The back half defense holds up ok but the problem is the defensive skills of our midfield doesnt.....Gulden and Heeney had high tackle numbers the same cant be said for our mids who dont apply much pressure when they dont have 1st use, we have too many one way players in the middle of the ground. Then you look at our forward pressure which was also non existant...Fogarty didnt have one tackle and he is employed solely as a pressure forward and Ainsworth had one tackle... Its the not the defense, its the rest of the team who pick and choose when to defend so the opposition mids and running half backs just stroll around unhindered and do what they like leading to the avalanche of forward entries and defenders bewildered by the pressure. Cripps, Hewett and Walsh in the middle doesnt work as a group when defense is required, you look at Gold Coast and they have a main midfield of Anderson, Rowell and Miller who can win the footy, attack, defend and carry the ball....our group cant do the latter two skills well enough for long enough against quality opposition.
The bold is why we got rid of Kennedy. It has some merit. BUT, you gotta get replacements in to compliment that. Yes, Jagga is one.....and an expensive one given what we gave up for him. Ditto Walker in 2027. But essentially waiting 2-3 years to get replacements is time we can't afford to wait. In the meantime Charlie/Jack is gone. Weitering/Harry are another year closer to the end without real replacements yet. Cripps is definitely not going to recapture his Brownlow form at his age and they will be like ships passing in the night.
We need some urgency with list management decisions so we have an elite core group all around at the same time to be a genuine flag contender.
Unpopular opinion, but i'd be seeing what deal West Coast can do for Cripps at seasons end. I love the bloke as much as the next guy, but looking at whats best for the club......and maybe that is it.
I'd agree on Cripps, I think one of the main three has to make way for a player who can be that two way player , maybe it's Cody Walker. Walsh is locked in as the next skipper and long term and I think Hewett is the better defensive player than the other two. Imo a trade for Cripps could benefit both player and club, he will go down as a all-time great at the club but he looks like he has run his race, looks frustrated and in need of a fresh start Imho .
The back half defense holds up ok but the problem is the defensive skills of our midfield doesnt.....Gulden and Heeney had high tackle numbers the same cant be said for our mids who dont apply much pressure when they dont have 1st use, we have too many one way players in the middle of the ground. Then you look at our forward pressure which was also non existant...Fogarty didnt have one tackle and he is employed solely as a pressure forward and Ainsworth had one tackle... Its the not the defense, its the rest of the team who pick and choose when to defend so the opposition mids and running half backs just stroll around unhindered and do what they like leading to the avalanche of forward entries and defenders bewildered by the pressure. Cripps, Hewett and Walsh in the middle doesnt work as a group when defense is required, you look at Gold Coast and they have a main midfield of Anderson, Rowell and Miller who can win the footy, attack, defend and carry the ball....our group cant do the latter two skills well enough for long enough against quality opposition.
And the move to put williams in defence after looking settled in the F50 is yet another brain fart from the coaching group
i really dont understand this - he was really good last year, and seemed to have found his spot. creative, good finisher. i know ainsworth, Lij and Haywood have all come in, but surely we could still find room for him up forward. guys who can kick goals dont grow on trees
Agree..Its the only place Williams can play imo and I would have thought the idea would be to use Ainsworth a bit more in the midfield given his good kicking skills and the fact we got slaughtered there after half time. We need goals out of Williams and Ainsworth touching the ball more than 15-16 times a game imho.
[1] Plan to take Nankervis out of the picture. He isn't a jumper, so he won't be able to jump all over Pitto and Reidy, but he was the difference last year. We squash him and we go forwards.
[2] Saad goes out with injury. Hopefully, Cowan is fit enough to replace him. Otherwise, Billy Wilson, who has the pace and run we lacked. As for Cowan, he might be able to do a negating job on one of Richmond's mids. If so, we will be improved by it.
[3] Zac Williams: he had 5 clearances in the first quarter last night, but lacked impact thereafter. I wouldn't have him in defence: small forward with turns in the middle.
