points and we now move on. North had only one more scoring shot than us but would have rolled just about any other team today. They play well down there.
Tippet playing out a full game is a huge positive. Obviously not at his best though.
Smith should have received a free in the 3rd for front on interference and then they get a free for the same thing minutes later.
Would like to see players like Kennedy tap on more to our advantage rather than take possession at clearances as opposition sides are dwelling on our midfield to tackle them for an incorrect disposal by pinning our players' arms. They know more often than not we will be first to the ball. Umps pinged kennedy with almost no prior opportunity on a couple of occasions today.
Hannebury kicked some important set shots today and McGlynn bobbed up for an opportunist goal when he was needed.
I don't actually mind if we take second spot as we still get a home final. Let someone else knock Hawthorn out. If not, we will deal with them on the big day.
Mills was fantastic AGAIN. It's hard to believe he's a first year player.
Rampe had his hands full with a much taller opponent in Brown, but still did a lot of great rebound work.

Scott was actually very gracious (OMG!) about Reg and Ramps. Said that they are bloody good players, despite giving away height, and that no-one had managed to take any advantage from that. Very fair call on two of our best.

 

[The King!]

Ahh ok not Naismith deliberate

kennedy kicks it i think late in fourth. Rolls out near Mcglynn and paid deliberate

 

[caesar88]

Another thing I noticed about Aliir is that even though his first half was shaky and probably not as smooth as his recent games (given the change in tempo), he didn't let it rattle him. He really lifted in the second half, not so much in what he was able to do, but more so in his confidence. He still held that confidence to leave his man to take the intercept, or sell the candy and run around an opponent. Such a mature player mentally.

 

[Sketi]

Ahh ok not Naismith deliberate

kennedy kicks it i think late in fourth. Rolls out near Mcglynn and paid deliberate

Think it might have been Towers, was just a really long clearing kick. Was a bad call.

 

[elastic]

I thought Aliir probably played it a bit safe with a couple of kicks after he had one intercepted later in the game. I hope he continues to play with flair even if he makes a mistake

We've all said it, but it needs saying again: if he doesn't win RS then it's a rigged jury. Commentators yesterday were talking him up as AA, which is entirely valid. He was probably BOG yesterday. He is a complete footballer already, at 19.

I even saw him pointing a couple of times during the game and that is surely taking it to the next level.

 

[connolly]

40 pressure acts by McVeigh today. Next best Swan was Rohan with 24

His opponent Del Santo beat him clearly. His inability to run is so bad he is a real problem. That statistic just means he was chasing Del Santo ALL day.

 

[connolly]

North must have stolen Shitmond's game book, because they didn't take a leaf out of it, they stole the entire ******* thing.

North's plan was to run whomever AA was on up the ground then double back and lead to goal, or stay up on the wing. It was why AA looked lost because they kept rotating forwards on him. He hasn't even played a dozen games so that sort of play would confuse him, since it's high unlikely that he would have encountered that sort of coaching in the reserves. Credit to him though, he did some really good things and his 2nd half was solid.

North went into the game with a plan and then gave us a 4 goal head start. They always played with 8 defenders and 2/3 forwards, trying to get the height advantage in 1-on-1's like the Saints did. It's why they had so much run from behind because they always had 2 extra players. They usually had forward targets too because they maintained their structure forward of centre. They rode a tidal wave of luck at times and played against some naive set piece setups where they constantly got the ball goal-side or out the back, rarely side-on.

I think that the Swans had to go man-on-man to stop the influence that the North zonal defence was having, since the Swans wouldn't keep their structure at all. I hope that they work on it all week on the training ground, because they're coming up against Richmond and that's their game style. Swans will need to play 1-on-1 all over the ground and prevent uncontested possessions if they're going to beat the campaigners.

They beat us for pace on the outside. Del Santo and Harvey had probably the most possessions they have had all year. Del Santo took McVeigh apart and Harvey was too good for Cunningham. Wells beat Mitchell. The solution seems obvious in two of those cases. Usually Jack holds Harvey. He was missed.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

His opponent Del Santo beat him clearly. His inability to run is so bad he is a real problem. That statistic just means he was chasing Del Santo ALL day.

And Dal Santo is no spring chicken.

 

[The Swans Blog]

Del Santo isn't a spud either he was elite at St Kilda, similar to Hayes.

