The problem as I see it is we have taken our pace out of our game . Look at Trac he look to have more bulk and has lost some pace . Playing the best ruck in the comp at full forward to start the game hasn’t worked. Picket needs to be told he’s not a star just a fairly good footballer. Look at his stats throughout the season . He’s played maybe 5 good games not good enough. The loss of Burgess has cost us . We have failed to run most games out. We have strength but our pace has gone. We are selecting a team on last year’s reputation and have not changed our game style ,which has become very predictable. No changes are made during games with no plan B or C .We have a lot of talent on the list but it’s not being used enough . We fell into second place with early wins against much less talented sides but that doesn’t win finals.

18 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Melksham did a good job keeping Patty McCartin out of the contest last night. 

And Brown was struggling when TMac was in the side. 

This is true he did but I reckon as a forward you need to do more than just keep a player out of the contest. That's a defenders role imho.

For me, the only test of a good fwd is how many goals and or goal assists they have.

Melksham failed with zip. I think one can successfully argue Patty stopped milk from scoring any goals and bbb only score one.

Edited September 3, 20223 yr by leave it to deever

On 9/3/2022 at 9:10 AM, Sir Why You Little said:

Yep we have struggled since TMac went down. His role is a big part of the structure. He takes a quality tall away from other players 

I remember when we recruited Bbb and thinking how are we going to fit Weid....bbb and Tmac in the same side.

Many even suggesting Tmac play on the wing.

Well so much for that brain teaser.

If Jackson goes and he played like he has, can we please get a huge chf for him?

26 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

This is true he did but I reckon as a forward you need to do more than just keep a player out of the contest. That's a defenders role imho.

For me, the only test of a good fwd is how many goals and or goal assists they have.

Melksham failed with zip. I think one can successfully argue Patty stopped milk from scoring any goals and bbb only score one.

Melksham stopped himself from converting. Not McCartin. He missed two set shots and fell over on another chance in the last. 

My initial post was on this topic was not to defend Melksham’s failures but to point out that Ben Brown’s inability to give us more is not because he doesn’t have another key forward up there. 

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Melksham stopped himself from converting. Not McCartin. He missed two set shots and fell over on another chance in the last. 

My initial post was on this topic was not to defend Melksham’s failures but to point out that Ben Brown’s inability to give us more is not because he doesn’t have another key forward up there. 

BB has never been or will be a pack mark forward but we just keep bombing it in and all forwards just keep flying all at the one pill sides have figured that out, it's might be to late to change the game style, but gee make sure one player does not pass CHF

5 hours ago, Vineytime said:

Would love to see the stats on 2nd half’s won this season… Against the top teams we seem to get run over every time. 

From memory we’ve won 4 of our last 14 second halves. Port, Adelaide, Brisbane (after the bye), and Freo.

Just now, The heart beats true said:

From memory we’ve won 4 of our last 14 second halves. Port, Adelaide, Brisbane (after the bye), and Freo.

Pretty much the opposite to last year, doesn’t win you finals footy. 

4 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Melksham stopped himself from converting. Not McCartin. He missed two set shots and fell over on another chance in the last. 

My initial post was on this topic was not to defend Melksham’s failures but to point out that Ben Brown’s inability to give us more is not because he doesn’t have another key forward up there. 

So true.

Usually has 2 talls on him.

6 hours ago, Vineytime said:

Would love to see the stats on 2nd half’s won this season… Against the top teams we seem to get run over every time. 

And last year we couldn't lose a 2nd half almost. 

I don't think we're fit enough.

17 hours ago, picket fence said:

Christ, Defensive efforts??? KEEPING A DEFENDER QUIET?? PARK ME... he is there to kick goals, he didn't and was Abysmal!

Buddy is being legendised (in a flawed suck-piece of an article, but that's another story) for dragging May away from the ball, so it should be a legitimate tactic to use Milkshake to drag McCartin away from the ball.

18 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

Buddy is being legendised (in a flawed suck-piece of an article, but that's another story) for dragging May away from the ball, so it should be a legitimate tactic to use Milkshake to drag McCartin away from the ball.

I read that too. He was absolutely slaughtered on Friday night.

He should be really disappointed in himself for not shaking May’s hand before the game. That was as low an act as you’ll see before a game. The media would go after anyone else hard for that.

1 hour ago, Tony Tea said:

Buddy is being legendised (in a flawed suck-piece of an article, but that's another story) for dragging May away from the ball, so it should be a legitimate tactic to use Milkshake to drag McCartin away from the ball.

