Moving On
It's the only thing I can do now as one of the two teams eliminated from the first week of the finals. It has been a hard year to watch the Swans play. As the preamble on Channel 10 illustrated, it has been a roller coaster and just when you think they have some momentum and some decent form, players go missing. Same thing happened last night against Collingwood.
Against Hawthorn the previous week we were unstoppable and playing very clean footy. Against Collingwood Nick Davis was probably the most notable disappearance (to digress, can you believe Magpie fans are still booing him?), along with Barry Hall while Peter Everitt needed to do a lot more for the team to win.
Collingwood just out tackled us and that pressure showed for most of the game as it became implied pressure as we couldn't get clean hands on any hard ball possessions.
Ah well, already looking forward to 2008, it's the first year our players will get a decent rest in the off season and a proper pre season.
While we don't need a player clean out there needs to be some difficult decisions made about some players if we're not to bottom out as some clubs have done (eg Richmond, Carlton). Players like Ben Matthews and Stephen Doyle have been good servants of the club but may be on their last legs and the speed of the game may cut short their careers.
We have blooded some young players, most recently Ed Barlow, but we never get a real good look at them and what they are capable of on a consistent basis. Heath Grundy has been given a few games here and there, Tim Schmidt, Jared Moore and Simon Phillips have also made brief appearances this season. I hope to see more of them as the years go on. Let's face it, Barry Hall and Michael O'Loughlin aren't getting any younger.
Against Hawthorn the previous week we were unstoppable and playing very clean footy. Against Collingwood Nick Davis was probably the most notable disappearance (to digress, can you believe Magpie fans are still booing him?), along with Barry Hall while Peter Everitt needed to do a lot more for the team to win.
Collingwood just out tackled us and that pressure showed for most of the game as it became implied pressure as we couldn't get clean hands on any hard ball possessions.
Ah well, already looking forward to 2008, it's the first year our players will get a decent rest in the off season and a proper pre season.
While we don't need a player clean out there needs to be some difficult decisions made about some players if we're not to bottom out as some clubs have done (eg Richmond, Carlton). Players like Ben Matthews and Stephen Doyle have been good servants of the club but may be on their last legs and the speed of the game may cut short their careers.
We have blooded some young players, most recently Ed Barlow, but we never get a real good look at them and what they are capable of on a consistent basis. Heath Grundy has been given a few games here and there, Tim Schmidt, Jared Moore and Simon Phillips have also made brief appearances this season. I hope to see more of them as the years go on. Let's face it, Barry Hall and Michael O'Loughlin aren't getting any younger.
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Sydney Swans
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