Not sure what happened to the original post for this topic but here we go for SD vs CL 2.0
Claremont are always very hard to beat at Tigerland and this will be no exception, we will have to play at our top.
Tiges were very good in the wet last week against a surprisingly competitive Subi. But your boys are streets ahead of Subi this year so should be a great contest on a much better surface than both Leederville or Basso,
This is a massive opportunity for Swans to elevate themselves from a team that is making up the numbers to a genuine finals contender. They have been competitive in every game they have played this season. 3 of their 5 losses have been by less than 10 points. The biggest defeat was 18 points at Joondalup.
Swans have an outstanding defensive unit, a serviceable midfield and a developing forward line. The big question is, do they really believe that they can beat Claremont on their home patch given that they have failed at the last 9 attempts, 6 at Claremont Oval and 3 at the Showgrounds? I sense that this team has a lot more fight in it and will give it a good crack. Victory here would set the team up for the last 4 games, West Coast and West Perth at home and the Sharks and Peel away. It would give them a lot of confidence to tackle these games, 3 of which will be tough encounters.
Would be great for the comp if Swans win, it will keep Freo at bay. If Freo make the finals it could easily be 2016 and 2017 all over again.
I didn’t make it to the game so I will leave the comments on the specifics to those who did. But looking at the quarter by quarter scores it appears that Swans fought out the game well given that they had lost a number of key players including the captain. Looks like it was the same old suspects that dominated, Bolton, Rogers, Edwards and Lim got a ton of the ball as usual.
Looking at the big picture, Swans have now lost 4 games by less than 10 points, even though Bassendean Oval has become a bit of a fortress for them , they cannot buy a win away from home
Swans are now in a 4 week battle with Peel for 5th spot which culminates in the two teams playing off at Mandurah in the last round which will probably decide it. Both teams play West Coast before this which you would imagine will be percentage boosters for both teams. Swans other games are against East Fremantle and West Perth, Peel play South Fremantle and Claremont so wins for either team over the current top 4 will be crucial.
bloody great shame Swan Districts couldn’t get their snouts over the line today - I’m a bit pissed the AFL mob have got into the top 5 through the back door like shite rats raiding a dunny
All of us have to dig a bit deeper in the run to the finals now
Poor effort from the Royals today, only having 5 scoring shots in the first half and 5 in the second. The mandurah pricks are now in the top part of the league ladder with better percentage than Swans. Next week Swan Districts have the Bye, which is why they needed to win today but fell agonisingly short. They will need to go all out for a big percentage boosting win the following week. Hopefully some of their injured players can recover and slot back in to the team.
Sadly this is shaping up like 2016 and 2017 for Peelmantle. I was cheering the Ducks on in that last qtr but Cl are a quality outfit.
The difference between this year and 2016/17 is that the AFL Dockers didnt make the finals in either year and if you remember, coach Lyon took advantage of some loopholes in the rules to “drop” some key players so that they were able to play enough games to qualify for WAFL finals. That won’t happen this year because the Dockers senior team are playing finals so they won’t be dropping anyone. Also I think that they have increased the number of games to qualify?
The result of this will be that even if Peel scrape into 5th spot, their team will closely resemble the combination that they have played for most of the year. In that case I would be confident that the likes of West Perth, Sharks, Doggies and Claremont would have them well and truly covered.
Im still pretty confident that Swans will be able to grab 5th spot anyway, despite yesterdays result
Reckon every poster on here is hoping SD grab that finals spot over Peel mate…
Our destiny is in our own hands really now, which isnt a bad thing.
Win every game and we play finals or otherwise we are then relying on Peel to lose or other teams to beat Peel which is wishful thinking.
We only have ourselves to blame losing all 6 games so far by under 3 goals and have lead deep into the last qtr in all bar the WP & CL losses.
Losing Erceg before the game on top of already having talls in Collins, Ireland, Palmer & Germs out injured wasnt ideal forcing us to play young defender Hilton in the ruck to support Noble whilst we also played Jones back to help Notte out down there with Erceg, Collins and Ireland all out injured.
At 3 qtr time I would have swung Jones forward as we it all to win and nothing to lose really being 4-5 goals down but we didnt until the last 5 minutes when we ran out of time even though we were finishing on top of the game.
Also interesting to note Claremonts “tactic” of targeting Turner, Clarke knocking them down miles off the ball and or behind the play.
Apparently all could see it bar the 3 umpires on the ground, well until the 25 minute mark of the last qtr when they finally saw what had been taking place for 100 minutes earlier!
Lets see if the WAFC do anything about it or are more than happy to have ball players being knocked down behind the play???
Was Erceg a COVID out BH? They would have missed his leadership. That’s a pretty depleted side we had there and we did keep fighting the game out, so if we can carry that sort of attitude into the last 4 games and get some of our key troops back we may yet get something out of the season.
Erceg had a back injury I think, he was at the game.
The team fought the game out really well but the coach needs a rocket for not selecting Morris, we had a 4 game half back Hilton as the starting ruck, didn’t make any sense.
Turner got taken out 4-5 times off the ball in the first half and Clarke cleaned up a few times also.
Umps not interested so nothing we could do about it
I am not surprised the umps didnt see (or refused to) the knocking down and taking out of Turner, Clarke etc off the ball and behind the play Mike & MO!
These were the very same umps that missed the most blatant trip I have ever seen on Lachie Riley who was running into 50m early in the game but inexplicably not called and then Bolton who was casually running through the middle for 20m or so was run down from behind by the lightnin quick Darcy Jones on debut, dropped the ball without disposing of it and it was somehow called play on…FMD!
Stevie Wonder & Ray Charles would have seen those frees alone…you should not be umpiring WAFL League footy if you miss blatant free kicks like them!
I see the WAFC have moved our last home and away game against Peel at Mandurah to a Sunday from the Saturday thus allowing Fremantle to drop back their emergencies and medi-sub to play in that last WAFL game.
Is there any reasoning why this move of fixture days has happened???
Other than to shaft Swans (yet again) and make sure Peel are at full strength?!
As well as that BH, if we do happen to get through that game and make the finals, Swans would be coming off a shorter break than their potential opponent the next week. Also I think that particular Sunday is Fathers day as well so I don’t think you will getting too many people making the trip down the freeway.
Clueless and disrespectful from the WAFC. I hope Peter Hodyl registers a complaint about this.
Mike the only possible conclusion you can draw from this late change in the fixtures is it is to shaft Swans and help Peel.
Is it about time Swans maybe approached the Sports Minister office to sort out this continual petty vindictiveness, be it fixturing, rule changes, zoning etc from the WAFC against Swans, as there seems no end to it in sight?
[quote=“mikeh post=221247 userid=926”]As well as that BH, if we do happen to get through that game and make the finals, Swans would be coming off a shorter break than their potential opponent the next week. Also I think that particular Sunday is Fathers day as well so I don’t think you will getting too many people making the trip down the freeway.
Clueless and disrespectful from the WAFC. I hope Peter Hodyl registers a complaint about this.
[/quote]
And if Hodyl is the only one that complains, what will be the point!!?
Sadly, will be a pointless exercise having only one person complaining.
It needs EVERYONE (members, supporters and general footy public) to complain about this decision.
As sad as it is to say, not enough people care nor will be worried of such move.
Thus officialdom will keep blundering on! All sad to say.
to suddenly move a fixture after being so bloody late in releasing the fixtures just plain reeks of favouritism toward the AFL sides
if I were at Swan Districts I’d be demanding an explanation as to why this is occurring for sure
We’ve had a laced WCE side against us and copped it hard earlier this season so I understand Swans supporters being pissed off with this crap