Theres one difference, Buddy is  a champion who can explode at a moments notice. Melksham on the other hand imploded with two shocking kicks on goal and one straight into the man on the mark. He cannot possibly play next week under ANY circumstance

7 hours ago, Gee N said:

The problem as I see it is we have taken our pace out of our game . Look at Trac he look to have more bulk and has lost some pace . Playing the best ruck in the comp at full forward to start the game hasn’t worked. Picket needs to be told he’s not a star just a fairly good footballer. Look at his stats throughout the season . He’s played maybe 5 good games not good enough. The loss of Burgess has cost us . We have failed to run most games out. We have strength but our pace has gone. We are selecting a team on last year’s reputation and have not changed our game style ,which has become very predictable. No changes are made during games with no plan B or C .We have a lot of talent on the list but it’s not being used enough . We fell into second place with early wins against much less talented sides but that doesn’t win finals.

Picket has had a very good second half of the season, it's his finals games that are becoming a problem. He was just ordinary in last years finals and no good Friday night. Need a big game from him this week.

11 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Theres one difference, Buddy is a champion who can explode at a moments notice. Melksham on the other hand imploded with two shocking kicks on goal and one straight into the man on the mark. He cannot possibly play next week under ANY circumstance

The flip side is even though Buddy is a champ, Horse sacrificed his heavy artillery to open up the Swans' forward line, whereas Milkshake is a pop gun by comparison so the loss of his potential impact is not much of a sacrifice, and as you mention, Milky did actually hit the scoreboard, even if they were flubbed hits. Plus, Buddy is not likely to explode when he runs away from the action. 

Oh, and I'm not attached to Milky. If he gets dropped he gets dropped, and if he stays it's because there is no viable replacement.

Edited September 4, 20223 yr by Tony Tea

16 minutes ago, Tony Tea said:

The flip side is even though Buddy is a champ, Horse sacrificed his heavy artillery to open up the Swans' forward line, whereas Milkshake is a pop gun by comparison so the loss of his potential impact is not much of a sacrifice, and as you mention, Milky did actually hit the scoreboard, even if they were flubbed hits. Plus, Buddy is not likely to explode when he runs away from the action. 

Oh, and I'm not attached to Milky. If he gets dropped he gets dropped, and if he stays it's because there is no viable replacement.

Spot on and it took May out of play.

Buddy was the decoy dinosaur

We can’t defend a lead. Stubbornness at selection. Poor disposal.

23 minutes ago, loges said:

Picket has had a very good second half of the season, it's his finals games that are becoming a problem. He was just ordinary in last years finals and no good Friday night. Need a big game from him this week.

Disagree. Good against Geelong in the prelim.

7 minutes ago, Redlagged said:

Disagree. Good against Geelong in the prelim.

Yes, well we weren't exactly under much pressure in that game.

On 9/4/2022 at 5:25 PM, loges said:

Yes, well we weren't exactly under much pressure in that game.

I think we're relying on him too much to pull out the miraculous goals. When it comes to our small forwards I look at them as a unit and we simply don't get enough goals out of them collectively. Kozzie has proven to be the most prolific but he can't do it all. 

KOZZY HAS PLAYED THREE LESS GAMES AND IS ONLY ONLY GOAL BEHIND LAST YEARS TOTAL. GIVE THE GUY A BREAK!

Edited September 6, 20223 yr by inanunda
Spelling

Our slow ball movement is killing us. The delivery inside 50 doesn't have to be perfect, in fact sometimes the rougher the better, but it does need to be quick enough to allow our forwards to compete 1v1.

By the time we stuff around on the wing with 6 useless handballs and 3 slow, sideways kicks, the opposition has 16 defenders inside our forward 50.

Ideally we should be looking to release Hunt or Hibberd from half back, they run the ball from defensive 50 and kick long inside forward 50. Gawn will take 20 marks one day if we allow him to compete like that. Pickett can sit at his feet and clean up the crumbs.

26 minutes ago, inanunda said:

KOZZY HAS PLAYED THREE LESS GAMES AND IS ONLY ONLY GOAL BEHIND LAST YEARS TOTAL. GIVE THE GUY A BREAK!

I don't just judge him on goals fwiw I think his second half of the season has been very good. Wasn't involved enough on Friday night.

You just have to ask yourself, if you were Sydney or any team playing against us and saw what we were offering would you be scared? 

As a defence give me predictability that occasionally results in a goal over turnovers in terrible positions that almost always lead to scores.