Desperation stakes for both injury ravaged teams on Saturday, particularly Swans who are fighting to avoid a 1 -5 start to the season and an early elimination from finals contention.
The club today sent members a quarter time report ( meaning the season is already 25% complete presumably) and Pruyn gave a summary of the season so far. He claimed that Swans have played some good footy but have been challenged with a tough draw and continual injuries in the first five rounds and obviously have not got the results that they had wanted. They have used 32 players in the first 5 rounds and according to Pruyn, this has made it hard for the team to develop any continuity.
Despite these setbacks Pruyn wrote that the confidence is still high and if they stick to their game plan and style of play, the wins will start coming. He was encouraged by the way they stuck to their guns against an in form Tigers
He went on to say that the next block of 5 games will be crucial as injured players return and the team expects to get some results for their efforts.
No mention about the skills issues that every supporter here has commented on.
Anyway all fine words but lets see how they go against the Sharks who clearly have their own injury issues. TBH I thought that Swans would probably be 2 - 3 after 5 rounds ( I expected them to beat the Eagles)
Their next 3 games are at home so they would probably need to win all 3 to be back in the reckoning. From what I have seen so far, they will struggle to do that
Mate if SD have any half decent tall forwards they will be more than competitive v EF….touch wood it will be a cracking game…..no Jackson McDonald for EF this time to kick siren sealer……anyone’s game
You are right mikeh the skills have been off for more than two years. They gave up a 5 goal first quarter against east Perth. U can’t be happy with that. There are players playing that should not be playing. This week will be interesting to see if Blake Kelly gets a league game.
Spin and propaganda in the member’s email. His interview on SEN prior to the WCER was much of the same. He can talk about using 32 players but that in part is his own doing through selection also! Lynch was dropped after R1, Blakely has been dropped as has Rigoni, Harvey and Fitzgerald - 3 of those after 1 game, Lynch and Fitzgerald the scapegoats after round 1.
If he can’t get the team over the line this week then that’ll do me for the season. With 3 home games upcoming, 2 of which are against bottom 5 teams, there is a real opportunity to get back to 4-4 with Peel and WCER to follow that.
I don’t want excuses anymore! I want to see some real demand put on the coach and the playing group, an exciting, attacking and desperate brand of footy that not only entertains but challenges the opposition to compete with us rather than stifling and counter punching which has become the norm under Pruyn.
Any word on Impey’s availability? Still no injury update from the club on Chalcraft, Collins, Trew, Jebb, Smith x2.
For a club that preaches community standards they should really be taking a look inside the 4 walls of how they treat players, families and the wider Swans community. It’s as if they withhold certain information so that they can defend their own narrative.
Beautiful day coming up on Saturday, perfect conditions to hunt a team from the outset which has scored only 10 goals total in its past 2 games. Make no mistake, this is a defining game for the club!
33 players used come this weekend with Cartwright getting a well deserved crack. Hopefully he’s not like Cotallessa and Harvey though and out after 1 week.
Erceg an emergency but not listed in the 2’s is interesting and Lynch also dropped, again! Interesting considering he was named in the leadership group this season and now out of the team for a 2nd time, he works for the wrong sponsor. Chipper the other out and you’d assume injured but as with all our other missing players it’s just a guess.
Most interesting to me however was the 7 outs from the reserves. Cartwright goes up but the others??? I find it very hard to believe the others 6 are all injured and maybe it’s a rotation policy. Miller, Tester and Fitzgerald the most concerning as they should be pressing for league footy while Alforque has been a regular in the past 2 seasons. There has been rumblings of unrest so who would know! When the club isn’t transparent it opens these things up to interpretation and there has been murmur of some discontent.
Danger said ‘There has been rumblings of unrest so who would know! When the club isn’t transparent it opens these things up to interpretation and there has been murmur of some discontent.’
There are some hard decisions to be made about the behaviour of a club stalwart which - the way the club is operating presently - will not be made.
Chipper did his shoulder early in the game last week!
A couple of the Ressies boys from last week did pull up sore late in the game, but who would know, still say at least 8 players are in our best 23 but the coach keeps picking the same old veterans who turn the ball over time after time. I dont care if you get 30 as 20-25 of them go straight to the opposition and we all know who they are!!!
Kelly named as an emergency at least this week and considering we have had many a late out this year I wouldnt be surprised if there was another this week.
Finally T.Smith back this week but still nothing on E.Smith, Chalcraft, O’Donohue, Ireland, Ehlers…..
Had a look at training last night and the players were called into a group and based on their reaction someone will be making their debut on Saturday. Also Pasini was doing a lot of run throughs with the medical staff so maybe some doubt there. Chipper has a broken collarbone and O’Donohue has had surgery this week on his broken hand. As for the others I do not know.
What’s happening with Kane ? Played a dozen league games last year and was coming along nicely, Averaging 20 a game this year in the undefeated reserves and rarely misses a target ?
Well done boys great win. Keeps our season alive. All 3 grades had a win which wouldnt have happened for a while. The only downer was the injury to Pina, hopefully not too bad.
Good game for a change to watch. Swans kept the ball moving with good quick hand ball . Good to see some good high marks in the forward line and kicking straight. Definitely some things to work on but a much improved performance against an injury riddled East Freo.
Another smashing in the free kick count I see despite winning pretty easily and well the Reserves won by 20 goals and still had half the free kicks of EF, you cant make this shit up!
You mean a cooked EF mate. Congrats on the win Swannies fans, well deserved….surprised Kohlmann didn’t have his usual day out v EF. Be easy to say injuries, but every club has them, it’s the way a club deals with them I guess which matters. Thank fudge for the state game is all I say next week….
Perhaps the umps felt sorry for the EF kids BH…even the SD scoreboard felt sorry for EF reserves, gifting them an extra goal for a while……I know SD play a fair few youngsters in their reserves……but I have never seen an EF reserves side devoid of any experience I hate to see what the WA under 18’s do against EF reserves in a couple of weeks…
The Tackling was great, particularly in the first half. They didnt give the Sharks any space or room to move
Finally the players lowered their eyes and looked for a target in the forward 50 instead of just blasting away. We do have some skill and options in the forward line now and we can kick decent scores if we give them a chance.
On that note they have recruited two excellent forwards in Petric and Provest who seem to have settled into Swans style of play. Both good on the lead, and skilled marks and kicks. Along with Reidy, McLaughlin, Kohlmann ( when he gets his mojo back) and O’donohue (when fit) we potentially have a potent mix up there.
The defence worked pretty well as a unit. They were only really tested when Jono Marsh went forward and the game was over by then.
Caleb Ernest is great in the way he leaps and attacks the ball at the bounce, 14 possessions and 2 goals was a great game from a ruckman. Watson was very serviceable as he generally always is
We need to keep yesterdays result in perspective as we saw EF reserves fielded a very depleted team and they are missing a lot of key players. The other results have fallen in Swans favour with a gap of only 1 game between 3rd and 9th. So the opportunity is there for us to move up the ladder if we are good enough.
The home game against Subiaco after the state bye will be very important for both teams