Autopsy Groundhog day averted! Swans defeat Cats by 30 infront of a packed SCG

[SBD Gonzalez]

It's not a 'week off' if there was nothing to take a week off from, which is my point. If you start a week later that's not the same as playing a block of games and then getting a rest, as Buckley and Brown noted quite correctly. Now that's not to say that the argument that our results have as little to do with this benefit as Brisbane/Melbourne/Collingwood's inability to capitalise on it, but to try to equate to starting in Round 1 to a bye is just fanciful and comes across as people paranoid of anything diminishing the performances from the Swans this season.

In my world, if some teams are playing footy and some teams aren’t, the latter have “a week off”.

How often do we hear the lament at the start of a season that such and such a team “had a limited preseason” because they went deep into finals the year before?

To paraphrase famed AFL commentator Gertrude Stein, a week off is a week off is a week off.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Denis Carrol loved dobbing goals. He’d go on long crazy runs from CHB.

Point is no one would have the remotest idea which was the longest.

 

[SM]

In my world, if some teams are playing footy and some teams aren’t, the latter have “a week off”.

How often do we hear the lament at the start of a season that such and such a team “had a limited preseason” because they went deep into finals the year before?

To paraphrase famed AFL commentator Gertrude Stein, a well off is a week off is a week off.

You might have cracked the reason the lions and Pies haven't benefitted from their early bye. But I think you're being intentionally obtuse at this point if you can't see the difference. Longmire acknkwledges it so you can too. I'll leave it there.

 

[The King!]

In my world, if some teams are playing footy and some teams aren’t, the latter have “a week off”.

How often do we hear the lament at the start of a season that such and such a team “had a limited preseason” because they went deep into finals the year before?

To paraphrase famed AFL commentator Gertrude Stein, a well off is a week off is a week off.

Will be fun when Tassie join and one side has less byes than the rest of the league

 

[Swannie0307]

Not sure if mentioned but what I enjoyed most about Chad’s tear away goal was the anticipation and excitement of him sprinting into an open 50, then the perfect kick into space by Logan, AND THEN THE ROAR OF THE WHOLE STADIUM as he chased and gathered the ball and then calmly grubbered it thru to ice the game … WOW that was as good as it gets!!!

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Its actually insane that its taken teams this long to make Stewart accountable.

 

[Superstar swan]

All the crapping on from the Vic's about how the byes aren't fair, 85% of their games are in Vic. Which means they can head straight back to the club immediately after a game and start their recovery, whereas non Vic teams who are constantly travelling basically lose a day of recovery every second week. Add that up over a year ya clowns

 

[RubbaDuck]

Just finished watching the replay and although the score board showed us 35 odd points behind midway through the 2nd Q there were 3 posters which if went though would have made us only 20 down. There were half a dozen decisions

not sure it can be classified as fair or unfair - we started a week earlier and had a bye soon after, so maybe it's unfair that we really only get 1 bye. Depending what the makeup of team is regarding age/injuries/fitness will determine how people determine what is fair or not I guess.

Someone will always complain about being hard done by.

Some might think we got lucky with our byes coming just when we needed a refresh, but it's more likely our coaches and fitness/conditioning staff factored in the timing of our byes and worked with that to our best advantage.

As in life, it's not the hand your dealt but how you play the hand that counts.

 

[RubbaDuck]

Sadly Logans Shot at goal was no good

You really do manage to find a cloud behind every silver lining.

 

[RubbaDuck]

Robbie AhMat.

Oh yeah. I had a front row seat on that run. I think it might have been Round 20, 2000.

From a stoppage on our left half back flank, Schwass gets the tap but is quickly wrapped up. He almost hands the ball to a stationary Ahmat who has to turn and accelerate out of traffic. Swans players are urging him on. He blows off a few North players including Peter Bell who just can't go with him. He takes four bounces while running flat out then swings inboard to get onto his right and shoots, nailing the goal from 30m out. Brilliant. McAvaney calls it one of the great goals of all time. Supporters of both sides can be seen applauding.

I've can't recall a Swans goal quite as exciting as that one. I reckon Ahmat had Jetta covered for speed, and he was a bloody good kick on the run.

 

[RubbaDuck]

A number of areas where we've improved. I can think of six of them off the top. Time for an essay. Warning for non-readers, contains big words. May contain nuts.

First, a word about first quarters. We're losing 50% of first quarters, just as we did last year, but the difference is we're winning more quarters and we're winning when the siren goes. We're keeping it up for longer.

