POST MATCH DISCUSSION

[Axis of Bob 10,207]

I think that the players are definitely gaining in confidence as they get more of the footy and play with a bit of dare. We are going to stuff up a fair bit, but I can forgive that because we are taking the game on and we'll get better.

Dawes is a much better footballer than I gave him credit for. I previously saw Dawes as a leader (which was mainly why I thought he was recruited) who was whole-hearted, hard working but ultimately a limited footballer whose physical size was not often used - a good ordinary footballer. But I'm now a believer. He is a really hard working player and he is actually able to monster some pretty strong key defenders. He did it quite a few times today to Grundy, who is used to playing on those types. With Clark and Hogan to come in, he will cause a lot of problems.

Terlich is a beaut. A bold, attacking player who we have been crying out for. I though Toumpas, who struggled early, looked a lot more composed as the game went on. Also won a few contests, which was good. McDonald was excellent down back and Frawley was superb on Tippett until he went off. I thought that we were generally well organised down back and Sydney didn't get as many one out opportunities as we did despite their dominance.

Gawn was good, but we were smashed in the clearances which is a mark against him. I want to say that he now our number 1 ruckman, but our inability to win the footy out of the middle absolutely killed us (as it did last week). Our midfield is still awful, but we moved the ball pretty well at times. Jack killed us in the first half, so we ended playing the game in our back line.

Overall, I was pretty happy with the performance. We opened up Sydney a few times and they struggled to defend us. We know what we need to improve on but it was another sign of improvement.

[KLV 1,626]

Well done Dees, so glad we didn't let them blow is apart in the last quarter.

How hard did our backs work! And like the rest of you, I'm jumping on the Fitzy bandwagon!

[drdrake 3,037]

Good effort today, our ball movement and ability to hit targets has improved, still a lot more improvement needed. Watts was ok once our delivery improves so will he. Next year we will have the most dangerous forward line in the afl, get a midfield and we make the 8 next year

[Moonshadow 16,162]

In the mean time, it would be really useful to get games into Viney when he's over his injury. He'll improve outa sight next year with a couple of good, experienced mids alongside him and another top 5 pick mid. Imagine Matt Jones, Viney, Toumpas in their 2nd year, with Nate Jones, 2 experienced mid recruits (eg Daisy and Dal Santo as suggestions only) and a new top 5 pick (eg Aish, Sheed, etc). Getting a bit ahead of myself, but there is light showing in the tunnel.

[Binmans PA 25,997]

Well, the reigning premiers are a five goal better side than us. Some of our decision making and therefore skill execution was poor, but our ball movement on a number of occasions was excellent. We're using the corridor and taking risks, but still have a mind to defend.

Our midfield let us down again today. We must get two extra experienced mids that can compete and win some inside ball.

I've also worked out what my issue with Terlich is. Despite getting votes on the radio and doing a number of good things, every time he makes a mistake, it results in a goal. So if he makes even five or six errors a game, that means the opposition are usually scoring. Some of his run and carry was important. He reads the play well and when he has some time to think, he is an excellent user by foot. Hopefully he can eradicate these errors from his game or at least where he's making those errors.

[Waltham33 409]

Could Terlich play midfield next year. Can win his own ball so could be an asset. Really like him. Fitzy is rally coming on. At least hope seems to be returning

[RalphiusMaximus 5,993]

I'm looking forward to watching the replay of this one since I was at work during. One thing that stood out for me on the live stats was the number of points Sydney kicked. Without being able to see the game, it looked like they could have blown us out of the water but kept missing. Is that at all accurate?

[mjt 640]

I'm looking forward to watching the replay of this one since I was at work during. One thing that stood out for me on the live stats was the number of points Sydney kicked. Without being able to see the game, it looked like they could have blown us out of the water but kept missing. Is that at all accurate?

Yeah that was the case, for me they seem more competitive and are playing for the jumper, something we haven't seen for the last 18 months.

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

Just got back and I'm reasonably happy. They never gave up at all. Terlich is a star for us he just finds the ball. Another good game from Tmac,Dawes and Fitzy. Watts had his moments but was put back as a spare man for a while which I didn't like. As many have said umpires were god awful. On the flip side the "You are a [censored]" chant was pretty good. Some center clearances would be nice sometime this year.

[Scipio 5,868]

I thought we had a lot of positives today. Namely our pressure was good, forcing some bad disposal and the fact that we were pretty good at holding onto the ball with short kicks. We hit up targets pretty well and going into the forward 50 we were really efficient. As well as that, the back six should hold their heads up high. To restrict the Swans to that score with the amount of footy which was being delivered down there was a great effort, especially after Chippa was subbed.

Negatives: not sticking tackles, one too many handballs and not spreading in patches.

Overall I was pretty pleased with today. Without a couple of those horrendous calls in the last 15 minutes it might have been even closer.

