April 30, 2005
I Can See It Now
This basically what my tombstone will read when I finally pass on, if things keep going the way things are going.
This club has no clue - same fucking players, same fucking result. Roosy how about having some balls and dropping a few of these over-rated hacks. You can start with the bloody captain.
If you already couldn't guess, we LOST. Match report sometime tomorrow.
Posted by robbieando at 11:42 PM | Comments (3)
Match Preview vs West Coast
So you expect me to do a detailed match preview, telling you how the Swans can do the un-thinkable and beat West Coast don't you??
Well I won't because I think that is pointless, but I will tell you in what area's we need to improve in to at least come close to winning and make a contest of this match. (If you want one, then go and read the RWO Match Preview written by Justin Dow and Liz Read.)
I will say that watch out for a different Swans outfit this week, freed from the small confines of the SCG. Things that haven't worked the past two weeks might work this week because of the extra room to move and Magic and Hall have plenty of room up forward to create some havoc. The defence will be helped by the return of Schauble and LRT and Goodes will do OK in the ruck and will provide the X Factor in this match.
All we need now is the midfield to put in a performance like they did in last years final and get as much ball as the Eagles midfield and do something with it for once. If it rains I'd say advantage US if not we'll have to work hard helping out the defence and midfield stoppers to limit the Eagles impact going forward. It can be done, but it needs the team to put PRESSURE on the Eagles midfield and not allow them time to do what they do best.
If we can get the ball forward enough times we should be able to kick goals, just need to make sure we kick more than 10 of them and limit the waste of behind's that headline the last two weeks.
Anyway do I expect to win? No, not likely to happen but it can happen and we have seen this team do it before (a certain final in 03 springs to mind). We won't get wiped off the face of the planet by the Eagles if we lose and if we win it will be a close one, but in my heart of hearts we are lacking too much in the midfield and without proper ruckmen we will be hurt too much by Cox and Gardiner.
Still watch the match, like I will and hope for the best
Eagles by 24 points
Best Swans on Ground: Michael O'Loughlin and Barry Hall (10 goals between them) and Jude Bolton again.
Posted by robbieando at 04:44 PM | Comments (1)
April 29, 2005
News Roundup - Fri 29/4
Well the end to the week from Hell is only a day away and already today we have seen the Jolly appeal rejected, so I don't have much hope for tomorrow, but I've seen this club do stranger things amd a win isn't out of the question knowing this club. But anyway on to the news roundup and we start today with the shocking news (no really) that former club clown Warwick Capper played two matches in 1986 including a final on drugs.
"We used to get these tablets called `briquettes', which were speed tablets. A friend who also played for the Swans and I thought we would try them before two games including the 1986 qualifying final. I was standing on heads in the first half, but after halftime it was a big downer and I couldn't sleep for 2 1/2 days. Fortunately, there was no drug testing in those days because we would have been off the radar."
Well I always though Capper was High during our matches in the 80's but not in that style. Oh well nothing with him surprises me anymore and when I heard the news last night, I went "yep that explains it".
Anyway on to the Jolly appeal preview in the Daily Telegraph and the whole outcome of two weeks for a love tap while, Fevola gets two for an eye gouge has reportingly upset the Swans official's and to be honest I don't think any reasonable people (thus ruling out the entire AFL tribunal set up) can disagree with that.
As to who replaces Jolly in the line up, well according to Roos in the SMH, expect Schauble to come into the side and Goodes and LRT to take up the ruck duties with other talls helping out where possible.
Asked if Schauble would be the replacement if Jolly's appeal was unsuccessful, Roos said: "I would think so."This would most likely mean that without Jolly, Lewis Roberts-Thomson would move from defence to the ruck, with Schauble moving to the backline.
Seems like the right idea to me for once is coming out of the club this week.
JOY
On to the match and the result of Goodes moving into the ruck has West Coast nervous, as if its some sort of world changing event (I hope it is, but come onnnnnnnn)
"We've just got to be wary of that because I think he's a very good runner around the ground."As good a form as Cox is in and Seaby's getting into that good form, we've just got to watch Goodes."
Well maybe we can get the rest of the team to wear Goodes facemasks and then maybe we have ourselves a shot at winning....
....nah didn't think so either.
Posted by robbieando at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)
Jolly's 2 Weeks Stand
Appeal has been rejected and he'll miss the Eagles and Bomber matches. Ah, shoot.