Footy still demands skill and physicality, but it's become less of a brutal slog (see '89 GF) and more of an endurance sport. The best teams rely on great two way runners. Anyone who has run an endurance race or trained an endurance athlete will know that going too hard early will come back to bite you. A good start at a good measured sustainable pace is critically important. Anyone racing past won't go the distance.

We shouldn't fret about first quarter scores. Any team can win a first quarter.

So where are our improvements coming from:

The obvious one is experience but that's a bit general. Merely playing more games isn't going to help. So besides experience.....

1. Endurance/fitness. Our ability to maintain constant pressure and two-way running throughout the game suggests much of our improvement has come through increased endurance. Which makes sense with a slightly older team and a very solid preseason for most.

That extra endurance allows us to take more risks, to play forward half football, to spread in anticipation of winning the ball. Extra risk leads to extra reward, but we can mitigate the extra risk if our players can get back into defensive positions very quickly.

2. Stability. A very settled line-up in the first half of the season has led to greater chemistry between teammates (everyone touch wood now please). Since 2022 our young players have had two more years to bond with each other. Doesn't sound a lot? Anyone who had only played for a couple of years in 2022, now has almost twice as much experience.

3. Depth. This year we have the luxury of starting our "Best 22". For some years it's been our "Available 22". Last year's horror injury list had a silver lining. It allowed us to blood lots of new talent. I've been pleasantly surprised by how many pearls we've discovered, clattering around in our bag of oysters. We've had time to get some of those pearls polished.

4. Add-ons. It's be remiss to leave out the impact of our new additions. Grundy has given us first use at stoppages and brought another midfielder into play. JJ has excelled. Not many had him as a walk-up start. Like Rowy, he's an exceptional role player. Like Foxy, JJ can play a number of roles to a very high standard. Horse loves this type of player. Flexibility is a coach's secret weapon.

5. Buy-in. The buy-in is huge from our players. We seem to be signing up long term deal after long term deal. I have no doubt Logan and next year Chad, will both sign on. The players are buying in to a shared vision, an optimism that even Bedford couldn't hose down. They know they have the teammates and the coaches to win a host of premierships. They know their success is entirely up to them, if they want it enough. That sense of being in control of their destiny is intoxicating. They push others to be their best and expect their teammates will do the same.

6 Self-belief based in reality. We fans can sense it. No doubt our players can sense it. Horse can sense it, though he'd never admit publicly. The AFL and the other teams can sense it. Even the Melbourne media can sense it, though perhaps they hope repeating Daicos' name ten times per day will somehow ward off the inevitable. It won't.

Pies won last year through an idea created by Fly, his "always in the game" mantra. For the Pies players it gave them something to believe in, but by surreptitiously impressing that belief into the minds of their opponents, through a willingly complicit Melbourne media, the oft repeated the "always in the game" mantra worked its way into the heads of other teams until all began to believe it, causing many to try to protect a lead instead of doing what had been working.

 

[RubbaDuck]

Big question is, who are the genuine contenders this year?

Don't you mean 'where'? I can't see any genuine contenders other than us.

I still think Geelong is most likely to face us in the GF. They got within 30 points of us despite their two prime midfielders out. It was our home ground advantage and they're in a bit of a form slump. Their best is a lot better.

As much as I cherish the thought of GF revenge (served icy cold), we'd have to make damn sure there wasn't the slightest chance we could lose to them, or we might never recover from the psychological damage. Perhaps it's safer to play another team.

 

[Macca180]

this is a year that everything clicks, unstoppable

The only thing that can stop you is if it is a Sydney v Carlton Grand Final and it is officiated by the 2016 Grand Final umpires that get influenced by crowds and media fairy tales.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Oh yeah. I had a front row seat on that run. I think it might have been Round 20, 2000.

From a stoppage on our left half back flank, Schwass gets the tap but is quickly wrapped up. He almost hands the ball to a stationary Ahmat who has to turn and accelerate out of traffic. Swans players are urging him on. He blows off a few North players including Peter Bell who just can't go with him. He takes four bounces while running flat out then swings inboard to get onto his right and shoots, nailing the goal from 30m out. Brilliant. McAvaney calls it one of the great goals of all time. Supporters of both sides can be seen applauding.

I've can't recall a Swans goal quite as exciting as that one. I reckon Ahmat had Jetta covered for speed, and he was a bloody good kick on the run.

Magnificent to see it again!

