wubsy's Sydney thread

[helicopterking]

Massively foxing yesterday. Tippett should have played ok, Brisbane backline is terrible.

[Spargo]

Nah, Sydney are shit.

[Booney]

Nah, Sydney are shit.

I think North will replace them in the top 4.



Said no one, ever.

[Spargo]

You seem to be a bit preoccupied with North ATM Boon, has Dutchy got to you....

[Booney]

You seem to be a bit preoccupied with North ATM Boon, has Dutchy got to you....

Not really mate, as you can see I like to talk about all the clubs, not just the ones that I dislike.

[Lightning McQueen]

Where are Sydney atm? Are they a bit complacent and going through the motions similar to Freo?

They looked a million dollars until round 10, they have an abundance of talent and arguably the best on-ball brigade going around.

[Booney]

THE SYDNEY Swans have problems.

Against Hawthorn at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, the powerful Hawks carved up their fellow premiership aspirants with speed, skill and use of space.

The Hawks were sublime. The Swans were insipid.

They were missing four likely best 22 players on Saturday night – Mike Pyke, Gary Rohan, Jeremy Laidler and Ben McGlynn – but none were likely to make a difference against the Hawks.

The issue for the Swans now is that they don't bat deep enough. The big bucks outlaid to get Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin, and the complications they have caused to the salary cap and the ability to trade, has eaten away at the club's depth and they don't appear to have adequate reinforcements in the NEAFL.

They travel to Perth next week and they will likely have to tackle the high-scoring Eagles without Ted Richards, who faces at least a week on the sidelines for his errant bump on Sam Mitchell.


But the biggest issue for the Swans is their forward line. Franklin has been sound this year – not at the level of last season or his best years at the Hawks – but that's it. Tippett won 23 hit-outs on Saturday night but the damning figure was zero, as in numbers of marks taken.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that Tippett hasn't delivered anything near the return the Swans would have hoped for – and expected – when they handed him that eye-popping contract at the start of 2013. The partnership with Franklin has yet to really gel to the point where the Swans have become as Franklin-conscious as the Hawks were in 2011 and 2012, at which point Alastair Clarkson decided it was unsustainable if the Hawks were to win the premiership.


Discussion has moved to whether Tippett might be best suited as a ruckman. That might be the answer, but that's not why they recruited him and handed him the big bucks and they are entitled to ask why he doesn't stand up and perform on the big occasions, which Saturday night at ANZ Stadium was.

There remains enough silk in the Swans best 8-10 players that they should finish in the top four. But they might lack the weaponry to go any further.

Conversely, the Hawks were incredible. And after a week when the aesthetics of football were placed under the microscope when even the game's most sensible talking head, Leigh Matthews, floated the concept of introducing zones to the game, the Hawks should be admired.

In fact, they rescued what had been a turgid weekend of football with a breathtaking display.

The Hawks won by 89 points despite the Swans having the edge in contested possessions, clearances, centre clearances and tackles. The Hawks kicked a remarkable 23.8 from 52 inside 50s and the spread of goalkickers – 12 this time around – demonstrates how hard the Hawks hard to defend.


Five of those came from Jarryd Roughead. The tragic events in Adelaide have naturally – and rightly – dominated the headlines the past few weeks, but for Roughead to suffer a cancer scare, lose 9kg and then kick five goals in his return game is extraordinary.

The social media take on Sunday morning was that Hawthorn is now the raging flag favourites although the hardheads at the club will be reminding everyone that the Hawks played at this level at times during both 2011 and 2012 without taking home the silverware.

Carlton on Friday night should not pose too many problems other than the third game in 12 days factor that might prompt some 'player management', but Richmond and West Coast come after that. Win those and a top two spot beckons and then the raging flag favouritism might be justified.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-19/a ... hallow-end

[woodublieve12]

SUMMARY
The Eagles face their biggest test since round three, but they meet a Swans side that is currently playing short of their best. The Eagles have not beaten the Swans since 2007 but they have a great chance this week. The Swans are thin in the ruck stocks and Nic Naitanui has been in sublime form and has been a key driver of West Coast’s midfield dominance this year. Lance Franklin will provide a headache for the Eagles given Jeremy McGovern is missing, but West Coast will still kick a score given the form of its forwards.

