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June 28, 2005
Swans beat Magpies - All is right with the world
Ah there is nothing like better Collingwood by a point, its even better when the timekeepers call the game early and thus take away a last possible Collingwood chance for a win. Still for the Swans while the win is welcome the fact they stuggled to put away a weak Collingwood side and allowed them to nearly run away with the game is something of a concern. But I'll take an 8 and 5 record over an 7 and 6 record anyday of the week.
The game started unlike so many of the Swans past few matches with Collingwood taking the game up to the Swans and were unfortante that the Swans kicked stright early while they missed chances that could of put the game out of reach early. For the Swans goals to Davis and Hall had them in the match, but Collingwood to some very soft and crazy umpiring managed to get two goals they didn't deserve and took them to an 8 point quarter time lead.
The Swans needed to settle and settle fast and with the umpires making that task impossible the Swans went back to what they do best with lock down football putting pressure on the Magpie midfield and forwards and held them to one goal. Goals to Magic, Hall and Goodes put the Swans in front at the half by 5 points.
The work the Swans started in the second quarter was continued in the third quarter with a steady bag of four goals, again from Hall and Magic, with Davis and Mathews bobbing up with goals to send the Swans into three quarter time up by 17 points. The last quarter started with the Swans pushing forward quickly to give Barry Hall a shot at goal that he put away to give what seemed at the time a winning brake of 23 points.
However it was then the match turned on its head with Collingwood led wonderfully by Nathan Buckley and Scott Burns kicked 3 quick goals thanks to Burns, Lonie and Woewodin to trall the Swans by only 4 points with still 10 minutes to play.
The Swans managed to control themselves and set about locking down the game and wasting time to get the game out of reach if they could get another goal. This goal arrived thanks to Adam Goodes soccering the ball off the ground for a goal with 7 minutes to play and the lead appeared to be enough until Collingwood got a late goal to but the game in the balance and the two side split apart by 2 points.
This is where the game got interesting thanks to a late late rush forward by Shane Wakelin who bombed the ball long towards goal. For there the ball bounded towards goal and a open goal beakened for Alan Didak, but instead of picking the ball up and slotting it though he decided to chip it in front of himself, only to have it over run for a point and the scores only a point the difference in favour of the Swans.
From the kick in the ball was chipped to Amon Buchanan who held on for as much time as he could. When he held his leg to waste time the umpire called time off to check if he was alright, but that signal was missed by the timekeepers and they blew the siren 14 seconds early with the ball still in the hands of Buchanan. The Swans had won, but it was close and needed a bit of luck in the end
SYDNEY 11.11 (77)
COLLINGWOOD 10.16 (76)
Goals: B Hall 3 N Davis, A Goodes, M O'Loughlin 2 B Mathews, R O'Keefe 1.
Best Swan on Ground: Paul Williams
Posted by robbieando at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
The Magoos do it again...like it surprises anyone anymore
This is getting so easy why don't we just play half the team one half and the other half in the second half?? Lets make these games more interesting and less one sided.
Oh well we one again, this against Balconnen who I believe won the Canberra League Premiership last season.
Anyway here are the scores
Sydney 21.7 (133)
Belconnen 11.9 (75)
Best Swan/s on Ground: James and Fosdike
Posted by robbieando at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2005
Swans Mid Season Report Card
The Swans 2005 season so far hasn’t been of the better seasons from a Swans team because of the range of attacks coming from the Melbourne media for the best part of two months because of the Swans style of play that sent most fans (including our own) to sleep most weeks. So to be sitting 7-5 at the mid season break is kind of surprising yet not at all disappointing when compared to what most Swans fans predicted we would be sitting come Round 12.
Now the Swans have yet again been unlucky with untimely injuries to key players, Stephen Doyle (season), Paul Williams (7 weeks out), Andrew Schauble (6 matches), Jason Ball (5 weeks) and Nick Davis (3 matches).
