Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs R16, Friday 27/6/25 at SCG at 7:40pm

[weltschmerz]

We have some great kids coming through.

Freijah has been great since starting with us. Sanders has come on well he will be a very good player. Hynes has looked very good when he has played this season for a first year player. JOD still on the younger side and been very good down back. Darcy we all know about.

Dolan too, has an excellent footy brain and just needs a preseason or two in the gym.

[Uninformed]

The word flog is overused. But it’s still the appropriate word to describe Papley. Seriously. What a flog.

Loved the start. 'Papley rushes into Darcy to get under his skin. Darcy rag-dolls him onto his back, laughs at the little man, then calmly marks and kicks the first two goals.'

Not sure who the genius at the Swans was that thought that tactic might work with Darcy who has just the right amount of agro beneath an unflappable exterior.

[Bigdog]

Great gutsy win. Sydney would’ve thrown everything at us and finally had their star power back.

These are the wins you need to have to make top 4 and contend. We have routinely lost the grinds since 2021.

[Pleather Sole]

Dogs by 9
Darcy with opening goal. Expect the goals to be spread around.
BOG Ed

Really need to start nailing our first quarters.

Round of applause!

[Pleather Sole]

How many times does he have to prove he shouldn't be on a list?

Is he sponsored by AAMI?

[doggies ftw]

Pretty decent game overall, don’t discount the Swans on their scrapheap, nearly full strength and they threw everything at us and we were never really in danger. I know they got on top but always felt we were pretty in control and wrestled it back quickly.

Biggest positive for mine is we did that without any impact at all from Bont, Libba, Richards etc and even really only half a game of impact from Darcy. Which is important because in the past we were really a Bont or no one side, if we our stars didn’t carry us over the line we lost but that’s changing rapidly. Also Timmy was well beaten for the first time in a while, Grundy was very dominant for parts of that game which made it tricky for our mids.

Bramble was awesome, I’ve been massively critical of him this year dunno where he pulled that from but just about best on for mine. Doesn’t have to be that good every week but just needs to find some sort of consistency between his best & worst, I think he’s at his best when he has the freedom to run so wouldn’t try to lock him down with a defensive role and I think he enjoyed having Jj out there too. More of that please!

Sanders & Freijah immense too, really good signs. Two 20 year old goal kicking mids, huge.

mate I am a big big fan of Hynes, not comparing the two and his production is a long way off what Bont was doing, but I don’t think I’ve seen a kid pick up the speed so quick since Bont 2014. This guy is not phased at all, not a care in the world - just moves through congestion and hands it off absolutely effortlessly, side steps, don’t argues you name it. He literally doesn’t put a foot wrong out there, when he starts gradually getting the ball more watch out. It’s the little things you see in his game, I think we might have a star here.

Naughtys best game of the season, was great hopefully this is the turning point for his season.

All in all very happy to get that win, don’t think you can underestimate the swans at home for the rest of the year.

[doggies ftw]

Dolan too, has an excellent footy brain and just needs a preseason or two in the gym.

Last years draft was extremely well timed, whilst I don’t think we drafted any out and out stars (although Hynes & even Davo may just have that sort of upside) we really nailed role players across every line. Davidson is going from strength to strength, another really strong performance and the way his game has evolved from being purely outside in the early rounds to now really cracking in defensively and in the contest, aerially too - impressive.

But overall we brought in Davo who will play every single game on the wing, Dolan who is the small HFF we’ve lacked, Hynes who is a mid/fwd bull and could likely play every week from now, Jacques who looks great at VFL level albeit raw as the HBF were crying out for and Kennedy who is basically ready to go just looking for a position.

Immense draft, shades of 2014 I think it was when we brought in Dale, Daniel, McLean & Cordy all in the same year. Throw in Kennedy as the trade of the year and it’s an A+ for mine, yeah we got burnt on Baz but we absolutely made the most of it, if Hynes comes on like he is along with Kennedy and we may actually be able to say we won that trade in due time

[kruder]

Last years draft was extremely well timed, whilst I don’t think we drafted any out and out stars (although Hynes & even Davo may just have that sort of upside) we really nailed role players across every line. Davidson is going from strength to strength, another really strong performance and the way his game has evolved from being purely outside in the early rounds to now really cracking in defensively and in the contest, aerially too - impressive.

But overall we brought in Davo who will play every single game on the wing, Dolan who is the small HFF we’ve lacked, Hynes who is a mid/fwd bull and could likely play every week from now, Jacques who looks great at VFL level albeit raw as the HBF were crying out for and Kennedy who is basically ready to go just looking for a position.

Immense draft, shades of 2014 I think it was when we brought in Dale, Daniel, McLean & Cordy all in the same year. Throw in Kennedy as the trade of the year and it’s an A+ for mine, yeah we got burnt on Baz but we absolutely made the most of it, if Hynes comes on like he is along with Kennedy and we may actually be able to say we won that trade in due time

Yeah the thing I love about Freijah, Sanders, Hynes and Dolan is that they are all clean,they all have time(sometimes too much) and are just natural footballers which will help us execute in the big moments.

Dom Milesi's last two drafts have left us well placed, we have the mix of youth and experience time is now with this group.

[GVGjr]

Players are about to get on the bus and head to the airport.
I'm told some of the players have pulled up sore and that the Swans tried their best to test us physically

[ledge]

Players are about to get on the bus and head to the airport.
I'm told some of the players have pulled up sore and that the Swans tried their best to test us physically

English and Williams looked sore , think Lobb still has a hand issue .
I read somewhere McNeill subbed due to injury , any enlightenment there ?
Great to see we stood up physically and won.
Lobb no doubt in for a few fines , guessing a lot will be handed out and Francis gets a week holiday .

[Bornadog]

Players are about to get on the bus and head to the airport.
I'm told some of the players have pulled up sore and that the Swans tried their best to test us physically

No matter how hard you try to rest players, a 5 day break is still 5 days. The AFL must avoid this sort of fixture.

[HOSE B ROMERO]

How good was Hynes at times. Throw in Sanders and Freijah and the kids are alright.

Yep there was 8 minute patch at the start of the third qtr where he did a double smother, fended off, laid good tackles and backed out of a pack. I was out of my seat.
Won plenty of contested balls as well. I reckon he'll be in the side for a good run now.

[SquirrelGrip]

The word flog is overused. But it’s still the appropriate word to describe Papley. Seriously. What a flog.

Wasn't he on Bramble in the third quarter?

[The Adelaide Connection]

Yep there was 8 minute patch at the start of the third qtr where he did a double smother, fended off, laid good tackles and backed out of a pack. I was out of my seat.
Won plenty of contested balls as well. I reckon he'll be in the side for a good run now.

Biggsy was all:
flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.webp

[dog town]

Some observations from the ground if they were not picked up on the coverage.

Sydney orchestrated Papley on to the mid we used off half back for the bounces. Any time it spat out laterally to space he was on his own. Looked like we dropped this at half time.

JJ genuine lock down on Papley for long periods after that. Lots of blocking and bumpers in transition.

Sydney put an enormous amount of work into semi legally moving lobb under the ball. Clear focus from them.

After qtr time I felt we tried to play straighter with more overlap and less lateral kicking due to the surface. Seemed an instruction and clear change to me.

Swans able to move the ball to the fat side of their attacking 50 to space too easily.

Absolutely insufferable supporter base that Sydney have.