WHERE AND WHEN: Domain Stadium, Sunday, July 25, 2.40pm
AWST
TV AND RADIO: Click here for broadcast guide

LAST FIVE TIMES
R16, 2014, Sydney 10.19 (79) d West Coast 7.9 (51) at Subiaco Oval

R17, 2013, Sydney 17.11 (113) d West Coast 11.13 (79) at Subiaco Oval

R16, 2012, Sydney 18.13 (121) d West Coast 10.9 (69) at Subiaco Oval

R3, 2011, Sydney 15.11 (101) d West Coast 13.10 (88) at Subiaco Oval

R5, 2010, Sydney 17.13 (115) d West Coast 9.9 (63) at the SCG

THE SIX POINTS
1. Swans midfielder Luke Parker was the difference in round 16 last year, gathering 33 possessions, laying six tackles and kicking two goals. Matt Priddis picked up a Brownlow vote with 28 touches and one goal.

2. The Swans are the second best tackling team in the AFL averaging 72.7 per game. The Eagles are ranked 16th with an average of 60.9.

3. The Eagles rank second in the AFL for inside 50s averaging 56.7 entries per game. They are also second for marks inside 50 with 13.5 per game.

4. The Swans have won the last eight meetings in a row, including five at Domain Stadium. West Coast's last win was round 16, 2007.

5. Both the Eagles and Swans use handball heavily. The Swans are ranked first in the AFL for handballs averaging 178.7 per game. West Coast is third with 170.6 per game.

6. West Coast has more players ranked in the top 30 of the Official AFL Player ratings than the Swans. Nic Naitanui (15), Matt Priddis (19) and Luke Shuey (26) outnumber the Swans' duo of Josh Kennedy (11) and Lance Franklin (12).

IT'S A BIG WEEK FOR … Sam Reid
The Swans have lost Kurt Tippett this week and they need some scoring power against West Coast. Reid could be the man to provide it. He kicked three against Port Adelaide and that was the only time in the last month the Swans have kicked more than 11 goals.

PREDICTION: West Coast by 20 points



http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/17/wce-v-syd

[MatteeG]

Amazing that West Coast haven't played Sydney in Sydney since 2010??!

[JK]

Interesting that in those last 5 encounters the West Coast average score is 70 points. There's no Richards this week, Grundy isn't at the same level he once was and the West Coast are giving themselves plenty of opportunity in attack these days, so weather permitting you could see them topping that 70 and possibly by quite a margin. The Swans really need to get their team defence back, and will be stinging from their thumping last weekend so it's possible they could this weekend, but it's hard to see them getting up without a big day out from Buddy. I'd expect this to be a pretty tight game and should be a decent spectacle.

[The Dark Knight]

Amazing that West Coast haven't played Sydney in Sydney since 2010??!

Also I can't believe they've only played each other once a season since 2010, they built a solid rivalry in the mid 2000s and played some classic matches, should be playing each other at least twice IMO.

[woodublieve12]

West Coast (103) v Sydney (51)

Beating a lot of other teams is no way to prove you’re a good team Eagles! You have to pass some other test that I don’t really understand.

I’ve been on the Eagles bandwagon for a while now, mainly because they kept winning despite a lot of key injuries. That tells you a lot about a team.

They just keep passing the challenges that are put in front of them and I’m looking forward to when they take on Hawthorn.

Still, you do also have to wonder what’s happened to the Swans. Sure, they had their salary cap out due to injuries but that doesn’t explain the drop off in recent weeks.

I’m still not willing to write them off totally but they’d want to see a form turnaround pretty soon.

One thing that was disappointing about this was the constant booing of Adam Goodes.

It was a shame because it comes not long after Eagles fans showed enormous class towards the Adelaide players after their game.

I get the Goodes thing, he does stage occasionally but there has been a heap of players that do that and even though they occasionally get booed, this is next level stuff.

