Lil_red_fire_engine

Out Pruess, AVB, ANB, Smith In TMac (LJ if ready), Harmes, Sparrow (if ready), Lockhart

I am not sold that Goodwin must go unless there is clearly an improved position for both development and list management. That to me is Clarkson or hold. If not then the club in a weird 17 x shortened game year played completely away from home would want to be certain that Goodwin cannot take us further under new normal circumstances. If that was the case under no circumstances would I want an untried coach. I would want someone who has learnt in a strong current system and who exhudes success and leadership. That to me would be Voss.

6. Petracca 5. Viney 4. Fritsch 3. Oliver 2. Rivers 1. Gawn

We have 4-5 elite players but lacking in 6-16 bracket and no visible game plan of any sort. Even in the wet I could see what Freo were trying to do but buggered if I could work us out. Starting Fritsch behind the ball in the first showed a lack of confidence in a team defence and robbed us of balancing our chance to score against a miserly side. We are not finals worthy and will finish accordingly.

We have 4-5 elite players but lacking in 6-16 bracket and no visible game plan of any sort. Even in the wet I could see what Freo were trying to do but buggered if I could work us out. Starting Fritsch behind the ball in the first showed a lack of confidence in a team defence and robbed us of balancing our chance to score against a miserly side. We are not finals worthy and will finish accordingly.

We are a combination of not very good, looking tired and a set of players that don’t appear to understand the game plan (if there is one). We have some high quality players in Gawn, Trac, Oliver, May and Langdon but our next layer is a combo of developing, declining or not quite good enough. This is not a side deserving of a finals spot.

You dont need one behind the ball if your mids and half forwards work hard enough.

We lack the want to spread, the ability to stick a tackle or the ability for players to hold their position and trust their team mates. Playing like we are we trying to save it rather than win it?

Tackling poor. Decision making poor. Did not let them have easy entries to 50 but were so focussed on defending that we didn’t consider leaving some player in 50 to try and score. Let’s see what we learnt last week with the wind (granted this time in the wet.)

The changes finally will bring some outside dash. I dont mind trialling the two rucks when we dont have another key forward nailing the second spot. At minimum it will remove the focus of double teaming Weid. Melksham surely on notice. I assume he will play midfield time with AVB to cover the loss of Brayshaw in particular. Best of luck to Baker and Bedford who I think can give more of what we need with a clear go at it.

I feel Hore, similar to AVB before him improves at AFL level the longer he is out.

We have a great opportunity due to injury to completely change our midfield mix this week. Two of Oliver, Trac and Viney should be the constant but the third position should be a combination of Melksham, Bennell, C Wagner, Rivers even Spargo for spurts. Let’s compliment the inside bulls with some polish and run. This and include Baker and Bedford for some run. I suspect we won’t do this and just add another insider in Vandenberg but if there is ever a chance to do something different this is the week.

I am impatient as well but Have come to accept that the list is where it is meant to be. It’s just not good enough yet. We got on a hot streak at the end of 2018 (we were 8 and 6 at this time of 2018). We had a nightmare preparation in 2019. In 2020 outside of the Swans game and the Port game we have beaten the sides below us, won more than most around us and are mainly competitive but lose in patches against the top 5. This is away from home in a shortened game style that does not suit us. We have a strong backline and inside grunt but we need to add further dynamic run and polish to the midfield and half forward line. We still have too many roles not locked in to provide us stability that rotated through by players that have been here long enough to sustain it if they were good enough. I suspect over the coming 12 months we will only lose Jones, Melksham and Hibberd from our best 22 but most will still be in development and maturing years. The eldest players will be May and Gawn at 29 with Trac, Oliver, Langdon, Lever, Salem and Brayshaw in the 24-26 window. The TMac of 2018 has been cruelled by surgeries so we must see continued development in our Tall forwards in Weid, Jackson and Petty. All of LJ, Kozzie and Rivers looks like they have high ceiling potential, at minimum Petty, Sparrow and Jordon should develop into good soldiers. Another good lot of kids and some shrewd trades and we should be taking another step in the right direction and closing the gap above us.

They may but I doubt its a worthwhile trade it will be as delisting. On Hore I would retain on a one year deal just because he hasn’t had a run at it this year.