[4] Fog goes out. Have Ainsworth, Flynn Young or Byrne do his job. All have more pace and are much faster. All can kick a goal from more than 10 m out, something that Fog doesn't do.
[5] Move McGovern forward or out. As a defender, he is too loose. He has brain fades. Moir to the bench or the VFL.
[6] L. Young: do we need him as a defender against Richmond's forwards? Derkson deserves a chance. It will be interesting to see what forwards Richmond present us with.
Yep. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater after one game.
I hope we stick to the very same game plan, only with a few inclusions. Specifically, Haynes for McGovern, Derken for Young (the kid has a footy IQ, Young hasn't), Boyd for the injured Saad and Byrne for Fogary... and use Byrne like the Fluffy Ducks used Papley and Rottingwood used Pendlebury... sparing impact although the reasons for Papley and Pendles having limited exposure for obvious reasons but the principle is the same... bring on an impact player, sparingly.
The two ruck thing also needs a look. Plus blokes like Cowan, Carroll and Flynn Young should also be in contention...
Papley and Pendlebury have the age fitness/age issue but its also about using up your rotations early and having none left later in the game when you need them. Swans worked it to perfection saving their rotations having 50 odd still in the bank to use in the 2nd half even though the temptation would have been to use them early when they were struggling. We tired and they kept the pressure up with more rotations/fresher legs which Warner alluded to after the game...
Our MC is one of our biggest problems - all obvious issues but these brainiacs would rather play out of form, over the hill, not up to it types or the wrong types instead of admitting error and correcting the situation.
You have Voss coaching for his job and he probably is going to be less inclined to trust overdoing the kids and preferring experienced players initially IMHO. Kids might come later on mass if we concede we need to rebuild..
Lets all hold fire for a few weeks. Remember how terrible Hayes was in his first game with us? Then he became one of our most valued players.
We had players that didnt play last year, we have 5-6-7? New players. We have lost two important cogs in our wheel.
Surely with all eyes on what voss is doing, itd be identified by now that he is the issue?
This game was always set to see Sydney win for their CC marketing bs.
I think we need to take a breather and see what the next few weeks show. Obvs having Simpson there is our filler if and when voss gets the arse and i do agree that 3rd quarter run on is inexcusable.
I wouldn't be going with Simpson, agree we don't need to panic but the pressure is on now and every week is now going to be an audition for Voss to keep his job and that isn't going to help him or the team. If we can blow Richmond off the park and kick a big score we might be able to relieve some of that pressure and give Voss a couple of weeks breather from scrutiny.
Thought Swans had done their homework on Ollie Hollands, working him over and often not allowing him to break free. Wasn't sure if he played the game on the backline, but if so he may be more effective playing back on the wing.
Agree, thought we were out coached and the Swans planned well. Adding Goodwin to help Cox might be a good move providing he can concentrate on football and not get distracted. I have a preference for Ollie on the wing and he is a very honest performer.
He will never get another coaching gig and will be gone by mid season bye imo.
That loss was squarely on the players (e.g. skipper was the prime offender), they went to water as soon as some pressure was applied. EOS.
I agree the loss was on the players and the skipper and senior players let the team down but we all know who the fall guy will be.FWIW I wouldn't have continued with Cripps as captain and made the change to Walsh when he got his forever contract...
He got through 2025 pretty unscathed. But had 5 hamstring injuries in a 12 month period prior to that. Out again now with a hamstring. Is that issue solved or ongoing. Will he be straight back in or have to spend some time in the VFL.
Just on Jagga...he was good, but there were times that he was also guilty of some rushed and scrappy disposal and easily brushed aside.
In Jagga's case, a few nerves probably kicked in, hence the rushed disposal. That'll soon change.
He had 6 turnovers but thats very forgivable in your 1st full real game and as you say they were rushed kicks due to nerves and some quality opposition who were hunting our players after half time and his comrade senior players and leaders were giving us nothing but donuts during the onslaught so he was on his own and must have wondered what he got himself into. He is a light bodied player too and was brushed aside at times and thats going to take a couple of preseasons to remedy and probably why his mate Sam Lalor was picked at No 1 because he was a readymade.