So when it is little wonder the Swans played such negative tactics for as long as it did in the face of such a media storm. Certainly makes one think about how we could of gone with a full side for the entire season.
Still despite the poor style of play and basic skill errors it hasn’t been all bad news, we have seen a 7 goal last quarter against the Lions in Brisbane which saw Barry Hall kick a goal after the final siren to give the Swans the lead for the only time in the match.
We have seen Adam Goodes start to regain his Brownlow winning form and the development of regulars such as Luke Ablett and Craig Bolton into key senior players. Also good has been the form of key recruit Darren Jolly who has held his own in the ruck and so far lived up to the value we paid to get him (save for 2 weeks off for a love tap). Even more impressive has been Nick Davis. While not noticed as often as one would like, save for his 3 matches out, he has shown a re-newed commitment to his football and has spent the majority of his gametime playing in the midfield and flying into packs better than some of the more regular midfielders at the club.
We have also seen the impressive debuts of Sean Dempster, Jarrad Moore, Luke Vogels and Nick Malceski, with Dempster settling into a regular position running off Half Back. These guys are only the beginning of a group of kids that we have coming though the ranks and most important of all most of these are midfielders, thus meaning the Swans can focus on improving other areas of the team come the trade and draft period (ie. depth in the key positions)
All in all the season has been a stop start affair with the Swans only starting to show what they are capable of in the past month. Yet to beat a team sitting above us on the ladder, the Swans know they need to step up a cog or three if they want to challenge for the premiership come September.
But at the Swans know that in sitting in 6th position after 12 Rounds and only a game and percentage off 3rd spot that they are well positioned for a run at a Top Four spot considering their fixture in the coming month and a team fully fit and firing coming into the right stage of the season.
Mid Season Best and Fairest: Jude Bolton
Mid Season Most Improved: Luke Ablett
Mid Season Rising Star: Sean Dempster
Mid Season Swans Overall Rating: B+ (But is capable of doing better and should improve in coming weeks)
Posted by robbieando at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Team Selections for Round 13 vs Collingwood
Well after a two week break the Swans re-enter senior action with the much hyped match vs Collingwood at the Olympic Stadium. Should be our biggest home crowd of the season and for the match the Swans have named an unchanged line up with Jude Bolton failing to recover from his hamstring injury in time, like it was hoped when he was a late withdrawal from the Fremantle match. For Collingwood the big in is Nathan Buckley after 11 matches out. I'm sure the Swans fans at the game tomorrow will give him a nice welcome back, that or Roosy will name Kirk on him. Should be a good match and one that we have certainly not over the line yet in. Those who think we are, go outside, spin around three times and spit. Don't need you jinxing us now do we??
Anyway here are the teams
SYDNEY
B: S. Dempster L. Barry C. Bolton
HB: B. Mathews L. Roberts-Thomson T. Kennelly
C: J. McVeigh L. Ablett J. Crouch
HF: R. O'Keefe A. Goodes A. Buchanan
F: N. Davis B. Hall M. O'Loughlin
Foll: B. Kirk D. Jolly P. Williams
Int: J. Ball N. Malceski J. Saddington P. Bevan
Emer: J. Moore M. Nicks A. Schneider
COLLINGWOOD
B: B. Johnson S. Prestigiacomo J. Clement
HB: D. Swan S. Wakelin N. Maxwell
C: S. Woewodin S. Burns B. Holland
HF: B. Caracella T. Cloke T. Lockyer
F: A. Didak C. Tarrant C. Cloke
Foll: P. Licuria J. Fraser N. Buckley
Int: S. O'Bree J. Rowe R. Lonie D. Fanning
Emer: S. Rusling C. Egan M. Lokan
Posted by robbieando at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2005
Surgery for Maxfield
On a less brighter note, former club captain Stuart Maxfield needs to have Surgery for his knee injury, thus ruling him out of playing his 300th game this season.
According to The Age article - Surgery for Maxfield Maxfield will miss only one or two months.