Posted by robbieando at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2005
Round 6 Team Selections vs West Coast
SYDNEY
B: Crouch, Bolton, Dempster
HB: Barry, Roberts-Thomson, Kennelly
C: Nicks, Maxfield, Ablett
HF: O’Keefe, Goodes, Bevan
F: Spriggs, Hall, O’Loughlin
FOLL: Jolly, Kirk, Bolton
I/C: Buchanan, Davis, McVeigh, Schneider
EMG: Malceski, Moore, Schauble
IN: Maxfield,
OUT: Mathews
WEST COAST
B: Chick, Glass, B.Jones
HB: Banfield, Hunter, Stenglein
C: Wirrpunda, Cousins, Braun
HF: Embley, Hansen, Sampi
F: Matera, Lynch, Seaby
FOLL: Cox, Judd, Fletcher
I/C: Adkins, Butler, Gardiner, Selwood
EMG: Graham, McConnell, Nicoski
NO CHANGE
Well that certainly wasn't what I had hoped for. One bloody change and thats just the captain returning from suspension for an injured player. Jolly's been named and if he losses the appeal, one would expect Schauble to come into the side as his replacement.
That's just not good enough. You can't expect to improve with the same shit players week after week. Why not give the likes of Willoughby or Malceski a run and give players like them hope of playing senior football. At the moment this team is like a bloody closed shop, a boys own club if you will.
A fucking joke
Posted by robbieando at 08:36 PM | Comments (1)
News Roundup - Thurs 28/4 vol 2
A bit of a late news update before the teams for Saturday Night come in and for the Swans the first piece is good news for once. After braking his collarbone 2 weeks ago, it was thought that Paul Williams would miss 2 months, but in news from tonights training session it seems that he could be back after 6 weeks to ease our injury woes.
The other article is on the Jolly trial (if seems like one) and how Roos thinks the appeal is worth the punt
Thats all for know. Off to do a rain dance in the hope of rain for Saturday Night's match (who would of thought?)
Posted by robbieando at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
News Roundup - Thurs 28/4
I start today's roundup with Roosy's latest ploy to get the team to play well, so according to the Daily Telegraph, in a bid to 'gee' up the team ahead of this weeks trip West, Roos has quoted Lions captain Michael Voss in a bid to inspire the Swans
"You are always doing different things that's why I read the Michael Voss article to the players to show them that there other clubs going through a difficult time," Roos said.
Certainly out of left field, but very true in point and hopefully it works.
Now we have more on the Jolly trip to the tribunal we had last night and from the sound of things we should have a good case in our appeal, which the club has decided to go ahead with Jolly appeals on four grounds.
The Swans have appealed on the four grounds there was an error in law, that the decision was so unreasonable that no Tribunal acting reasonably could have come to that decision, the classification of the offence was manifestly excessive and also the sanction imposed was manifestly excessive.
I have a good feeling about this, because how can James Hird get off nearly braking a player in two and Jolly gets two weeks for what amounts to a love tap. Appeal is 10am tomorrow, so Jolly will most likely be named in the side tonight and removed if we don't win the appeal.
For the official sites "fluff" piece of the week we get Saddo's return imminent
"Hopefully maybe our next home game against Essendon, I'd like to be back in there, if not, I definitely want to be back the week after that," Saddington told
Damn I was hoping this week, oh well.
That's it for now, team selections later tonight and match preview tomorrow with the outcome of the Jolly decision as well.
Posted by robbieando at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2005
Jolly Suspended for 2 Weeks
Well the club challenged the Match Review Panel's ruling and lost (they fought the lawa and the law won), thus leaving us without any ruckmen for this weekend's trip West.
However it appears that the club will appeal the decision.
Seems as though that after viewing countless replays the prosecution wanted to change the charge to contact with the lower leg (thus lesser points = plays this week) but were refused permission, thus the Swans have the grounds they need to appeal.
So this still isn't over and looks as though I'll still be reporting on this tomorrow night along with team line ups for the trip West.
Posted by robbieando at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
Injury Update
SYDNEY
Ben Mathews (foot) test
Jarrad Sundqvist (ankle) 1-2
Heath James (calf) 1-2
Nic Fosdike (knee) 1-2
Jason Ball (hamstring) 1
Ben Fixter (quad) 2-3
Paul Williams (collarbone) 4-6
Stephen Doyle (ankle)indefinite
No good news from that list except to include that Mathews is now expected to miss Saturday Nights match against the Eagles.