The other problem is that why some people do it for what may be ‘pure’ intentions, there are an awful lot of racists overtones mixing in with this. That’s never a good sign.

It’s like if you have a long held opinion and then suddenly Brian Taylor starts saying the same thing. You start questioning your own thinking on the topic and you definitely stop expressing it publicly.

I’m not trying to be preachy, I’m just saying be careful who you stand near in life, it means people sometime confuse you for something you’re not.

http://titusoreily.com/the-monday-knee- ... seventeen/

[Corona Man]

The Goodes thing is interesting, and it appears to be growing by the week. I get the feeling people are "jumping on board" the booing thing, kind of just because! I likened it a bit to the current tennis furore.... Most people reckon Pat Rafter is a cracking bloke, and that Tomic & Kyrios are flogs..... I don't put Goodes quite in that basket.... but I wander at times how much of this he has kind of brought upon himself.. The War dance, the Anzac comment etc. Does the average punter look at these things as him being provocative, and respond by booing... I don't know.

[another grub]

Getting a bit over people continually going on about the booing. So what if people boo

Harden up

[gadj1976]

"the more you complain about it, the more they'll keep doing it" <--- this is what I tell my 6 yo son. Same applies to the big sooks in Sydney guernseys.

Now Gil has chimed in, I hope it continues.

[stan]

Watching talking footy that's pretty much what they said as well. Just part of footy.

[another grub]

How can commentators say its racial? They are not the ones booing so how would they know?

[woodublieve12]

How can commentators say its racial? They are not the ones booing so how would they know?

the ones booing have probably forgot what they were booing about too.

[woodublieve12]

The afl has made this worse by telling people not to do it.

How many press conferences has goodes held to voice is thoughts on the issue??? None..

Who did the dance on sunday and spoke up? Jetta, not goodes

This would have gone away earlier if the media didn't keep harping on about it...

i also found it amusing on triple m this morning how roo said respect is earned not given. He's achieved more than you roo has, does more for charity and stands up for what he believes in...

People say they boo him because he's a flog - sh*t excuse, but i get it...

People say they boo him because he stages for free kicks - sh*t excuse, but i get it. What i find this even more laughable is that anyone who has played this game has staged for free kicks at some point in their career, EVERYONE! If that's why people boo him than we should be booing ALOT more...

People say they boo him because he won australian of the year - probably the worst excuse going around, he didn't choose to win it... he was nominated.. Don't recall the autrage when Rosie Batty won it this year... Not disputing her tragic loss of her child and she is a great spokesman for domestic violence (which goodes is an ambassador for), BUT she has done bugger all compared to Goodes over the last decade... No outrage what soever when she won, none for steve waugh (my fave sports man of all time) when he won it and he wasn't even helping out australian children...

People say they boo him for signalling out a 13 year old girl - which i find amusing too, considering he was the one who was villified... The next day he sat down with the girl and sorted it out, which people forget....

People say they boo him because he's a champion - i call bullsh*t on that too,. it's well past that now,.

Do i think it's all racially motivated, no... do i think a portion of it is, bloody oath... He's an outspoken aboriginal, history shows us people don't like it when a minority stands up for what he or she believes in. Remember when Cathy Freeman was slammed for running around with the aboriginal flag? How was that even an issue... People said they didn't like when goodes called Australian Day, 'invasion day' and people hated that, but can you blame an indigenous person for disliking that day???

Ben cousins does copius amounts of drugs, brakes the law on numerous time and we are told to feel sorry for him and leave him alone because he's a champion... But Goodes is the bad guy...

i personally have boo'ed once in my life at the footy and was promptly told off by my mum when i was about 5 or 6... The closest i've come to booing since is when i yelled out 'Roo' once at a crows game. i don't even boo the umpires. but that's just me.

finally like i stated above, i get to a point why he's boo'ed. And people will say others are boo'ed too, but not like this. Not with so much anger and hate... To say it's not you clearly have your head up your ass. And i also said the afl were wrong to tell people what to do...

Goodesy you legend...

[Jim05]

Goodes gets booed also because he snipes off the ball and gets an armchair ride by the tribunal.