Sydney VS. Crows game

[ant]

Hey Swans fans,

The big game is almost upon us and I was wondering how much you all think you are going to beat the Crows by, 4-5 goals, or really belt us by 10 or more?? You should probably win very easily, just wondering what your opinion was??

Cheers

 

[big pig]

gonna thump your crows! sorry but i think it will get ugly for you guys from the land of coopers. after all we cop hidings at your house.
no jarmen, no way it will be closer than 10 goals.

 

[ant]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking big pig, a real shellacking. Any other comments from Swans fans???

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Sorry to go against the prevailing opinion but I think, as usual, we will have our fair share of problems in handling the Crows on Sunday.

It always an interesting match up, especially at the SCG.

Adelaide has trouble trying to play the unusually shaped SCG, they don't exploit the 'fat side' of the ground enough. Adelaide will, as usual, find the Swans intensity in and around the packs hard to handle and as somebody else suggested, without a 10 minute cameo from Jarman to blow the game wide open, the Crows could be in for a torrid afternoon.

On the other hand though, its always a distinct possibility that Sydney will be complacent and flat footed going into this one. The Crows are a much more skillful side than we are and they have an edge in pace as well. If guys like Tyson Edwards and Andrew McLeod can play to expectations then we could be run ragged.

It will start in the ruck of course and here there ae some very interesting match-ups happening.

Will Burton and Biglands be the equal of Stafford and Doyle ? What about the back up big men - will anyone from Perrie, Clarke, Goodes and Ball make a difference in the centre ? How will these guys go when they are off the ball and in the forward pocket ?

And what about the rovers ? - probably Riccuito and Kelly will cancel each other out, which leaves space for somebody else to step into the vacumn.

For the Swans it will be our usual suspects, namely Maxfield and Bolton. Scwhass and Cresswell will be there too, of course.

All in all a fascinating contest to start the season, bring it on I can hardly wait.

My prediction - Swans by 17.

A win, but nowhere near the flogging some are predicting

cheers

 

[ant]

BSA, was that a typo, Burton and Biglands?? Burton won't play and neither may Biglands, as Marsh has been in pretty good form in the past few weeks. He'd be preferred over Biglands because he can go forward. Clarke will definitely lead the rucks for us, maybe with Marsh and even Robran for support. His booming kicks from the centre will be invaluable.

As you mentioned, we'll need McLeod, Edwards and Johnson utilizing their speed in the middle, Ricciuto's bullocking strength around the packs and Stenglein will probably do a job on one of your key midfielders. Goodwin will certainly be missed by us as we need all our midfielders available to be competitive here.

What will your forward structure look like??

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Ha ! - thats the $64,000 question ant !

I wish I knew, in fact I sometimes wish the coaching staff knew as well !

Seriously though, we will start off with Ball at FF and Ahmat in the pocket, Goodes at CHF, O'Loughlin on a HF flank.

Kelly and Stafford will be regularly rotated off the ball and into the forward lines as well. Also expect to see Williams, Fosdike, Cresswell and, occasionally, Barry line up in the forwards also.

Basically it will be a revolving door, same as always with Eade.

 

[Crows.ok]

BSA, ant,

I agree that one would give the nod to Sydney as favourites in this game, since it is at the SCG, but I don't think it will be a walkover, and I do give the Crows some chance.

Some away games for Crows seem very difficult to win - Carlton at Optus is an example. Sydney at SCG is not like that, Crows have won there a few times (just as Sydney have won at Footy Park).

I think an upset is possible, especially if Kelly doesn't play. Possible, but not probable.

 

[Sydneyfan]

I'm predicting the Swans to win by 31. It's not going to be a total walk in the park for the Swans and the Swans will at one stage try to lose an unloseable match

but eventually will go on to notch up a win.

------------------
My webpage is @ <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/el_canguro/whereto.html" TARGET=_blank>My homepage
</A>

 

[ant]

Crows ok, I don't think we'll lose, let alone by a considerable margin, I was just trying to get some ammunition for after the game Sunday

It will probably backfire now

I hope all the Swannies fans and players think this game is in the bag, cause that will give the Crows the best shot of victory.

 

[Crows.ok]

Originally posted by ant:
Crows ok, I don't think we'll lose, let alone by a considerable margin, I was just trying to get some ammunition for after the game Sunday

It will probably backfire now

I hope all the Swannies fans and players think this game is in the bag, cause that will give the Crows the best shot of victory.