 

[MC Bad Genius]

North completely outplayed us and we were lucky to get the win, but that's a sign of a good team - making the most of limited opportunities and scrapping to hold onto the lead. I think the biggest blunder of the day was Scott's tactic to try and isolate their tall forwards deep against an undersized Rampe and Grundy. Their forwards refused to lead towards the ball carrier and it cost them the game. They towelled us up in the midfield and either methodically worked the ball forward with sharp short passes or broke the line and literally strolled toward their forward 50 ala Wells in the 3rd. But this insistence on kicking it long only worked a couple of times because our backline still outperforms itself in one-on-one battles. If any of their forward had lead towards the ball, they would've had heaps of room in an open forward line and no Swans able to peel off from their opponents to help out. Or maybe the forwards were just lazy and I'm unfairly blaming the coach.

 

[melbournehammer]

North completely outplayed us and we were lucky to get the win, but that's a sign of a good team - making the most of limited opportunities and scrapping to hold onto the lead. I think the biggest blunder of the day was Scott's tactic to try and isolate their tall forwards deep against an undersized Rampe and Grundy. Their forwards refused to lead towards the ball carrier and it cost them the game. They towelled us up in the midfield and either methodically worked the ball forward with sharp short passes or broke the line and literally strolled toward their forward 50 ala Wells in the 3rd. But this insistence on kicking it long only worked a couple of times because our backline still outperforms itself in one-on-one battles. If any of their forward had lead towards the ball, they would've had heaps of room in an open forward line and no Swans able to peel off from their opponents to help out. Or maybe the forwards were just lazy and I'm unfairly blaming the coach.

From what I have seen the way to beat the swans is short methodical kicks. richmond and hawthorn do it to us repeatedly. they kick to a lead and as almost all of our players play from behind we cant stop that 15-20 metre kick if we arent able to clog the ball movement up. we need contests to win games

 

[The Gong]

1. Aliir looked a little shaky in the first half but it just brings things back to earth a little. He's been going great but expectations have begun to over inflate. He's been excellent under the high ball and his rebounding has been first class but he struggles to go with quick lead up forwards and they get too much separation on him. He's still learning his trade but I'll still back him all the way into the finals.

2. You don't know what you've got til it's gone. I thought that Kizza has been solid without being outstanding and thought we wouldn't miss him in a major way but we sure did. He just has that little burst of pace off the stoppages that Kennedy, Parker, Hanners and Mitchell lack and we need him back for that reason. Sorry Kizza! I hope the ankle's OK. Come back soon!

3. Buddy can't win a trick. Kicks a bag? Swans are too Buddy focused. Doesn't kick any? Swans can't win the flag without Buddy firing. He movement was obviously restricted for the better part of the game with the hip pointer and he looked much better towards the fourth quarter but we were already under the pump by that stage. He still got some important touches towards the end.

 

[moy71]

I learned that Thomas was still trying his best to win free kicks by dropping his knees. That one in the 3rd quarter was so obvious. Good thing the umps didn't fall for it. I liked that Parker was into him for doing it.

 

[The Gong]

North completely outplayed us and we were lucky to get the win, but that's a sign of a good team - making the most of limited opportunities and scrapping to hold onto the lead. I think the biggest blunder of the day was Scott's tactic to try and isolate their tall forwards deep against an undersized Rampe and Grundy. Their forwards refused to lead towards the ball carrier and it cost them the game. They towelled us up in the midfield and either methodically worked the ball forward with sharp short passes or broke the line and literally strolled toward their forward 50 ala Wells in the 3rd. But this insistence on kicking it long only worked a couple of times because our backline still outperforms itself in one-on-one battles. If any of their forward had lead towards the ball, they would've had heaps of room in an open forward line and no Swans able to peel off from their opponents to help out. Or maybe the forwards were just lazy and I'm unfairly blaming the coach.

Spot on. If we pressure teams out of the middle and they have to bomb it long we're beautifully set up to intercept and rebound out. If they chip it around with precise kicking into the forwards we're cactus. We really only have Rampe at the moment who has that closing speed that's able to combat that.

I'm happy to say we were Hawthorn like in our ability to play pretty ordinary and still frustrate the opposition and come away with the win. It's not as uplifting as an 80 point belting but there's still a lot of merit in getting the four points through adversity.

 

[The Gong]

I learned that Thomas was still trying his best to win free kicks by dropping his knees. That one in the 3rd quarter was so obvious. Good thing the umps didn't fall for it. I liked that Parker was into him for doing it.