Lucky guy.
Posted by robbieando at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
News Roundup - Wed 27/4
We start today's roundup with the news that Darren Jolly is to contest his misconduct charge, if he gets off, he plays Saturday Night against the Eagles, if not then he sits for 2 weeks instead of the one he was offered, further stuffing up our ruck stocks (and who said the depth in this area would help us?) for the match against Essendon if Jason Ball doesn't make it make in time.
That also leads into the next article about Barry Hall - Hall just had bad day. Basically it starts out with Roos sticking up for Barry Hall and his crap game on Saturday (note to Roos, fix that problem by not playing him so close to goal, that way 2 defenders can't jump over him everytime he goes for the ball), but tails into how Roos plans to cover the lack of ruckmen.
"I did ask Adam today how he feels mentally about doing that," Roos said. "I said, 'Have a think about it and come back to me'."If he comes back to me and says, 'Roosy, I definitely want to ruck the centre bounces', I'll take that into consideration. Certainly the circle has made it a bit safer."
Ah, life is getting better. Now Paul if Goodes ends up in the ruck this week you can't use the excuse anymore that he is suited elsewhere. LRT will most like be his back up according to this article in The Australian.
In The Age, Robert Walls wrote a very good article detailing what is wrong with the Swans. Basically I see the problems to be lack of a tall defence, midfield not putting any pressure on and a forward line that has no clue what they are suppose to be doing. Walls just puts my rantings into a better context.
To finish an article from the Sunday Herald Sun on Magic - Swans star winged, but is far from finished
Well thats a wrap
Posted by robbieando at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Jolly Reported, Offered a Week's Rest
Well that's our ruck stocks stuffed then, thanks to Jolly getting cited and offered a weeks suspension. Swans will most likely chanllenge it, just in case we can get him off but I doubt he has a hope in hell.
First Doyle got injured, then Ball went and now Jolly and the ruck stocks for this week are empty unless Roos decides to bring in Andrew Ericksen and Earl Shaw for their first matches in AFL football. Or maybe he might just have to do what he did in late 2003 when Doyle and Ball weren't available and thats play Goodes in the ruck (shock horror) with LRT his support.
On second thoughts Andrew and Earl, welcome to AFL football.......
Posted by robbieando at 11:50 PM | Comments (2)
Little Swans out do Big Swans YET again
Swans Reserves: 21-7-133
Eastlake: 7-6-48
Well the Swans Reserves won yet again, but this time the match was much closer (sic). Still good signs from the likes of Grundy, Malceski, Moore and Willoughby, plus Schauble played a full match again and SHOULD be back in the seniors from the trip West.
At least the Little Swans can win
Goals: Grundy 8 Clarke, Vogels 3 Schauble, Moore 2 Willoughby, Eriksson, Shaw 1
Posted by robbieando at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2005
Swans vs Demons
Well we lost YET again and we lost YET again because Roos is too stupid to think that maybe attacking football is a good IDEA. I don't know why I put myself though this week after week, but heck if I'm going to do it I might as well give you lot a report of the match.
Basically the Demons got out to a quick 3 goal lead which they never really gave up all night thanks to some quick work from their forwards. Once we managed to get a goal on the board though Nick Davis thanks to a lighting handpass from Magic, I though we might put in a good show, but alas for the next ruck duel the Dees get a goal thanks to great sharking effort from BOG Brock McLean.
From then on everytime we got on top of the play the Dees got a few lucky goals that we couldn't answer back and thus any good work was ruined. Going into the last quarter we again had hope, but a quick goal was let down by two killer blows from Russell Robertson and Aaron Davey and I finally gave up and went to bed.
So why did we lose??? Is it because the Demons are that much better than we were or was it because we were shit? I say a little of both, take out the shit from our guys and the match could of gone our way, but alas Roos gameplan isn't allowing us the freedom to play at our best and with the defence once again over matched and lacking ANY drive, the forward set up suffered and the Dees had player after player spoiling Barry Hall who played too close to goal to make ANY impact. Life is like that I suppose.
Good game from Jolly, but when he went off to rest we fell apart because of the lack of back up. Goodes would of done even better if allowed to settle and Jude Bolton is putting together a nice series of form, just a pity no one else is.
Anyway next week its off to Perth and the Eagles and basically I think we'll be having our arses served back to us on nice sliver plates.