I don't see why it should backfire, big pig and Sydneyfan have provided you with the necessary ammo should you wish to have a passing shot here after we win.

Its only a pity that BSA was so damn reasonable. Oh well.

Anyway, to promote discussion, I'm sure Sydney fans are well aware that on Bigfooty and in the Melbourne media there are plenty who are tipping Crows for the wooden spoon this year.

I wonder how Sydney fans would feel about it should Crows actually manage to win on Sunday? Would you all feel something akin to "now we are in for it, losing to the bottom side" ... because that is what many will be thinking about Sydney if Sydney do lose.

There will be virtually not a single soul (outside of Crows fans) thinking ... "perhaps Crows are better than we thought".


[This message has been edited by Crows.ok (edited 28 March 2001).]

 

[Tim_in_Philly]

Don't equate "not a single soul" with "Melbourne newspaper columnists". Many thinking people realise Adelaide have a great deal of talent in their team and can be very dangerous - some of that talent appears to be missing for this weekend's game but having seen Adelaide beat a pumped up Doggies side on TV in the Ansett Cup I will paraphrase Mark Twain: "The rumours of the Crows death have been greatly exagerated".

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

yeah agree with that

If you Crows fans think that its 'ambush' time this Sunday then I think you maybe in for a disappointment.

We know how skillful you guys can be (and how unskillful we can be !). We also know alot of media has already written you guys off and we are also acutely aware that the Crows have a pretty good record at the SCG (and vice -versa incidently)

So don't think we are complacent because we are not. We know exactly what to expect from you guys on Sunday and I can assure you - we will be prepared !

cheers

 

[BMD]

Yeah,

I don't think many Swans fans or players (hopefully) think that this one is in the bag.

It's the first game of the season after all and all the questions about every team are unanswered at this stage.

Besides, no Sydney fan could possibly ever be overconfident, we've seen them throw away leads and lose against average sides (FREMANTLE! GRRRR) too often.

I personally would be astonished if the Crows finished last, I really see them as performing similarly to last year - one of the sides that are in the running for the last couple of places in the 8.

Having said all that...

GO SWANS!

 

[Sydneyfan]

Having a look at what I wrote earlier in the week, I hope I don't end up eating my words on Sunday. It was a bit over-confident and Adelaide definitely have the ability to take the match up to us. I'll stand by initial prediction but am probably not quite as confident now as I was then!

 

[BMD]

A pretty pleasing result for us. For once the other team disappeared during the 3rd quarter.

I thought the Swans were no better than solid and it was the usual suspects performing for us- Cresswell and Dunkley in particular.

Adelaide were poor though, they took no advantage when we were playing badly in the 2nd quarter and after half time they were laughable.

But a win is a win at this time of the year.

 

[ant]

Yeah, you guys were certainly the better team on the day, congratulations. For us, our desperation, second efforts and hardness at the ball was either very poor or non existent all day. Oh well, good luck for the rest of the season.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

It was very very gratifying to see the Swans kick long to a group of tall marking forwards.

Up untill the last 10 minutes of the 2nd quarter we were the same old shit. Over finessing when in posession, zig-zagging across the field, spilling easy marks and fumbling handpasses, slow and lethargic.

Then suddenl;y it all seemed to 'click' into place and we started to play some real footy.

Was it because the Crows just didn't put enough pressure on us ?

Was it because Goodes and Ball found the space and time to mark properly in front of goal ?

Was it because we got so much ball from the centre that we couldn't lose, regardless of how the forwards were playing ?

Dunno really - I get the sneaking suspicion that Adelaide made us look better than we really are on Sunday and thats always a danger.

One thing that really went well for us was the duel ruckman set up with Stafford going forward and Doyle backing up in the centre, it was a winning tactic for us and gave Schwass and Cresswell first plenty of posession which they used brilliantly.

All in all a good showing from us, but I must say it hard to get a handle on our form at the moment because the Crows were terrible (sorry Crows fans

) and next week the Weagles don't look much better, and the Kangaroos (Round 3) might not piut up much of struggle either.

So we could go into the Essendon game in Round 4 with a 3-0 record but still not really playing terribly well.

We'll know more about the Swans 2001 after Round 4.

cheers