Maxfield has not played since Sydney's round-six clash with West Coast, after which scans revealed a stress fracture in his left knee. It was hoped the injury would keep Maxfield sidelined for only between four and six weeks, but club doctor Nathan Gibbs said yesterday the surgery was now necessary or the season would be over before the injury settled.
Hopefully he can get back for the end of the season, but I think its time he calls it a day, because even before this injury his lack of form was hurting the club more than it was helping us. So lets hope he can get back to full health, play a few games towards the end of the season and we as a club can reward him a send off worthy of any club great that has gone before him. It's just a pity he would have to go out that way if he decides to go that way.
Posted by robbieando at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)
Paul Williams re-signs for 2006
Well thats at least his playing future settled until towards the end of next season and after his game against Freo first match back, you can see why this is such good news. We are that much better a side with him in it than him out of it. Anyway for those who want to read up on the news can follow this link: Williams sticks for 2006
Posted by robbieando at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2005
Stop Child Cruelty
Always willing to help prevent all forms of child abuse, It Never Rains, But It Pours is more than happy to support the latest anti-child cruelty campaign in the lead up to this weeks match against Collingwood by posting this up-coming ad.
If you know of anyone who commits this horrible horrible crime, smack them across the head will you.
Posted by robbieando at 07:15 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2005
Just like the Seniors.......
The Magoos didn't play this weekend thanks to a bye in the Canberra League, so there is nothing to report in that area, until they play next weekend.
Posted by robbieando at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2005
The Captain for the next two weeks is.......
..........Ben Mathews.
Excuse me if I don't seem too over-joyed at this news but after the captaincy the past two matches from Hall, Mathews as captain is a bit of a let down. Still I wish him all the best and hopefully he can keep up with the personal form his has shown the past two weeks and put himself in with a chance to become captain long term.
Posted by robbieando at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
News Roundup - Wed 15/6
Ah what a difference a fortnight makes. From being dismissed as a team on the way down that is playing a boring style of football to stay in touch of the finals to a team that looks well in the race for a spot in the top four at seasons end and its no surprise that this has happened as the team is close to its best 22 and playing a more attacking style of football.
Take a look at the Herald Sun article Roos says there's plenty of room to improve and you can see that the Swans plan is starting to come into effect. Maybe people (including myself) had been too quick to dismiss the Swans after the effort against St Kilda, but things are starting to roll and with an easy few matches ahead, the Swans could have a spot in the September action wrapped up before a tough run of games in late July, early August.
Despite the upturn in results the news hasn't started to appear with the only other major article of note this week that isn't match reports being the Herald Sun article about plans for the Swans to play the Kangaroos in LA next season - LA next stop for game
Great news if it happens but come on, North have been trying to get this match up for the past three years and fail everytime it looks like happening.
Oh well that it for today. Watch out for my midseason player reports over the coming week and half and for more news roundups
Posted by robbieando at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2005
Magoos Win Again
Starting to become a joke when you put the 2nd placed side away like this. Still at least it looks like we'll have a premiership cup heading to Sydney this year one way or the other.
SYDNEY SWANS 18.9-117
AINSLIE KANGAROOS 9.15-69
Goals: Nicks 4 James, Schmidt, Schneider, Powell 3 Clarke, Grundy 1
Best: Willoughby, Nicks, Fosdike, Schmidt, Hayes, Schneider
Posted by robbieando at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)
Swans ease to 5th Win in 6 matches
Just when things were looking black a fortnight ago the Swans come out and put together solid back to back wins, including today's win against Fremantle. While Freo were under strength, the Swans managed to put together a performance that contiunes to answer our Melbourne based critics for the second week in a row.
The game started on a sour note while Jude Bolton being a late withdrawal after injuring his hamstring during Friday training session and with the week off next week the club decided not to risk him (which shows they have learnt from the Nick Davis affair in Round 7). Anyway on a bright sunny day the Swans like they so do offen got the jump on Freo and got out to a quick lead thanks to some inspired work from Jarrad McVeigh who was starting the game forward. Two goals off his own boot and one goal assist for an O'Loughlin goal had the Swans flying away with the match. Despite a late goal from Troy Longmuir the Swans headed into quarter time with a 13 point lead.