MELBOURNE 14.10 (94)
SYDNEY 7.18 (60)
Goals:
Melbourne: D Neitz, R Robertson 3 A Yze, B McLean 2 B Green, M Jamar, J White, A Davey 1
Sydney: R O'Keefe 2 B Hall 2 N Davis A Schneider M O'Loughlin.
Umpires: B Allen J Schmitt M Head.
Official Crowd: 29,099
INRBIP BOG: Jude Bolton
Posted by robbieando at 06:44 PM | Comments (3)
April 22, 2005
Round 5 Match Preview vs Demons
After last weeks piss poor effort against the Crows the Swans have to front up against the (until last week) front running Demons at the SCG and hope for the best with our midfield minus Paul Williams and Stuart Maxfield and ruck stocks that are up shit creek sooner than planned thanks to the injury to Jason Ball. At least it means we could see Adam Goodes play though the midfield a lot more than he has since winning the Brownlow Medal. If he does then mark my words we will win.
Those who have read my rantings this week will know I blamed the lose last Sunday on the lack of height down back because the Crows bombed the ball in long and the height difference in the end told the story. However this week we have LRT back in defense at least to provide an option to go with Brad Miller at CHB, while Leo Barry hopes and prays he gets some help on David Neitz if the Demons bomb it in long like the Crows did. If so we should see Craig Bolton leaving his post on Russell Robertson to punch from behind. If the ball falls to ground we have Kennelly and Dempster to quickly move the ball out and up forward.
However if we really want to stop the Demons moving the ball forward quickly we must get it ourselves and move it on fast and if the Demons have the ball put pressure on them quick smart. I think our midfield this week is helped by the fact the Demons midfield isn’t as talented or as deep as the Crows was and in an even better outcome for the Swans, the Demons have lost their best midfielder in Cameron Bruce to a Shoulder injury. I think it should be an interesting duel in the midfield and it could be tipped in the Swans favour IF Goodes is played in there for once, because the Dees have no one to match up on him.
This weeks Captain, ‘Captain’ Kirk could be released from normal tagging duties and used to provide the grunt and drive that Maxfield normally provides. That would leave Ablett to latch onto Yze, Mathews on Green and Crouch onto Davey. That should Allow the likes of Bolton, McVeigh, Spriggs and hopefully Goodes to take charge of the ball and force it forward. In the ruck Jolly will be forced to go up against his old side and his old master in Jeff White, so should be able to get a full game out of him with limited help from LRT and Goodes.
Up forward the Swans should really benefit from Magic’s game last week as he’ll be able to play close to a full match and make more of an impact close to goal. Thus the work of Barry Hall to provide him with a big enough hole is important. I believe the Dees will go with Ryan Ferguson on Hall as Bizzell and Rivers are a little too under-sized to match up on Hall and that’s not to say Ferguson is the best option either. Still this should allow Hall to work 40m out from goal and allow Magic to work from the goal square. Hopefully if we get that set up working, O’Keefe will be able to but in his best effort of the season dropping back to provide a third option going forward and Nick Davis camping on the 50 to be ready to bomb a few goals. I also expect Schneider and Buchanan to interchange as the crumbing forward pocket.
Anyway, this is going to be a tough match and I for one hope Paul Roos learnt from last week that our style for the last year puts too much pressure on us as a team. Move the ball quickly and having a sound forward set up is far more important and I think with the team we have this week, that shouldn’t be a problem. As for a tip, I expect the Swans to turn things around early on to break out to a 5 goal lead at Half Time, only to allow the Demons back into the match in the second half, only to hold on thanks to a late goal from O’Loughlin to win by a few goals
Swans by 15 points
Best on Ground – Adam Goodes
Leading Goalkicker – Barry Hall and Michael O’Loughlin with 3 each.
Posted by robbieando at 08:06 PM | Comments (0)
News Roundup - Fri 22/4
We start today's roundup with a follow on from yesterday news that Brett Kirk for this week at least can call himself "Captain" Kirk with an article in The Australian - 'Captain' Kirk makes it official - that bearly even covers the topic before going into the in's and out's for other teams. Oh well
On to the The Daily Telegraph/Fox Sports and we have our second puff piece on Adam Goodes in two days (must be a two parter) with Goodes train is on track. Basically its starts off with saying that Goodes has been one of the few constants for the Swans to start the season (I would say that, but I would say he hasn't done shithouse either, just needs time in the middle to get back to his 03 form).
