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April 23, 2006
It's Happening Again.........
........Ben Mathews made a mistake and I'm feeling like shit as a result.
When will Roosy and a hell of a lot of fans get the message that this guy is PAST IT. One poor handpass into space late in a match and we lose by a goal when we should of been more than able to have worked the ball down the ground for a score and a win to go 2-2 and match our record from the same point as last season.
Still on a brighter note, we as a team played our best match of the season, we got alot of the ball but allowed Melbourne to win via some pretty poor use of the ball going forward and letting Yze, Davey and Robertson do as they liked up forward. How we also allowed them to outstay us when they have one fit player for the entire second half is beyond me. Again its down to the lack of work from our midfield group.
A pisspoor start to third term didn't help and some umpiring that wasn't paid both ways to both sides again cost us dearly. We nearly got lucky and we go away with a loss but today we showed that we are at least nearly hitting form and with Tadhg back in at least we close to 100% team wise.
Good to see McVeigh and Malceski also put in good showings, pity about their last two shots at goal. McVeigh ripped off and Malceski unlucky at the end. Also good to see Unco FINALLY get some possessions. Hall needs to really pull his finger out and impose on matches more and for the love god - O'KEFEE AND GOODES JUST DO SOMETHING. Good to see Schneider and Buchanan play well.
But thats pretty much it. We lost a match we should of won and frankly we are now 1-3 because of a group of lazy footballers, one or two who put in no matter what and no luck whatsoever. We need to move onto 2006 now boys from 2005. What's been done is done, time to re-load and try and do it again.
SYDNEY: 4.2, 6.6, 9.10, 13.14 (92)
MELBOURNE: 3.3, 7.5, 10.6, 15.7 (97)
GOALS: Hall 3, Schneider 2, Richards, O'Keefe, O'Loughlin, Buchanan, Davis, Malceski, Ablett, McVeigh
Best Swan on Ground: Buchanan or Schneider - take your pick, they as good as each other to me.
Rising Star: Nick Malceski - His star keeps rising.
Posted by robbieando at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2006
Swans vs Demons Teams
Here are the teams for this weekends match against the Demons, keeping in mind the expanded benches. So far only the one chance for the Swans and that Tadhg Kennelly coming into the expanded bench with no one going out just yet.
Anyway here is the squad.
SYDNEY v MELBOURNE
Sunday, 1:10pm AEST, SCG
SYDNEY
B: Barry, Richards, Schneider
HB: Mathews, Roberts-Thomson, C.Bolton
C: J.Bolton, Kirk, Crouch
HF: O'Keefe, Hall, Goodes
F: Williams, O'Loughlin, N.Davis
R: Jolly, Ablett, McVeigh
I(fr): Buchanan, Chambers, Dempster, Fosdike, Kennelly, Malceski, Moore
IN: Kennelly, Dempster, Moore
MELBOURNE
B: Wheatley, Carroll, Whelan
HB: Yze, Rivers, Brown
C: Green, McDonald, Sylvia
HF: Robertson, Miller, Davey
F: Bruce, Neitz, McLean
R: White, Godfrey, Johnstone
I(fr): P.Johnson, Pickett, Bartram, Holland, Warnock, Ward, Bate
IN: Godfrey, P.Johnson, Holland, Bate
OUT: Jamar (foot - plantar fascia strain)
NEW: Matthew Bate (Eastern Ranges)
Field umpires: James, Ellis, Pannell
Edit: Well it seems that Willo will now sit out this week match meaning that he makes way for Tadhg. So Fosdike goes into the starting 18 and the bench is made up of Chambers, Tadhg, Malceski and Buchanan. Getting close to our best possible side.
Posted by robbieando at 06:40 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
Paul Kelly Steps Down From Club Board
While not totally out of the blue, it certainly is a bit of a shock to see him go after such a successful year on the board. But I guess his personal business matters back in Wagga Wagga are far more important than taking up a seat on the club board he feels is better served by someone else coming in and doing the job.
I certainly wish Kel the best in the future and thank him for the hard work over the last year on the board (which if you didn't know by now won us a flag) and of course his sure fire Hall of Fame career for the club as captain before that.
So I guess its to the election boxes we go in a years time.
Posted by robbieando at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Ah Finally A Win
Well I knew we wen't that bad we would lose to Carlton, but hell thanks to Carlton uber-flood tactics it was close. Still Carlton if you want to play with fire, expect to get burnt. Seriously how did you expect to beat us at our own game when you knew we more than likely would have the ball for most of the last quarter???
Most Swans fans I have talked to, felt nerves late in the match, while I just sat their knowing full well, Carlton couldn't beat us. Anyway we won and the season is back on track in a sense. We move onto the Demons who now are 0-3 (unlucky to be that I must say) at home and get Tadhg Kennelly back from injury. Thing's are starting to look up.
As for the match well, the Swans had the wood on Carlton for much of the first half, until a stupid free kick to Fevola which should of been paid to us resulted in a advantage goal to Eddie Betts with all but Betts stopped for the free kick. That allowed Carlton to believe in themselves to come out in the third term and take the game Sydney more while easing up on Noah's flood.
Davis' got his second shortly after the restart and Fevola's night took a turn for the worse when he was reported nine minutes in for charging Brett Kirk. It then looked like Carlton might be done when O'Loughlin got his third soon after, but two young guns sparked a Blues revival that saw them roar back into the contest on the back of five unanswered goals.
The Swans were reeling, but managed to get control of the game again and though expirence got some telling hands to the ball and restored a 13-point lead at the last break with the last two goals for the quarter. Carlton wasn't done yet, though. Fevola bagged his second and Dylan McLaren stood tall to mark and goal with just eight minutes elapsed in the last.