The second quarter was goal for goal with Freo managing to get their small forwards into the game and look like they might over run the Swans, but everytime they landed a punch the Swans landed an even more telling blow. Two of the Swans three second quarter goals came from link play which resulted in Davis and Goodes running into easy goals and when Ben Mathews managed to bob up with a goal from a set shot the Swans looked more in control of the match than the scoreboard suggested. So the Swans went into Half Time with a 14 point lead and looking as if they had just put Freo's main challenge out.
Therefore it was no surprise that the Swans opened up in the third term to kill the game off. Lead by Barry Hall's 3 goals the Swans managed to put the foot down, which saw Hall's 3 goals joined by solo efforts from Davis, Buchanan and Saddington. But the quester belonged to Hall who should of at least matched his goal output from last week except for some pretty poor misses, but despite the misses the Swans weren't in a forgiving mood and Freo never had the chance to get back into the match mainly down to Paul Williams return to the midfield giving the Swans an extra outlet going forward and as also a defence that is so under-rated that you have to wonder if they are rated at all.
The last quarter really was about both sides playing out the match with the Swans not really putting the boot into Freo and Freo hardly made the score seem respectable. At the end of the day the Swans ran out 38 point winners, scored 100 points in their second stright match and most important of all improved their record to 7-5 going into the split round.
Clearly the Swans forwards were too much for the Dockers kid defence and the Freo midfield didn't manage to break the Swans tags to hurt the Swans going forward. Dempster did well in a tagging role Health Black up to this week Freo's leading possession getter and Craig Bolton took Pavlich right out of the match. Also good to see was the first quarter form of Jarrad McVeigh and the return form of Paul Williams who in my eyes was best on ground (not bad for 7 weeks out of the game). Buchanan had his best ever game for the Swans take over Jude Bolton's role in the midfield and Goodes seemed to be everywhere when it counted. Good signs heading into the business end of the season.
Still kind of makes you think what all the fuss was about after the St Kilda (but then again it did bring out into the open what many see as the main fault of the Swans). Still since that match the Swans have really opened up attack wise with now too big wins in a row against what you could call lesser opposition, but at least the Swans aren't relying on the lockdown tactics to win matches and should at least give Roos the confidence to pull a more open gameplan when needed, knowing that the Swans are capable to play it.
Signs looking good and who would of thought a fortnight ago that we would be in a position to challenge for a Top 4 spot come September.
SYDNEY 16.13 (109)
FREMANTLE 10.11 (71)
Goals: B Hall 4 M O'Loughlin 4 N Davis 2 J McVeigh 2 A Buchanan A Goodes B Mathews J Saddington.
Best Swan on Ground: Paul Williams
Posted by robbieando at 06:30 PM | Comments (2)
June 09, 2005
Team Selections vs Fremantle
Team still to be finallised but looking at the extended bench and the ins, I would expect Ball and Williams to take 2 of the spots with Malceski likely to keep Dempster out of the third spot (can't drop Malceksi after his game last week) and the paper, sissors, rock to decide between Saddo and Schauble for the fourth spot (most likely to be Schauble, put I wouldn't rule out Saddo with Freo's small forward line). Will post the final ins and outs tomorrow when they become available.