Based on the view of not delisting harder than 7 (does not mean we dont trade above this) we need to clear those we dont believe can play a role in 2021 and beyond. We also need to consider the amount of contract and length and size they would partake. I would be delisting in order Jones (retire), Hore, Hunt, J Wagner, Smith, OMac, Hannan, I would be promoting Lockhart to the list and delisting Brown and C Wagner and possibly Dunkley Whilst in contract I will not be surprised to see KK retire due to his concussion issues.

One year base deal with game incentives. Otherwise delist. Realistically in a shortened year with shortened games and limited view of a draft which was already highly compromised due to high NGA’s I dont think you can cut harder that 7-8 players that are unknowns. There will be players that get contracts that are not first 18 but that is fine as long as the length and the salary is commensurate with the role.

Because they have a different set of attributes that could change the dynamic of the side and solve some our overall deficiencies. It is obvious we lack run and are one paced. Bedford, C Wagner and Baker serve this well and between them have less than 30 games development. I would prefer to shift the dynamic and see if one or more rises to the occasion with consecutive games of development. The alternative is to persevere with players who have had plenty of chance to develop and show consistent output (ANB, AVB, Hunt, Hannan) or have validated the game has seen their best (Jones, Melksham, Jetta).

Being the lack of visibility of development this year surely its a great time to have concentrated picks in the 25-60 range where you may chance late developing kids who could not show their wares this year. Even some players don’t really show out as much until the champs when the quality rises around them or they are forced to play a different role than at club level. Think of how many bolters there have been due to the championship or post champs that have shot in from 25-40 or further range to be top 10 or top 25.

I support our schedule fatigue and the day preparations of travelling from Maroochydore that morning would not help for the best output and are likely the reason our intensity and run was off. However you control the things you can like the players selected and the make up of the team. We clearly went in too tall and lacked run. We continued to persevere with players in Jones and Melksham who are clearly out of form and or had the game pass them by. We could have brought in some youthful energy or a player who might throw his all at a chance like Bedford, Baker or even C Wagner. Sometime you need to manufacture the energy. These were all choices for the coach coming into this game. We then fell for the oldest one in the book and did not know how to use a wind or defend a wind. That wasn’t lack of energy particulartly in the first half it was lack of the right type of play. Again mostly in the coaches control. I will give some credit to Goodwin in the second half that at least he threw the magnets about a bit to generate something. However this was more a game lost by the coach than things out of his control. I am hoping finally Goodwin takes the loss and the shortbreak as an opportunity to right some things, but it doesn’t seem to be his way. Our backline should be May, Lever, Tomlinson with running backs. Bring run and difference into our midfield with Baker at minimum on a wing and Melksham or Wagner or Bennell instead of Viney into the mix. Two tall forwards with proper smalls (Pickett and Bedford) that pressure inc Viney as a high half forward. We can only afford one of Fritsch, Melksham and Hannan and I would go Fritsch on notice. I think we can learn a lot from the Freo game and if we win then the Giants game becomes a final without officially being one. Let’s se what we learn but I don’t hold much hope.

Smith wasn’t bad. Papley with 0.2 you would take but our defence felt out of whack. It works better with May, Lever, Tomlinson as the talls.

The game was lost at selection going too tall and not bringing in run. The players were then clearly not on from the start fumbling, getting caught, not laying tackles. The coach and players then fell for the oldest trick in the book kicking with the wind and just blasted everything in selectively picking out their spare without fault. The players then looked gassed and lacked energy a quarter and a half in. Players did their usual individual efforts and not doing the team things. If I see Viney push our own players out of the way to try and get the ball again I will scream. Improved quality and a kick up the bum saw us increase our efforts in the second half but our inability to take chances under pressure saw us not take advantage. The best thing that can come from this is Finally accept some home truths and resolve them immediately. Oscar is a liability, Jones is finished, Melksham is lazy and Fritsch a down hill skier (I would play neither but you cant play both). We desperately need run and should be bringing Lockhart, Baker, Pickett, Bedford, Bennell in to get some speed on the game.

Out: OMac, Smith, Jones, Melksham, Fritsch, Weid In: Hibberd, Lockhart, Baker, Pickett, Bennell, TMac Give us run and some fresh legs please and finally accept that Oscar and Jones should have just played their last game.

Club effort. Poor selection. Poor game plan. Poor preparation. Poor effort. Poor execution. Port team work. Poor leadership.

Well at least we have a brand of football that is visible to our supporters. It’s just no good. What a bunch of lazy players who cant handle expectation and refuse to play for each other.

Oscar and Jones are both BOG for Swans. Liabilities that should never play for us again.