In his first four games Goodes clearly was not pushing the boundaries the way he did two seasons ago when he put his stamp on the game as one of the AFL's best players."I suppose I have been saving myself in a way, not testing my physical limit," Goodes admits.
Well heres hopeing for an improvment in that area starting this week.
Interesting article also out of The Daily Telegraph/Fox Sports is the one on Luke Ablett. It basically gives Paul William's approval that Noggy will be an important player for the future in the midfield with going on his form this season, isn't far wrong.
Other than that we just have another article from The Daily Telegraph on the Swans bringing in youth to replace the 3 oldest players on our listSwans bank on youth for lift
Skipper Stuart Maxfield, out for a one-game suspension, star midfielder Paul Williams and No.1 ruckman Jason Ball, both out injured from last round's bad loss to Adelaide, have altogether played 743 senior games.Their replacements - Jarrad McVeigh, Adam Schneider and Lewis Roberts-Thomson - have played a combined total of 86 senior games since making their AFL debuts for Sydney.
The average age of Maxfield, Ball and Williams is 32.3 years compared to the 20.7 years that represents McVeigh, Roberts-Thomson and Schneider.
Well anyway that's it for now. Match Preview will be up tonight and I hope to be able to link you to Demon blog's match preview if they have one up.
Posted by robbieando at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
Team Selection vs Melbourne for Round 5
Great to see that Roos had the ball to drop some of the under performing players in Mathews, Bevan and Nicks - NOT. Oh well this is the 22 who will go out to play to win and we all hope they do. Will do a match preview sometime tomorrow.
Sydney
B: (28) Crouch (6) C.Bolton (26) Dempster
HB: (21) Barry (30) Roberts-Thomson (17) Kennelly
C: (23) Nicks (4) Mathews (20) Ablett
HF: (5) O'Keefe (37) Goodes (2) Davis
F: (32) Buchanan (1) Hall (19) O'Loughlin
FOLL: (16) Jolly (31) Kirk capt (24) J.Bolton
I/C: (42) Bevan (3) McVeigh (13) Schneider (8) Spriggs
EMG: (33) Moore (29) Powell (36) Schmidt
I
N: McVeigh, Roberts-Thomson, Schneider
OUT: Ball (hamstring) Maxfield (susp) Williams (collarbone)
Melbourne
FB: J.Rivers [27] R.Ferguson [35] D.Bell [21]
HB: N.Brown [25] C.Bizzell [3] A.Yze [13]
C: G.Rigoni [43] T.Johnstone [16] P.Wheatley [31]
HF: R.Robertson [24] B.Miller [7] S.Motlop [44]
FF: A.Davey [36] D.Neitz [9] B.Green [18]
RUCKS: J.White [34], B.McLean [5], J.McDonald [23]
IC: C.Sylvia [12], M.Jamar [40], S.Armstrong [2], S.Godfrey [30]
EM: C.Heffernan [1], B.Holland [4], L.Williams [26]
Posted by robbieando at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
News Roundup - Thur 21/4
We start today's roundup with the news that the captain of the Swans this week will be Brett Kirk, so I guess for this week at least he is "Captain Kirk" in more than name only.
“There are a lot of leaders at the Sydney Football Club and I have no doubt that anybody within the Leadership Group could have been the one chosen to captain the side,� Kirk said.“I have got to say it was a surprise when I was told, but it was an extremely pleasant surprise.�
Not a bad decision at all, despite my support early in the week for Barry Hall.
Further on leadership, we have an article in both the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph on Adam Goodes role with the controversial new National Indigenous Council (NIC).
Adam has the Goodes for politics
Bigger role than a ruck rover
In these articles he certainly didn't rule out a run in politics when his career is over,
"What this role is doing at the moment is definitely giving me a perception of what it would be like to be a politician," Goodes said."If it ever does lead into anything, that will happen after football."
I'm sure most Swans fans wish him luck if he does follow that path.
Also today the offical site has come out with a few puff pieces for the enjoyment of those fans who believe this stuff.
One piece is on Leo Barry 150th game and the other on how Jarrad Moore is fitting in.
Well today's news certain makes me feel good.
Team selection will be posted later tonight.