Cerra.... 2020, 2021, 2022 - best 22 under 22 2020-2023, 2025 - top 10 B+F (2024 - 4-5 hamstrings) 2020, 2025 - top 3 in B+F
FYI, in 2020, Cerra was 20.
Lord.... *crickets*
Lord was 20 in 2025.
Again, i've got nothing against him, not everyone will be superstars. I just think he needs to lift his game.....and zero tackles and poor disposal will not endear him to the MC.
The problem is you seem to want them all to be superstars. It ain't happening.
If Lord was given a job to do on a Sydney player and didn't do it, he may be in strife, otherwise he'll back up again next week.
FYI he had career high disposals and inside 50s on Thursday night...so yep..he's on the improve.
Its not what Lord was doing imo its what his opponents were doing and that applies to Cripps, Hewett, Walsh and Smith as a collective. The collective got fried after halftime and the reality is the Swans have their superstars in the middle of the ground and you have to have the quality to match them and we dont because our mids cant defend. You look at Gold Coast and we will have similar problems with Anderson, Rowell, Miller, and now Petracca, its going to be more of the same as what we faced with the Swans, we need more two way players in the middle, those first three GC players rack up the possies but also can defend and rack up the tackle numbers and are quality users/finishers. The Cripps, Hewett, Walsh one way contested only setup isnt going to deliver consistent results and will fail vs quality two way players. Lord is a two way player but isnt at the same level as those I have discussed but he is a good B grade player who does his job but he isnt there to compete vs Heeney, Warner, Anderson, Rowell etc thats Cripps, Hewett, Walsh and then Smith/Walker down the track...
i read a few quotes from Chad Warner saying that Sydney went in with a specific plan of exploiting "our lack of outside run." I'd be curious to know why it took nearly 2.5 quarters to put this plan into effect.
There's a theory going around that they paced themselves in the first half and held a bit in reserve absorbing the best we could throw at them. It was curious how they held Papley back. The commentators seem to know the minute he would be injected into the game. We tired noticeably in the third term and they ran over us. It seemed to align pretty much with Docherty's comments about how we play.
It was the number of interchanges the Swans wanted to make...they only made 23 in the first half and then made 52 after half time to wear us down with fresh players. It was excellent coaching so Im not convinced Cox had anything to do with it, maybe Goodwin who was praised for his rotation management in 2021 when they won the premiership. Unfortunately we dont have the innovation or nous in the coaches box imo to be over inventive which you need to be at times to give you an edge..
I don't get all the hate for boyd. Clearly not rated by the mc. Not well liked by our own supporters.
I don't know if it's got to do with him painting his nails or something equally nonsensical, but a his user of the ball who likes getting physical and flying the flag is something we could use at afl level right now.
To me he looks to play better at afl level. Maybe it's the pristine surfaces of afl over vfl that helps his kicking, but given newman, saad, cowan, carroll (williams?) All out and/or struggling....give him a go
I like Lord because he plays both ways and will try negate his opponent as well as win his own ball. If you are free wheeling mid who doesn't bother what your opponent is doing then you need to be 30 plus in possessions and have high numbers in scoring involvements, goal assists and low turn overs.
Machettes were involved again. Word is the 22 YO deceased man was not part of the initial fight between the teenagers but stepped in to try to deescalate things. Terrible and reality is 3 out 4 are under 18 so very likely will be out on bail walking the streets in coming days.
Police station is literally 300m from where this occurred but due to cuts is no longer manned 24hr.
Victorias debt is now 160 billion and goes up every hour by 1 million dollars plus. There is a shortfall of police numbers of about 1500 forcing the closing of Police Stations. Recruitment can't keep pace with demand, the crims are winning. Only way out for Victoria is if the Federal Government bail out the Allan Government but Albo doesn't want to know and said he is responsible for his budget so no help there.