The ironic thing is hes a good footballer and doesn't need to fall back on this rubbish but he just won't get it out of his game. That one point where he flung his head back liked he'd been shot and nobody was touching him was a disgrace. North fans think he's being victimised but he keeps on proving the doubters right. They are probably right in that he cops more than his due and players like Selwood don't but if he wants to shake that negative tag then start by not flopping for frees and abusing umps every time they don't call it.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

North completely outplayed us and we were lucky to get the win, but that's a sign of a good team - making the most of limited opportunities and scrapping to hold onto the lead. I think the biggest blunder of the day was Scott's tactic to try and isolate their tall forwards deep against an undersized Rampe and Grundy. Their forwards refused to lead towards the ball carrier and it cost them the game. They towelled us up in the midfield and either methodically worked the ball forward with sharp short passes or broke the line and literally strolled toward their forward 50 ala Wells in the 3rd. But this insistence on kicking it long only worked a couple of times because our backline still outperforms itself in one-on-one battles. If any of their forward had lead towards the ball, they would've had heaps of room in an open forward line and no Swans able to peel off from their opponents to help out. Or maybe the forwards were just lazy and I'm unfairly blaming the coach.

From what I have seen the way to beat the swans is short methodical kicks. richmond and hawthorn do it to us repeatedly. they kick to a lead and as almost all of our players play from behind we cant stop that 15-20 metre kick if we arent able to clog the ball movement up. we need contests to win games

Spot on. If we pressure teams out of the middle and they have to bomb it long we're beautifully set up to intercept and rebound out. If they chip it around with precise kicking into the forwards we're cactus. We really only have Rampe at the moment who has that closing speed that's able to combat that.

I'm happy to say we were Hawthorn like in our ability to play pretty ordinary and still frustrate the opposition and come away with the win. It's not as uplifting as an 80 point belting but there's still a lot of merit in getting the four points through adversity.

So what's the solution when a team utilises that game plan against us? What do we have to do to nullify it?

 

[The Gong]

So what's the solution when a team utilises that game plan against us? What do we have to do to nullify it?

We don't do it very often but a floating defender in the backline. Horse really only does it towards the end of the match if it's a close game but if you can have someone fill the lanes so that opposition forwards can't lead up it would do a lot to negate this tactic. It just means you're short in another area but they have to be accountable.

Edit: One other suggestion is to drop the zone defense and go one on one across the ground which Horse also reverted to. We should have done it against Richmond as well. The bottom line is that everyone has to make sure they mark up tight. If we don't do a good job then we can't stop them.

Looks like we're playing Hawthorn first up in the finals and they are the masters. Defensive pressure is the key to breaking their game plan down.

 

[Nool Carpenna]

Norf were primed for a big one..... our boys not so much. Given the 6 day turnaround from Melbourne then back to Tazzie, the loss of Kieren late, and an early injury to the Bud, it is a credit to the boys and the coaching crew that we got the points.

While we might not have got on top in the midfield, the manhours spent quelling the influence of JPK and Luke was significant enough to reduce their firepower as they went forward. With Ziebell, Swallow, Wells etc so busy in defensive midfield roles, the quality of their I50's was pretty haphazard. The fact they still managed to score 76 further testament to the fact that we were vulnerable and that a better team (read real contender lol) would probably have rolled us.

It certainly wasn't our prettiest performance but a number of things still leave me chuckling away to myself in joy....
Gary Rohan.... excitement machine. Pouncing on unsuspecting prey and putting the wind up any opposition player that takes possession within a few meters of him. And that booming kick!!!
Parker's Q1 was soooo good. Shades of GAJ in his prime even.
How Hanners can cover so much ground, win so much ball, get smashed up, and still have such insight into what is going on all over the park when interviewed on his way to the sheds at half-time is beyond me.
Think our management need to really start planning a strategy for keeping young Mills here..... can't imagine the numbers opposition clubs might dangle in front of him. Also, an extraordinarily good decision to slot him in to that hbf role when he had never played there.
Really enjoyed the Brown/Rampe battle. Quite like big Ben... he should join a real club.
Funny at one stage for a couple of minutes, Aliir running around in the middle of the ground.... not marking anybody, had no idea where he was supposed to be. Still, love how he is always looking to carry and move the ball forward.... and getting picked off when trying to go square hopefully eliminates any temptation to try that again.
Said it earlier.... love, love, love our interstate supporters!

A good days footy really.... while we all hoped to send Brad and his boys home with a flogging, in the end I'm content with a mature, professional result and top spot