Posted by robbieando at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2005
News Roundup - Wed 20/4
We start today's roundup with proof that the players "really" do care about losing. It was a kick in the face: Bolton is the normal dross the club comes up with every so offen and this time Jude Bolton is picked out to give the media a few well choosen quote's, that should make us fans really happy that we lost a game by 41 points
A dejected Jude Bolton used the word "disappointing" a lot after the game as he gave his honest assessment - though one sensed the words had little meaning to a shattered player who wears his heart on his sleeve.
I bet he cried himself to sleep as well on Sunday for good messure.
Anyway we move on to a far more important piece of news - Who will captain the side on Saturday Night with Maxfield, Williams and Ball all missing. Club great, Brownlow medalist, Team of the Century member and my first ever football idol, Gerard Healy has come out in support of making Barry Hall this weeks captain. I'll say one thing, Healy is confident of success in the short term judging by the following quote:
"I think the Swans are on the cusp of their greatest era and leadership is an important issue. It is important they get the job right," Healy said."So on a one-off basis, I would go for Barry first and see how he goes and add that to your intelligence for making a longer-term appointment for next year.
Now that's not a bad idea and one I do agree with. However in keeping with tradition, Roosy had to have his two cents on the matter (only fair seeing as he is the coach):
"It will be somebody from the leadership group, the person on the night we decide deserves to run out first," Roos said.The leadership group is Maxfield, Williams, Hall, Goodes, Brett Kirk, Jude Bolton, Leo Barry, Ben Mathews, Matthew Nicks and Jason Ball.
What are the odds Roosy goes with Matthew Nicks???
Posted by robbieando at 01:10 PM | Comments (2)
April 19, 2005
Swans looking to future in Demons clash
When I read this article, I officially gave up on the 2005 season premiership hope's of the Swans. Sure we will end up around mid table and might even just make the final's. But what's the point of building for the future or trying to get back to the successful attack-minded gameplan that won us so many matches, when the coach considers the "future" to be players like Schneider and thinks Leo Barry is the better "Full Back" option than Andrew Schauble.
"This weekend is an opportunity for Swans fans to come and look at what our future looks like," said Roos.In their absence, Roos will look to Jarrad McVeigh and Adam Schneider to step up their midfield productivity to complement the tireless efforts of Brett Kirk and Jude Bolton.
Well, Roosy
I can't understand why you think what this team needs is Schneider back in the side, McVeigh sure he HAS to come in but Schneider should only play at the expense of Buchanan and be positioned in the Forward Pocket.
With Willo and Maxfield out of the midfield we need to bring in some of our young midfield talent and final expose them to senior footy. McVeigh, Willoughby and Malceski are clearly fighting out for the two available spots in my mind. But I guess Schneider is now the wildcard option. Oh joy
"In terms of size it does become very difficult and draining on Leo as a player."Even with Schauble and James in, we choose Leo to take the mismatch role because of his history against those key position players.
"He has been our best defender and one of the best defenders in AFL for three or four years."
So Paul, I ask you this question.
If your idea of defence at the moment is so draining on Leo, why keep it up?? It sure as hell didn't work against Adelaide on Sunday and it will look even worse on Saturday Night against the Demons who have two better Key Position Forward's than the Crows in Neitz and Miller. Clearly Sunday showed the football world how to beat the Swans and that's just bomb it in long to your tall forwards.
Sure Leo is a very good defender and the jobs he has done at Full Back with Schauble out of the side the past two seasons has been great, but I know I rather him teaming up with Tadhg Kennelly and Sean Dempster across Half Back like 2003.
More exciting to watch that's for sure
Posted by robbieando at 08:39 PM | Comments (3)
Injury List
Darren Jolly (ankle) test
Lewis Roberts-Thomson (hamstring) test
Jarrad Sundqvist (ankle) test
Matthew Davis (groin) test
Heath James (calf) 1-2 weeks
Nic Fosdike (knee) 1-2 weeks
Jason Ball (hamstring) 1-2 weeks
Ben Fixter (quadriceps) 2-3 weeks
Paul Williams (collarbone) 4-6 weeks
Stephen Doyle (ankle) indefinite
Well its blown out again and I don't mean my gut, the Swans injury list took a pounding this week with the inclusions of Williams, Ball, Fosdike and Jolly. While this gives some of the kids a chance to play some senior footy, what it also means is that Roos might have to play Goodes in the ruck for most of the match (oh the shame). Still other than Willo and Doyle the list should empty within weeks leaving Roos with the decisions we all raved about in pre season.