[Fat Tony 4,401]

My thoughts:

• The umpires killed us and the Swan’s salary cap needs to be reviewed. The system is a joke when a player can join the premiers through the draft AND get a huge pay rise.
• Gawn will be a good player but needs to put on some size and get fitter. I am not sure if he will ever be a great runner, so I doubt he can play a very high percentage of game time on the ball.
• Toumpas is a bit disappointing IMO. Will have an AFL career, but I don’t think he has the pace and intensity you would want out of a #4 pick, outside midfielder. In saying this, it is only early days.
• Fitzy is improving and is looking like he could make it after all.
• Watts is still frustrating but is getting better with age. Still needs to show some intensity and use his pace. (His first goal was an example of this, when he jogged towards goal and then realised he was under pressure and took off.)
• Davey looks almost done.
• Byrnes has been a mistake.
• Trengove should not run more than 20m in preseason.
• Mark Neeld’s record looks even worse every week.
• Terlich might become a better player than I initially thought.
• I thought Nicholson might be able to become a reasonable tagger after last week, but was very poor this week.
• Kent doesn’t really do enough.

[ThreeOneSix 953]

Dawes was still very immature in 2010 when Collingwood won the flag.

He was a raw player in 2010 and 2011, just a big lad who looked like he needed a few more years.

I've watched Dawes closely all his career, because I had an X missus - Collingwood supporter - who loved Dawes.

I watched his first game and he was just a big raw talent, then over time he started clunking them.

We got Dawes at the right time, he spent his time at Collingwood just learning the game.

They developed Dawes and we will reap the rewards, he will be a very good weapon for us and is still learning the game.
Also, I spoke to a Collingwood physio late last year when we drafted Dawes and I asked him if Dawes would be good for us.

He told me that Dawes is a leader and that he played his last year at Collingwood with a stiff finger that he injured - and it hampered his confidence to go out there and perform.

[Deespicable 2,543]

Great to see the extra confidence under Craig to switch play or wait for a short lead up option - just shows again how Neeld's disciplined - kick safe back up the line - approach was a cancer.

The fact that we had 120 marks showed the effectiveness of our new style, but quite clearly we were smashed in the middle of the park.

All our key talls deserve a pat on back for great games.

I had Tom Mc as our best but happy for others to argue that Watts or Garland or Fitzy or Frawley until he went off were better.

Dawes was quiet early but was a tower of strength later - did anyone see Hannebery's face when he copped a crunching tackle from the big fellow.

Gawn was towelled up a bit - as expected by Mummy and Pyke tandem - but he at least kept running and did more things around the ground than Jamar has post A-A.

Grimes was great on return and his tackling and intensity was first rate.

Trenners was also pretty useful working into space and laying heaps of tackles, Davey was dangerous and decisive when he got it but he only had it 11 times.

But I'm afraid the rest of our midfielders were given a touch up and struggled to really hurt them on the counter attack.

Sylvia made a howler of a bounce early and took wrong option too much.

N.Jones was caught a few times and O'Keefe and Jack had the better of him.

Rodan was good in first quarter but tired badly - good to know Jack Viney is only two weeks away.

Matt Jones made space well but his kicking was average and he failed to hurt them on the counter.

Kent failed to get it and whilst he works hard and is quick and is the future, he needs to go back and win lots of ball in the VFL before returning.

Nicho was well done on his game from last week on Griffen but he does provide run as a tagger, which is something Jordie does not. I couldn't quite figure out if he was shadowing Hannebery or Kennedy as the match-ups kept altering. But I suspect Nicho's three or four howlers may cost him his spot this week.

Clisby was useful down back and he kicks low and direct which makes it hard for intercepts.

I know everybody is a fan of Terlich but he made two huge clangers early and seemed intimidated playing his old side that delisted him. But to his credit he persisted and kept running and even had a couple of strong intercept marks.

Dunn did was he always does - offloaded his long bomb when he should go short, go short when he should go long. Even Craigy must be realising now that he is like John Daly.

Byrnes was useful when he came on late in third term, but he doesn't have explosiveness that we need.

Finally Toumpas again got caught out for pace. Yes he has elite kicking skills and he has big hips which will help him shrug off tackles, but his marking ability and his lack of genuine speed worry me for such a high pick.

[DeeSpencer 23,113]

Well, the reigning premiers are a five goal better side than us. Some of our decision making and therefore skill execution was poor, but our ball movement on a number of occasions was excellent. We're using the corridor and taking risks, but still have a mind to defend.

Our midfield let us down again today. We must get two extra experienced mids that can compete and win some inside ball.

I've also worked out what my issue with Terlich is. Despite getting votes on the radio and doing a number of good things, every time he makes a mistake, it results in a goal. So if he makes even five or six errors a game, that means the opposition are usually scoring. Some of his run and carry was important. He reads the play well and when he has some time to think, he is an excellent user by foot. Hopefully he can eradicate these errors from his game or at least where he's making those errors.