SYDNEY
B: Vogels, Barry, C.Bolton
HB: Mathews, Roberts-Thomson, Kennelly
C: McVeigh, Ablett, Crouch
HF: O’Keefe, Goodes, Buchanan
F: Davis, Hall, O’Loughlin
FOLL: Jolly, Kirk, J.Bolton
I/C (from): Ball, Dempster, Malceski, Saddington, Schauble, Schneider, Williams
IN: Dempster, Saddington, Schneider, Williams
OUT: Nicks
FREMANTLE
B: Johnson, Parker, Mundy
HB: Grover, Thornton, Webster
C: Black, J.Carr, Cook
HF: Schofield, Pavlich, Medhurst
F: Farmer, Murphy, Longmuir
FOLL: Sandilands, Hasleby, Bell
I/C (from): Browne, Crowley, Gilmore, Peake, Schammer, Smith, Woods
IN: Browne, Gilmore, Peake, Schammer, Smith, Woods
OUT: Dodd, McManus, Polak
NEW: Brett Peake (East Fremantle)
Posted by robbieando at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
Coonamble Fire Appeal - Please Help
It Never Rains, But It Pours is supporting the following appeal and would like to see as many of its readers support this appeal.
In the early hours of Sunday 6 June 2005, the home of the Conn family was destroyed by fire, 50km south-east of Coonamble in western NSW.
Tony and Belinda Conn and their 4 year old son Will sadly lost their lives in a family tragedy that has devastated the small rural community.
Coonamble Mayor Tim Horan has launched an appeal on behalf of the surviving Conn children Samantha, Matthew and Joe. It is hoped that through the generosity of fellow Australians, these children - who have lost everything - can be given a head start in putting their lives back together.
The Coonamble community, on behalf of the Conn and Butler families, thanks you for your support.
Posted by robbieando at 05:34 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2005
Paul Roos elected to Hall Of Fame
About time too considering he has been eligable since 2001. Still while he didn't make the Hall for his deeds with the Swans late in his career, he certainly made himself even more electable because of his time as a player with us.
While he has taken a few hits over the past few months, no one can say he should be there. He also joins quite a strong list of people in the Hall of Fame with connections to the Swans.
Posted by robbieando at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
Swans Win Via attacking Football
Well the impossible happened, the Swans not only won a game of football but they did it by scoring over 100 points for the first time since Round 1. For what many were billing the "Flood-a-thon" the outcome out was pleasing for the people watching the game and thus making the use of No-Doz at half time pointless - this was one match which even the biggest Swans critic would of stayed awake for.
The Swans got off to a flying start to kick the first four goals of the match including Nick Malceski's first goal from his first kick in AFL football. Great link play from Kennelly, Goodes, Jude Bolton and even Malceski (who impressed many with his game), to feed the forwards saw the Swans jump out to a 24 point quarter time lead and fall two goals short of their total output from the week before.
The second quarter was a much more dour affair with the Swans only managing 2 goals to Carlton's 3, but the game was still end to end rather than stopage after stopage. Despite the free-flowing nature of the game the Swans more than handled the Blues and kept themselves 3 goals up at Half Time.
With Carlton seemingly back in the match you would of thought that Paul Roos would of locked down the match in the second half, however that failed to happen as the Swans and Blues traded goal for goal for most of the third quarter with the Blues never getting within 2 goals of the Swans until the dieing seconds of the quarter. After seeing O'Loughlin finally come back to life with two quick goals the Swans appeared to have a three goal lead to take into the final term as the game entered the last minute of play, but a series of mistakes and umpiring decisions resulted in twos goals to Jared Waite and David Teague which cut the Swans lead to just 5 points and seemingly on the end of the Carlton stream train that looked like it wouldn't be stopped.
What looked bad got worse for the Swans as the Blues hit the front for the first time since the first minute of the match thanks to a 50m bomb from Lance Whittnal. The Swans looked gone and the lock down football that we played in past weeks look pointless to even try. So think how surprised I was to see the Swans to step up a gear and take control of the match.
It was started with a quick reply from Goodes and the inpiring site of Craig Bolton running 150m out of defence to kick long to O'Loughlin in front of goal at the top of the square. Not only had the camel's back been broken, he failed to chase. Magic's goal put the Swans two goals up and soon more followed thanks to goals from Ablett, Hall and Buchanan to round off a quality attacking performance and a 25 point win that went some way to prove many in the Melbourne media wrong.
