Monday, July 25, 2011
Swans Review - Western Bulldogs (July 23, 2011)
Finally, a consistent four-quarter effort from the Swans, who have now hopefully seen the light - a solid effort all game long means that you close out good opponents, and look impressive doing it. Let's hope the lesson isn't lost on them during the bye week, which is probably coming at a time when we could do with another game to continue the form and extend the momentum we discovered Saturday. It's just a shame that the best performance of the season was seen by one of the smallest crowds of the year. Of course, the week of - at times, torrential - rain didn't help the effort at the turnstiles.
The best thing about this game? Well, the margin of victory, but aside from that, it was the fact that every one in the team did their part. Even Ted Richards, who had some trouble with Barry Hall - he's not the first and he won't be the last to be victimised by Big Bad Bustling - put up a fight and somewhat clamped down on the big man in the second half. It was kind of nice to see Barry kick a bag on his final SCG go-around, and still have the Swans come out on top. That was the problem for the Bulldogs: they only seemed to have one target up forward, and it was Barry Hall.
At the other end, Craig Bird had perhaps his best game of the season, bagging four goals, and Sam Reid should've had about that same, but wayward kicking cost him, as it's cost him many times this season. Still, I like the look of him. He has strong hands, isn't afraid to crash the pack and although his kicking remains suspect at times, there's been a noticeable improvement. Hopefully Reid continues to build on his early promise. Remember, we were all pretty high on Jesse White at this stage of White's career, and look where he is now, languishing in the reserves, getting thumped by the GWS Giants at Blacktown.
Speaking of best games of the season, Adam Goodes was instrumental in nearly everything the Swans did well on Saturday. There's nothing better than seeing his silky smooth skills in action. At times he made a mockery of the difficult, greasy conditions, and you had a good feeling that something amazing was about to happen every time he arched the back and took off.
This was the game where the midfield stood up. McGlynn, Bird, McVeigh, Bolton and Goodes were all on the score sheet, while Dan Hannebery was in the top five best Swans players on the ground, and Ryan O'Keefe wasn't too far behind, either. Special mention to Lewis Roberts-Thompson, who kicked two goals in another inspiring effort up forward. Sam Reid and LRT are probably not the forward combination fans expected to be kicking winning scores when the season began back in April, but they're turning into a handy pair.
So the Swans head into the bye week with a very solid win against finals-caliber opponents that keeps them right in the hunt for a finals berth, and now the task is to secure a home final. The problem now is the statistic where teams lose more than they win coming off the bye week. The Swans have Essendon in two weeks time at Etihad Stadium - a possible trap game!
Enjoy the bye week, everyone. Go Swans!!!
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