That's not entirely true. He made 2 bad obvious errors today but no different to Dunn and Clisby and often Tom McDonald. Even Garland who has been largely blemish free let Tom Mitchell burn him on the lead and also attempted to mark not spoil at one stage for an easy Sydney shot on goal.

What we are all doing is raising the standards for Terlich. We expect him to be great and not just good any more. If Clisby continues to play decent (without outstanding in any way) his expectations will also rise. Oh and he badly needs

It's interesting that our 30m huddle worked so well the other week but we've not shelved it in favour of Dunn turning it over or kicking long to an outmatched ruckman without numbers at his feet. Maybe we are saving it for when we are good

[The heart beats true 16,109]

Best performance of the year IMO. We had a few opportunities to go into our shells and didn't. We fought out the game and played with both heart and flair. Love the hard work of Dawes, Watts and Fitzy up forward. The boys looked excited to get it to them. Get Clark and Hogan up there and it could be very scary.

I really enjoyed my day at the footy today. For the first time in a long time I was proud to be a demons supporter.

I feel like a few potential coaches could have looked on today and been very excited about where we are heading. Throw in a recruited A grade experienced midfielder, Viney and a pick 2 midfielder and improvement will come at great speed. The boys need to do that 3 more times and I reckon quality coaches and players will be knocking on the door.

[DeeSpencer 23,113]

Also Nick Davis spent a large chunk of the first quarter and other patches of the game out on the field coaching, directing players and filling up the zone.

I'm not usually a runner Nazi but it was obvious and unfair. If it was us and not Sydney it would result in a fine.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,161]

We got our goals from counter attack from half back. They got theirs from running out of the clearances. That game more than most highlighted we are set at both ends of the ground just need to fix the middle. If nothing else Watts and Fitzpatrick are increasing their value at end of year.

[Robot Devil 1,895]

Also Nick Davis spent a large chunk of the first quarter and other patches of the game out on the field coaching, directing players and filling up the zone.

I'm not usually a runner Nazi but it was obvious and unfair. If it was us and not Sydney it would result in a fine.

If they won't ping them for holding the ball (multiple times) or improper disposal (multiple times) then it is pretty slim they would ping them for that.

[The heart beats true 16,109]

My thoughts:

• The umpires killed us and the Swan’s salary cap needs to be reviewed. The system is a joke when a player can join the premiers through the draft AND get a huge pay rise.

The real issue is the AFL has now set a precedent that states if you knowingly rort the salary cap you only get 11 weeks. If Tippett went to a Melbourne club he would have been handed 2 years, and he should of. He knowingly broke a fundamental rule designed to ensure the competition is as fair as possible. It's pathetic discipline from the AFL.

[Jaded No More 57,785]

Two things I'm enjoying under Craig:

1. We have more than one tactic when it comes to bringing the ball out of the backline, and are doing it a lot better

2. He makes intelligent moves. He kept changing the midfield set up, even throwing Kent in there. It's good to see someone in the coach being proactive. I am not a fan of Watts down back, but it made sense to try to stop the bleed, and then send him back to the forward line. Previously they'd have left him there all game long for no reason.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Some thoghts:

I try to avoid the cliche of being overly critical of umpiring, but it was a total disgrace today and cost us momentum.

Fitzy fantastic again. I can see him attracting some interest from other clubs.

Kieran Jack is an absolute star and we had no answers to what he was doing, especially out of the middle.

Toumpas a bit disappointing and Nicho undid most of his good work last week.

Terlich very good but has a bit of the Nath Jones of old - trying to do too much in congestion and getting caught.

Dawes immense in the second half.

Final margin might have flattered us a little bit but still another step forward and alot to like. No doubt now that we are a better side under Craig.

Spot on with Terlich, he continually tries to do too much and turns back in to the pack instead of turning the other way; it is so frustrating seeing him undo most of his good work week after week. Some of the dinky little handpasses to players in worse position were cringeworthy; that applied to al the players.

Dawes was good in the second, he went missing in the first and it may be a huge bump he copped that shook him up and reminded him he was in a game of football.

[Bombay Airconditioning 5,875]

Was really impressed by today's effort.

We need to make our tackles stick , arms getting free to handball.

For all you guys who say we paid to much for Dawes, Tippet couldn't hit the side of a barn.

Managed to think our way out of a lot of situations rather than the panic style we played under MN.

Exciting times ahead.

[Binmans PA 25,997]

Oh and Trenners. He has some pace back. Perhaps it was a confidence thing? He was lightening fast today, but he wasn't slow either. I watched him chase someone right in front of me. Gained on them undoubtedly. That goal he kicked also had depth which he has rarely had on his kicking.

[Binmans PA 25,997]

How good was Fitzpatrick?

Break out game.

Should have been a five goal game actually.

[Hannibal 5,814]

If anyone thinks the previous coach "had" the players they need a lobotomy.

The raw ingredients of a good side are definitely on the list. Needs some midfield influx, but that's the easiest part.