Watching from the stands you could tell that the Swans were playing a different style of football from Malceski getting plenty of gametime, to Hall leaving a hole behind him perfectly for the likes of Davis, O'Keefe and O'Loughlin to work in.
Sure we only played and beat Carlton and we are yet to beat a team that at this moment sits above us on the ladder, by heck we are 6 and 5 and 6th on the ladder at the half way point of the season, which I think is quite the outcome consdiering the critics we have endured along the way.
Anyway a win is a win and I'll take this one.
SYDNEY 18.8 (116)
CARLTON 14.7 (91)
Goals: B Hall 5 M O'Loughlin 4 L Ablett, R O'Keefe 2 A Buchanan, N Davis, A Goodes, D Jolly, N Malceski 1
Best Swan on Ground: Barry Hall
Posted by robbieando at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2005
Team Seletions vs Carlton
Well after last weeks piss poor effort many hoped that Roosy would take action at the selection table and make a fair few changes. Well to start out goes Paul Bevan who should of been dropped weeks ago, Saddington who Roos can't settle on a position for him, Nicks for being too old and Schneider because clearly Buchanan has photos that stop him from being dropped.
Still for ins we have pretty welcome returns in Schauble who should never of been dropped in the first place and Davis from injury. Also in are Spriggs (who must be sharing Amon's photo's) and a first gamer in Malceski (no doubt to play in a forward pocket from the bench). Overall a strong side, but I would still like to see Dempster back in the side.
Anyway here is this weeks teams
SYDNEY
B: Schauble, Barry, C.Bolton
HB: Mathews, Roberts-Thomson, Kennelly
C: McVeigh, Ablett, Crouch
HF: O’Keefe, Goodes, Buchanan
F: Davis, Hall, O’Loughlin
FOLL: Jolly, Kirk, J.Bolton
I/C: Ball, Malceski, Spriggs, Vogels
Emg: Nicks, Saddington, Schneider
IN: Davis, Malceski, Schauble, Spriggs
OUT: Bevan, Nicks, Saddington, Schneider
NEW: Nick Malceski (Eastern Ranges)
CARLTON
B: Carrazzo, Livingston, Teague
HB: Houlihan, Thornton, McGrath
C: Lappin, Koutoufides, Scotland
HF: Waite, Whitnall, Walker
F: Betts, Fevola, Morrell
FOLL: Prendergast, Stevens, Camporeale
I/C: Bentick, Bryan, Clarke, Davies
EMG: Bowyer, Deluca, Longmuir
IN: Bryan, Davies, Scotland
OUT: Deluca, Simpson, Wiggins
NEW: Chris Bryan (Frankston)
Posted by robbieando at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)
News Update - Thurs 2/6
Well seeing as there hasn't been an update all week and alot of stuff has been thrown at us by the media as a result of our style of play and in particular our effort last Saturday I have decided to throw together all the news in this one update.
We start with the joke article of the week from The Age and heck it happenens to be written my the biggest joke for a reporter in the AFL - Caroline Wilson. Swans off the menu in Sydney is a beat up of the biggest kind and basically turns a non issue into something that its not.
On Saturday night between 8.45 and 9pm The Iron Chef rated better than St Kilda-Sydney
Basically this is the quote that the entire article is based around, the fact the Swans vs Saints match on Channel 10 got out rated in Sydney by a cooking show on SBS. Now of course if you read only that quote you'll understand the problem Ms Wilson is bringing up, however before people start going crazy I'll inform you of a little fact Ms Wilson failed to include in the article - the fact that between 8.45pm and 9pm, the telecast was at Half Time and the results that ensured were because of people flicking between the channels.
Ms Wilson also failed to include the fact that when the game was being played Channel 10's coverage out rated SBS - 130,000 viewers to 86,000 viewers. Also failed to add that the average for Swans games played on a Saturday Night on Channel 10 in Sydney average 130,000. So basically the fact people decided to flick channels for a 15 minute period while the Swans game was at half time was the basis for Ms Wilson to write the joke article of the week.