Will provide a link, once one becomes available on the Swans site.
Posted by robbieando at 07:04 PM | Comments (2)
News Roundup - Tue 19/4
Well today brings us some good news.
First off, we have the news that captain Stuart Maxfield has taken the one-match suspension offered to him for engaging in rough conduct. Article on his suspension Maxfield ban adds insult to injuries doesn't tell us much, but at least gives us a reason to drop Maxfield and try soemthing news this week.
Further on this article, if you read down you'll notice the best news of all - Goodes is going back in the ruck.
The coach indicated Goodes would be thrown back into the ruck, where he won the Brownlow in 2003, as the back-up for Jolly.
For more on Goodes in the ruck go to the article on the Swans official site Back to the ruck?
Well that's certainly good news to start my day. Injury report to follow later.
Posted by robbieando at 01:31 PM | Comments (2)
April 18, 2005
News Roundup - Mon 18/4
Well we start today's roundup with the Herald Sun and their match report from yesterdays match
Interesting quote out of that article was
"It was a comedy capers out there for a while," Roos said..
Well Roosy everyone knows that, even Blind Freddy's Blind Dog could see it. What I want to know is how you are going to solve this problem in the long term? This is somthing that should of been solved a long time ago, when you took charge and for it to still be happening nearly 3 years after you took over is wrong and not the direction the club should be travelling.
I know maybe we should get Batman out of retirement to solve these comedy capers?
Anyway from there we get the match report from The Age with Loss sours a big week for Swans
The Age seems to want to focus on the Swans lost chance to consolidate on last weeks great victory against Brisbane, which after yesterday means little. This is a fact brought up by Jude Bolton
"Roosy (coach Paul Roos) spoke to us after our win in Brisbane and just said to make it stand for something," said Bolton. "It's so disappointing to come up with a performance like that."We wanted it to be almost a season-defining win (in Brisbane), now we have to regroup for next week. It's definitely a setback after last week. It's a kick in the face
Good to know the players "really" care.
So on to the Daily Telegraph and their match report Swans Never In The Flight.
Just another stock standard report telling us that the Swans didn’t win and that we were shit (as if that doesn’t surprise us by now), with nothing special to report back on.
The Australian's match report Kids Prove There's Plenty To Crow About focuses on the Crows young players and how they had a major impact in yesterdays match.
Good quote from Roos on, how the Adelaide midfield really over powered the Swans.
As Sydney coach Paul Roos put it, the Swans accounted for Adelaide's A team of midfielders, but had no answer for the B team that stepped into the breach at the SCG yesterday.
Maybe its time to try and blood some rookies, otherwise this problem will only get worse.
Ah well, at least we have the news of Paul Williams to cheer us up - NOT
Williams' broken collarbone tops Swans' woes - The Age
Swans to miss polish of Williams - Herald Sun
Williams suffers broken collarbone - Swans Official Site
Basically this injury is going to hurt us because we just DON'T have a clear cut option to replace Willo's role in the side. Sure we'll bring in McVeigh, but other than that who do we use to provide the attacking drive out of the midfield?? My pick would be Goodes, but I guess David Sprigg will be the man (gee, great lot of good that will do).
Posted by robbieando at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2005
Reserves Win
Seems as though the magoos did what the seniors couldn't do and win. Saddington and Schauble got though the match pretty well and look like they will come into the senior next weekend. Hard to get worked up over a win like that(even I could get a kick for Weston Creek). McVeigh should get a recall and Vogel, Campbell and Grundy could all get a call up from the rookie list this week if needed. Downside (if you could call it that) from the match was that Fosdike has broken his leg and will miss between 4-6 weeks.
Sydney Swans: 34.22.226
Weston Creek Lions: 2.3.15
Goals - Grundy 7, McVeigh 6, Schneider 5, Schmidt 3, Vogels, Clarke, Willoughby, Schauble 2, Moore, Potter 1.
Likely Callup - McVeigh, Schauble, Saddington and Willoughby - Take your pick.
Click here for a link to the thread on RWO for better details.
Posted by robbieando at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
Sorry Swans Sink To New Level
Sydney 11.13 (79) Adelaide 18.12 (120)
Well who didn't see that coming????
