Saturday looms as a stern first up test in what looks likely to be challenging conditions with a top of 29*, strong easterly winds for the majority of the day and the slight possibility of some precipitation.
West Perth will be no pushover despite not many pundits considering them as a contender and they may be more ready for the opening encounter, I’m wary of an ambush. Swans best side however would be superior but how close to full strength and how many are playing underdone will be an intriguing watch.
For mine Swans biggest question is can Yukich and Blakely play in the same team - I think not as neither can play fwd. So does Tom or Evan Smith get the nod as buck up ruck?
Kietel looms, as always, as the man to stop for WP with Luke Meadows needing the tight checking of Odonaghue at some point no doubt through the day.
Hopefully a bumper crowd in attendance to pay respects to Slater and Krackouer but the WAFL really missed a trick by not starting a week earlier than the ammos.
Should be a great round 1 game with 2 sets of passionate supporters as opposed to last year when Swans played WCE in round 1 and it had the atmosphere of a pre season game.
Can’t see them picking both Yukich and Doc in the same team particularly given the expected conditions will require as many running players as possible. Aiden Clarke still has a couple of weeks to go on that ridiculous suspension he copped last year. Will be interesting to see where Trew and Connor Blakely are fitted in
As for West Perth, they have done quite a lot of recruiting in the off season so some of their players will be unknown to the Swans coaching staff. As Danger said, Keitel and Meadows are always danger players against Swans, I would add Keegan Knott to that list too.
Hopefully we can get over the line for the win
The game just got a little bit harder to win on Saturday. according to Sportfm tonight, Will Collins broke his collarbone at training last night. Also missing will be Jake Pasini (knee) and Nathan Ireland and Brandon Erceg still on the injured list.
Will Collins is a massive loss!!! I would suggest he’s just about our most important player and definitely our best defender. With both he and Pasini missing Howard will likely get a key role and Luke Taylor gets first crack at Kietel.
Rest easy Gents, we are not going to be anywhere near full strength. Only recruits we have picked up is Roan Steele, Gilbee and McKenzie, the last two I wouldn’t think will play.
Where is Zane Trew? I saw him dressed in full playing gear just before the scratchy against Perth but didn’t play and not played any pre season games has he? Has to be injured.
You would think that Trew must be carrying an injury. Not named in league or reserves this week. He is one of 8 players missing from what I would consider Swans full strength team. The others are Clark, Pasini, Chipper, Erceg, Bright Ireland and Collins who broke his collarbone at training. Not an ideal way to start the season.
Looks like Tony Notte has been given the job on Keitel for this week’s game. Despite the injuries it still looks a decent squad. I am still unsure where the goals are going to come from with Edwards not there.
I am hoping that Cartwright can have a break out season
Being without our 2 best backs in Pasini and Collins along with 2 quality mids in Clarke and Trew is significant. Banking a win against a team not considered a contender while we are undermanned is crucial.
Substandard that there is no updates on player availability, especially considering only last week in an interview it was stated that we’d be very close to, if not at full strength.
And does anyone know what has happened to Hilton? Showed good things last year, but unfairly - in my opinion - dropped to allow Erceg to play late in the season.
[quote=“Danger post=241617 userid=2084”]Being without our 2 best backs in Pasini and Collins along with 2 quality mids in Clarke and Trew is significant. Banking a win against a team not considered a contender while we are undermanned is crucial.
Substandard that there is no updates on player availability, especially considering only last week in an interview it was stated that we’d be very close to, if not at full strength.
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Danger,
We are in a very similar position as far as availability is concerned, considering you have more depth, I would think it will be comfortable win for the Swannies.
8 goals defeat at home. Only kicked 8 goals on a fine day. I know it’s only one game but this is not filling me with much confidence for the season ahead
Some of the Swans players need to reflect on how they performed today and be honest about their poor effort. West Perth came to play and we couldn’t match them. So many skill errors, dropped marks and kicking directly to West Perth players in their forward 50. Too many dodgy handballs under pressure. The opposition were much more direct, We had key players out but so did West Perth, no excuses there.
Sad to say Howie just doesnt look up to it any more, I think he is more value on the coaches bench, much better to blood a young guy in defence.
Poor Jesse worked his guts out as usual but had zero support. Luke Taylor showed a bit in the marking contests but turned the ball over too much as did the normally reliable Anthony Stevens.
It was horrible to watch and it will be interesting to see if and how they respond next week.
Pathetic effort today and it does not bode well. The comp is much tighter this year and with 2 tough away games to follow this debacle if we don’t get to 1/2 then it’s season over.
It was evident today from the outset that we weren’t prepared well enough. We actually had 5 on the bench before Odonahue was called out the the centre square, how does he not have a match up from the start?!!! And from there West Perth dictated the entire game.
The breeze had very little impact early, it was more Wests ability to compact the ground between the arcs and then burn us with quick ball movement off the back of turnover. It actually looked like we were 2-3 runs short and that was my first thought leading in.
Again, Pruyn played his favorites in N Blakely and Howard ahead of guys who were match fit and in better form. Yukich should’ve played, Kaporn shouldve played before Smith and Alforque should’ve played.
In sayin that Yukich should’ve played is an absolute blight on our recruiting. Last year it was clear to everyone that Doc was not the answer. To go after someone the club never rated before he left and clearly still doesn’t rate says a lot about where we are at.
Yes we were quite undermanned today but make no mistake, no finals this year should see significant change in the footy department and it starts with the head!
Danger, the next 4 weeks we are playing East Perth, South Fremantle, Peel and East Fremantle. Based on what I saw today we may well be 0-5 after that lot and the season will be done. The players need to respond next week
[quote=“Ted Nugent post=241684 userid=2770”]Interesting stat that SD had 70+ more disposals. Too much handball or chip passing?
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Panic handballs and kicks under pressure which created turnovers Ted. Interesting that West Perth had twice as many kicks as handballs whereas Swans tally was pretty much 50/50. Would be more accurate to see number of effective possessions
2025 so far has been nothing short of a disaster at the club.
We can go through the player losses, the injuries, the recruitment or lack of, but nothing excuses that performance out there today it was nothing short of inept!
Dropped chest marks, poor kicking missing targets, overuse of handball in to trouble not out of, poor positioning at contests, lack of hunger for the ball and to stop their opp player, it went on and on and that was only rd1.
God help us if it gets worse from here.
Time to play some kids who showed energy, run, dash in the Reserves and drop some of these long underperforming veterans who quite frankly offered up nothing today.
I think we all know who they were…
When a team loses the cream on the cake players, its bloody hard to win games. It happened to WP last year. Elevating younger players to fill in the gaps is a good thing; it weeds out the excellent and the average players and it builds a team. WP had a few out but not as many as SD, you get a few blokes back you will be ok. BTW, the respect that Nott showed Black was fantastic, two aging footballers, well done to Nott.
There were a few strange selections yesterday. Given that we have lost a key forward (arguably two) from last year, I was surprised Caporn was not selected after his performance in the forward line against the eagles last week. While N. Blakely was our best trier, I would have, based on pre-season form, picked Yukich. But gosh, didn’t we miss a ball carrier - no Rokahr or Clarke. Having no one to run through the lines forced that switching game that hit more WP players on the chest 30-40 metres out than SD defenders.
Howard’s game was poor - but he was not alone - but I have heard that the coaching committee’s wish to develop him into a forward resulted in Glass-McCasker walking and has annoyed a few other players.