Jude Bolton made the task difficult when he goaled soon after and Hall looked to have sealed it when he put through his only major of the night. Fevola's third from 55 metres out gave the Blues hope, but Sydney used the ball masterfully in the dying minutes to see off the challenge. Leo Barry was a huge presence in defence for Sydney - pulling down a whopping 18 marks and gathering 29 possessions - and Michael O'Loughlin was the chief scorer on the night with four.
Sydney coach Paul Roos said the club's first win of the season eased the pressure on the group.
"At 0 and 3 you start to lose a lot of confidence, but you're 1 and 2 and you're hoping you get a bit more confidence out of the win … and for your players, the pressure valve is off a bit, because you've actually got on the board," Roos said after the win. "So we're certainly hoping that we can continue to play better, as we did tonight, compared to last week."
So finally a win and against the scum that is Carlton, who we official now OWN on the field and boy doesn't it feel great.
CARLTON: 1.3 3.4 8.6 11.8 (74)
SYDNEY: 4.3 6.4 10.7 12.9 (81)
GOALS: O'Loughlin 4, J.Bolton, N.Davis 2, Hall, Mathews, McVeigh, O'Keefe 1.
Best Swan on Ground: Leo Barry. Had the ball so much, means he had to be good.
Rising Star: Nick Malceski. Pity he is going to be dropped for Kennelly this week however.
Posted by robbieando at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2006
Bright Day Turns into Dark Day
Having finally won the Premiership after 72 long long year it was finally time for the Swans first home game of the season and that meant for the first time since 1934 the Swans would begin a home opener with a flag unfurling to mark such a major feat. For such such a sunny day and fantastic pregame unfurling of the premiership flag that saw the flag passed around many of the club important comtributers in the past 72 years since we last had the honor to do this.
Then came the players turn to do their jobs and put away what on paper looked liked a weak Port Adelaide side. How wrong could we be. Port just blew us off the park and the Swans couldn't cope. The sunny start to the day turned into a dark finish and even a late flood of goals couldn't hide the fact we were no match for the Power from the moment we put our second goal though the middle. Even the umpiring went against us again, but it had no impact on the result unlike last week.
Yet another sad ending to what should of been a proud for our, just like 2003 and the game against Hawthorn the night after the Team of the Century was named, a habit this club seem to have. Anyway onto last years wooden spoon winners Carlton, surely not even we could lose that????
SYDNEY: 11.14(80)
PORT ADELAIDE: 15:16(106)
GOALS: Hall, O'Loughlin, Davis, Fosdike 2 Buchanan McVeigh, Crouch 1.
Best Swan On Ground: They were all shit, but forced to pick one out, I would go with Fosdike who at least won some of the ball and slotted home a few goals to boot.
Rising Star: McVeigh again, mainly because he had no one to challenge him this week. Richards and Chambers failed to even show up I believe and Dempster got caught out too offen.
Posted by robbieando at 05:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
Screwed Over. It Just Never Ends
Well we might finally be premiers of this League, but going by the performance put on by the umpires on Saturday Night, we still are going to have to earn the respect of more than just the football media and football fans in general. Despite a bright start that led to a Michael O'Loughlin goal, a flood gates were opened by umpire Michael Avon with the first of three free kicks that allowed Matthew Lloyd to put in a fine attempt at his impression of an Commonwealth Games diver.
Along with 3 goals from free kicks we saw him put Leo Barry to the sword with another 3 goal (including it must be said some fine efforts from out wide). The Swans just had no answer to the amount of ball coming into the defence and the left Leo Barry wide open to be man handled like a man of his size should against Lloyd. Therefore Roosy took the brave decision to move Leo off him and put Ted Richards on his former teammate. The move paid off has Leo was freed up to set up attacks and Ted allowed "only" two more to be kick by Lloyd.
After a dust up quarter time where certain Essendon players decided to rough up Barry Hall, the game became a tighter affair with the Swans slowly getting back into the game only to allow Essendon to get the goal to take some pressure off. Therefore the Swans despite the hard work of Barry Hall with 7 goals, Adam Goodes racking up the possessions, Amon Buchanan playing to his 2005 midfield level and Ted Richards keeping Lloyd quiet once moved on him, could only get within 3 goals before the Bombers kicked again.
This proved the killer blow in the last quarter when Scott Lucus kicked two quick goals from beyond 50 to put the game out of reach and despite and late charge, the game just played out to a pretty easy 27 point win for the Bombers, not thanks to multiable questible umpiring decisions that were 50/50 at best (but always get paid to Lloyd or against us, surprise, surprise).
Oh well on to Round Two and the Unfurling of the Premiership Flag. A day for the true believers thats for sure.
ESSENDON: 9.1 11.3 13.6 17.6 (108)
SYDNEY: 2.2 8.4 10.6 12.9 (81)
Goals: Hall 7, O'Loughlin 2, C.Bolton, Goodes, Mathews
Best Swan on Ground: Despite kicking 7 goals this award doesn't go to Barry Hall it goes to Adam Goodes who put in yet another one of his "Best Of" games to go along with the Port final and Adelaide last year.
Rising Star: McVeigh, finally appear to show signs of what he CAN become. A strong bodied midfielder who can brake packs, win the ball and run all day. We certainly need a few of those going on Saturday Night.
Posted by robbieando at 06:50 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2006
Don't Ask Me How Last Night Went
This picture says it
Your diving scum Lloyd. 3 un-earnt goals while Hall suffers worse and gets nothing. Hope you enjoy braking the new umps in as much as they clearly do.
Cheat.
Good. Got that out of my system. BTW we lost by 27 points, match report to follow at some point when I'm thinking clearer.
Posted by robbieando at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)