Anyway now we move onto more serious matters and that is the style of the Swans play. We start with Robert Walls article in The Age on Tuesday called The ugly Swans. Basically Walls hits the nail on the head with his article in particular his summing up of the Swans gameplan:
There is no excitement about this team. When did it last spring a selection surprise? It doesn't attack. It waits for the opposition to act. Then it reacts to counterattack with 16 of its players in the defensive half. A series of mostly backward handballs will free someone up to receive the ball out wide on the wing. This player will wait for Hall to lead to the boundary line. They are plays that have become as painful as they are predictable.
Even better than I can put it. When in doubt - handpass backwards. If still in doubt turn the ball over.
Problem with what is being said is that Roos is unwilling to change. The media is calling for change and the clubs own supporters are calling for a change. The man is crazy if he thinks the club is capable of winning a flag with this style of play that is unsuitable to finals time and most important of all is worthless when the Swans don't have the players with the talent to pull it off.
Sad thing is he won't change and according to the Herald Sun article - Roos and ugly Swans he thinks that even with a team full of Chris Judd's we'll still play this way.
"Our style won't change when we get better players, no disrespect to our own players, if we get perhaps elite players . . . (like a) Chris Judd," Roos said.
God I really fear the next few years at this club. Even more when players are forced to accept the blame for the way they have been told to play. Yes they are the ones who should deliever once on the ground, but by not allowing them to play an attacking style of play, least of trust them not to be beaten, its starting to eat away at the confidence of the players.
Articles such as It's our fault, says Swan make me sick. How must Hall be feeling when he is forced to accept the blame for something that wasn't his doing?
Shithouse I bet.
Posted by robbieando at 05:09 PM | Comments (4)
Swans Lose - Worst effort for many a year
Well as promised here is the match review of the Saints loss last weekend and well all I can say is that we deserved what we got. I knew we were gone the second LRT lined up on Riewoldt, but being the Swans fan that I was, I wasn't going to get up and leave before the end of the match so I sat though 120 minutes of the worst football I have ever seen a Swans team play and thats saying something as I had the lucky honor of seeing Paul Atkins play for the Swans in the early 90's and that period saw loss after loss.
On;y difference between then and now is that we have a team with TALENT, but isn't allowed to try. At least in the early 90's the talentless Swans were given permission from their coach to try and play something that looked like football. Problem is with both approaches we were/are lucky to ever win games and thats what makes being a Swans fan so hard at the moment.
We can see the talent, we can see the ability, but for some unknown reason the coaching staff expect the side to play this lock-up tempo style of play that just bores the hell out of the watching public and makes me want to slit my wrists to find something interesting to do. On Saturday Night, I sat in my seat and predicted everything that happened. I predicted Swans misses at goal, I predicted Saints goals from stopages, heck I even predicted the stupid free kicks were about to be given.
That wasn't fun and I won't be until Roos has the ball to free up the side and take the lumps that come with it. If we don't have the talent, stop trying to hide it by playing football that limits the thrashing.
As for the match as you can tell from a Swans point of view there was nothing really of note and as such a blow by blow account of the match is needed because basically it was 120 minutes of the Swans forcing stoppages and the Saints winning them.
ST KILDA 15.11 (101)
SYDNEY 8.10 (58)
Goals: Hall 3, O'Loughlin 2, Crouch, Nicks, O'Keefe 1.
Best Swan on Ground: Barry Hall
Posted by robbieando at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2005
UPDATE
Well I suppose everyone is wondering why this site hasn't been updated since the weekend. Well its two fold.
1) The Swans performance on Saturday Night has pissed me off to a level where I really don't want to write about them
2) My poor health this week has forced me to stay away from the computer and therefore the little time I've spent on the computer has been on other projects.
Don't fear, tomorrow I'll do a massive update on Swans news, match review of the Saints loss, this weeks teams and maybe some funny pics to make everyone feel better again.
So don't fear, this site will be updated tomorrow and hopefully will be business as normal from then on.
Posted by robbieando at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)