If it will make many of you feel better, I'll raise my hand and say I did. But, I will have to qualify that answer with the statement that I wasn't surprised by it either (after all who really is). Too often I get too wrapped up by a good win one week and expect the team to come out firing the next and follow it up with an easy win and keep it up on the way to the long awaited Premiership I and many of my fellow Swans supporters are waiting for. I guess I should stop with the dreaming and finally get the message that this team is shit and certainly isn’t close to the standard required to win a flag and will forever and a day cocktease us poor long suffering supporters.
So how did the Crows beat us and more to the point why did a side many expected to finish towards the bottom of the ladder, come to Sydney and beat us on the ground where we are near on unbeatable? Well to start with, this Crows outfit isn’t a bottom 4 side (guess we figured that out today) and most important of all their midfield was able to pump the ball long all day to their tall forwards who had a clear height advantage over the Swans defenders. I don’t know about Paul Roos, but I certainly wouldn't go into a match with Leo Barry at Full Back and Craig Bolton at Centre Half Back, that’s just asking for trouble. Personally I think the decision to bring in Spriggs for LRT was the wrong decision as it was never going to help either the midfield (and it didn’t), nor the defense (and it certainly didn’t).
Still the game started bright enough with the Swans getting the first two goals from O’Loughlin (dodgy free kick and subsequent 50m penalty) and then Goodes. At that stage a solid win looked on the cards, but from there the Crows just took over in the midfield and got back into the match thanks to two goals from free kicks and a third from an advantage ruling that hurt us. From there it was goal for goal until the quarter time break. The second quarter was a repeat but this time it was the Crows who got off to the good start before the Swans brought that back to level terms before a long goal from Ben Mathews gave us a lead of a goal at half time.
After that well, things just went down hill.
On top of the long term injury to Paul Williams in the second quarter the Swans proceeded to throw away the match with sloppy play. The Crows midfield got on top and did their work at will, with 4 quick goals giving them a 17 point break late in the quarter before the Swans normal comeback. Two quick goals from O’Keefe and Maxfield had us back in the match but on top before two pissweak misses at goal from Hall and Goodes, that I could kick blindfolded. So instead of taking a small lead into the three quarter time break the Swans were down by two goals and that was all she wrote, because even another late charge was snuffed out (notice Brisbane THAT’S how you do it) by the Crows before deciding to bring out the party tricks in garbage time to run out 41 point winners and keep their record against the Swans at 5 out of 6.
Well soon enough Strongbow will dull the pain enough to forget today’s doss put forth by the Swans and we’ll move onto the in form Demons at the SCG who look to be without a few key players (Cam Bruce out for sure), just like us.
Willo looks like he’ll be out for 6-8 weeks, Ball again will take up residence in the medical room for a week or so (more news later in the week) and reports have the non performing and non inspiring captain of ours up on report (so I can only hope he get 20 or so weeks). So that’s as many as three ins come Thursday Night and after today hopefully a few more.
I hereby start the Josh Willoughby bandwagon, hopefully Roos and co see sense and name him to replace a hack like Spriggs.
Ratings
Best Swan on Ground - Jude Bolton
Worst Swan on Ground – David Spriggs
Rising Star – Sean Dempster
Umpires – Shit, but not the difference.
Goals - Goodes, Hall, O’Keefe, O’Loughlin 2 and Ablett, Mathews, Maxfield 1
Posted by robbieando at 09:51 PM | Comments (0)
Welcome to the Dark Side
Thanks for that Chief, I promise not to brake it.
Well zero hour is upon us and today mark’s the start of “It never rains, but it pours�. Of course it is only a matter of hours since the Swans decided to send me to the little padded cell at SB Towers for some much needed rest. But now its time to begin what promises to be one hell of a ride (one that promises to deliver lawsuits and even more trips to the loony bin).
Now “It never rains, but it pours� is my piss-poor attempt to vent my rage without being held back by the “rules� over at RWO (try and stop me now) and BigFooty. You don’t have to like what I write or what topics I write about, but then again I don’t have to like you, know do I? Anyway regardless of what you think, please feel free to use the comment function below to express your feelings about anything I have to say.
I don’t promise journalistic brilliance (as if that will happen), but I promise to speak my mind. So sit back and enjoy the ride as “It never rains, but it pours� fires up.
Posted by robbieando at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
Welcome to It Never Rains, But It Pours
We hope Swans fans find plenty of food for thought here. Feel free to add your comments whenever you like.
Take it away Robbie.
Posted by madmin at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)