Sydney Swans Poor Kicking For Goal Costs Wins
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Sydney Swans’ forward line is letting the team down with inaccuracy in front of goals. Sydney Swans poor kicking for goal costs wins. Lance Franklin has been poor and has missed the few chances he has had. Isaac Heeney is not doing enough and lacks reliability on his set shots. Will Hayward has tried his guts out and done some fine things, but misses too many shots at goal. Logan McDonald has shown some excellent signs and his goal kicking has been pretty good this year. Tom Papley is starting to hit his straps. Joel Amartey has been good but was ineffective in front of goals against Port Adelaide. The thing is, as evidenced last week against Melbourne and this week, momentum is lost when players fail to convert opportunities on the score board. Kicking straight in front of goals is ultimately the most valuable skill in the game because all the rest is inconsequential if you don’t put the maximum score on the board.
Young Swans Need to Learn to Tackle Smarter
The very young Swans’ brigade need to learn howe to tackle smart. Dylan Stephens is coming along nicely on the wing but his defensive skills are weak. He and Braeden Campbell are lightly built youngsters. Would someone at the club please teach them how to pin an arm back when they tackle to prevent the ball carrier legally passing the ball. All the Swans players could work on this tackling technique to better our defensive effectiveness. Jake Lloyd would benefit from mastering this type of tackle. Too many broken tackles against Swans’ players in the last couple of games against better opposition makes our pressure weak.
Sydney Swans Leadership is Strong
James Rowbottom is our best tackler and a great defensive pressure player. Ollie Florent is another beauty in this regard and provides wonderful drive from the half back line. Luke Parker always gives body and soul every match and is a great captain. Callum Mills, likewise, has been consistently inspirational . It was good to see Chad Warner getting back to some of his best stuff. Errol Gulden is a beauty and continues to provide great drive and pressure around the ball.
Swans Stoppage Work Needs Improvement
Our ruckwork has been less than effective so far this year, we are missing Tom Hickey and Sam Reid. Peter Ladhams was very poor against Melbourne, but better against Port Adelaide. Our midfielders need to win more ball from opposition tap outs at stoppages. Swans mids could be smarter at stoppages to win more ball. The best AFL mids slap the ball out of the hands of their opposition and do whatever they can to get that ball out.
In defence, losing both McCartin brothers was a big blow to our chances against Port. Dane Rampe has been excellent so far this year. Nick Blakey has been real good with his run off half back. Jake Lloyd is as reliable as ever but could put some polish on his kicking skills coming out of the backline. Will Lewis Melican finally get another chance at centre half back next week? What about Will Gould?
The Sydney Swans are a great young AFL team and probably overachieved last year by making the grand final? They are an exciting team to watch and when they get it all right they are pretty bloody good. Robbie Fox will get better as he plays more games after coming back from injury. Ryan Clarke will be a good defensive pressure player to get back when he comes back from injury. Ditto Sam Reid. Sam Wicks is someone we may be missing for similar reasons. We lack real grit at the moment.
The AFL umpiring in 2023 has changed once again. Umpires rarely pay holding the ball if the ball carrier holds the ball and makes no effort to break the tackle. The modified design and rule interpretation favours the ball carrier over the tackler.
There are now 4 umpires, which has seen an explosion in the number of tiggy touchwood decisions impacting the outcome of the game. When these are given in front of goals it determines the winner more than ever before. It makes for a frustrating watch to see a great game full of courageous players marred by these types of penalties.
AFL players run their guts out like never before. It used to be just midfielders doing this but now it is every player on the field. This makes for a fast and exciting spectacle and a tough game to umpire for those with that job. It also makes goal kicking more difficult, as players try and bring their heart rates down to execute a smooth kicking action.
Some would argue that scoring is ultimately the most important part of the game, as far as winning the contest goes. In the old days, the game had full forwards who stayed close to goals and limited their flat out running to leads. These days defensive pressure in the forward line calls for gut running throughout the match. There are too few players who can effectively kick straight when it matters in front of goals. The athletic demands of AFL is making goal kicking far more challenging than it should be. If it was American football they would bring on another set of players to kick for goal who are fresh for that task. I wonder if any AFL coaches will twig to the importance of doing something about this? Kicking goals wins games.
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