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

You might have cracked the reason the lions and Pies haven't benefitted from their early bye. But I think you're being intentionally obtuse at this point if you can't see the difference. Longmire acknkwledges it so you can too. I'll leave it there.

Who knows, Lions and Pies may have been further down the ladder. You just can’t say.

I can see there are differences.

The question is of degree, and while it’s not die-in-a-ditch stuff for me, some Geelong fans were proceeding from the entirely false premise that a bye in opening round is no advantage whatsoever.

 

[.Shotties.]

Was incredibly frustrating. So many clear HTB and incorrect disposal under any set of interpretations not paid against them and then they pull out that bullshit HTB against Warner where he had no prior and the ball was stripped in the tackle.

Yeah, the first two minutes we had two clear as day, one arm free, ball dropped tackles in our forward 50 and they weren't paid, just before Warner's. Two pretty good looks at goal before the Cats got their first goal would have changed the completion of the start of the game.

 

[momentbymoment]

The absolute ******* went in on the Swans, Grundy & Adams when we were 5 goals down. 2 hours later Grundy is just about best on ground, Adams has just played his best game for the club and we win by 30. I'm sure he already felt like enough of a dickhead without much else needing to be said.

You have way more faith in the humanity of Pie supporters than I.

 

[momentbymoment]

Yeah, the first two minutes we had two clear as day, one arm free, ball dropped tackles in our forward 50 and they weren't paid, just before Warner's. Two pretty good looks at goal before the Cats got their first goal would have changed the completion of the start of the game.

HTB rule for AFL is like the scrum rules in NFL. There is just no simple way to adjudicate it. The NRL decided to dump all rules as a response and do ‘play’ scrums instead.

The HTB will always be subjective and as a result, will be vulnerable to cognitive bias. We just have to play better so the umps don’t get a chance to sway the result.

 

[bedford]

Robbie AhMat.

He would run away half the time

 

[bedford]

You really do manage to find a cloud behind every silver lining.

You have no idea what i was talking about , i am a massive Logan fan , maybe use the ignore option

 

[RubbaDuck]

I can't stop watching it , surely a record from coming from so far back . LOVE THE CHAD

Record comeback? Seemed like it, sure, but it was not even our biggest comeback of the last few games. We were 31 points down to Carlton before we got going and finished 52 points up. In this game we bounced back with 11 of the next 13 goals, in the Carlton game we bounced back with 13 of the next 14 goals.

Love the Chad too, but also Heeney - The Dynamic Duo. Add Gulden and we have The Terrific Three? Throw in Grundy to make The Fab 4. Been done? OK, chuck in Paps and we have the Famous Five. Damn. Lawyers from Enid Blyton estate will sue. So don't even think of adding Rowy and JJ to make up the Secret Seven.

What about the Magnificent Seven? Or throw in Taylor and Blakey to make the Notorious Nine. Add Hayward, Florent and McCartin and we have the Dynamic Dozen. Can't forget out key forwards. The Fantastic Fifteen then. What about LLoyd...?

Let's face it. We have so many standout players contributing to our great performances. I going for the Tantalising 22.

 

[GoTheSwannies]

Can't forget the sub, but tantalising 23 still works.

 

[bedford]

Record comeback? Seemed like it, sure, but it was not even our biggest comeback of the last few games. We were 31 points down to Carlton before we got going and finished 52 points up. In this game we bounced back with 11 of the next 13 goals, in the Carlton game we bounced back with 13 of the next 14 goals.

Love the Chad too, but also Heeney - The Dynamic Duo. Add Gulden and we have The Terrific Three? Throw in Grundy to make The Fab 4. Been done? OK, chuck in Paps and we have the Famous Five. Damn. Lawyers from Enid Blyton estate will sue. So don't even think of adding Rowy and JJ to make up the Secret Seven.

What about the Magnificent Seven? Or throw in Taylor and Blakey to make the Notorious Nine. Add Hayward, Florent and McCartin and we have the Dynamic Dozen. Can't forget out key forwards. The Fantastic Fifteen then. What about LLoyd...?

Let's face it. We have so many standout players contributing to our great performances. I going for the Tantalising 22.

JC im talking about where he ran from ! not the score

 

[RubbaDuck]

He would run away half the time

He still ran further than Chad did. A bigger man would just say he was wrong. It's alright to be wrong sometimes.

 

[bedford]

He still ran further than Chad did. A bigger man would just say he was wrong. It's alright to be wrong sometimes.

Take your own advice