Boofhead wrote:And there were a couple of things that should have gone my way but didn't, and if they do, all of a sudden you're having a good game rather than a pretty average one.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/n ... ntentSwap1
www.realfooty.com.auThursday March 27, 2008
No way Swans are caught in tunnel web
Barry Hall | March 28, 2008
I HAVE to be honest, until this week the only tunnelling I knew about in Sydney was the one you take under the harbour if traffic is bad on the bridge.
I'd certainly never heard of the term in AFL.
I was a bit stunned when I read that St Kilda thought it was a tactic we use intentionally. I know from speaking with our defenders Craig Bolton and Leo Barry, they were pretty bemused about it.
As forwards, we do get a fair bit of contact from defenders when we're trying to mark the ball, that's naturally part of the game. The way it often pans out is that the forwards lead out, and the defender is a metre or so behind.
When the ball arrives, the forward steadies and settles, ready to take a mark, and often leaps to take the mark. But the defender is still trying to make up the ground and is still travelling at full pelt. So for a defender it's going to be hard to stop yourself. I can see how it may look like you're trying to take someone out or knock them off balance.
But I can say it's definitely not a tactic we use at the Swans, and no, I don't have Leo or Bolts practising "tunnelling" on me at training.
Obviously, it wasn't the way we had hoped to start the season against St Kilda, and what was really disappointing was that we weren't switched on at the start of the game.
We were down by 20 points before we knew it, but we did fight back - and if Jarred Moore's kick goes through for a goal, we look at the game in a whole different light.
I don't know how we could not be switched on for the first game of the season. We'd had a great pre-season, and everyone was ready to go.
I do know that being in Sydney is probably a factor. In Melbourne, everyone was counting down the days, and they couldn't wait for it. Up here it sort of sneaked under the radar a bit.
We spoke about how quiet it's been last week. The build-up in Melbourne is massive, everybody is talking footy, and the players get excited, and we don't get that up here.
But that's no excuse. We all know this is a totally different market to everywhere else, and we also get the benefits of not having AFL in your face all day, every day. We just have to learn to deal with it better.
The reality is we were really disappointed with the way we started the game, and, to be honest, it comes back to the individual at the end of the day. It's every individual's responsibility to be ready to go. We can do stuff as a team, and that's fine, but if a couple of guys don't turn up for the first 30 minutes, it's going to be tough no matter what you do.
I've copped it a bit about my own form, and I was disappointed after the game about how I went. But I watched the tape, and I was a bit more positive about it.
I moved fairly well, I ran fairly hard. I had come off a limited preparation and only played 60 minutes of footy in the pre-season, so to almost play the full game, that was a positive.
What was important was that the effort things were there on the weekend. There were a few undisciplined things like swinging a bloke to ground after I tackled him, and I've got to work on that. Let's just put it down to first-round enthusiasm.
And similar to the team, I reckon I was so close to having a good game rather than a pretty average game, if I'd taken a couple of marks - and no, there's nothing wrong with my eyes.
And there were a couple of things that should have gone my way but didn't, and if they do, all of a sudden you're having a good game rather than a pretty average one.
So I'm really positive and excited about this week.
And it's the same for Adam Goodes. It just amazes me how people jump up and down on him after one game.
We've got no doubt Goodesy will bounce back. You're talking about a guy who has the talent to produce match-winning games, and we'll back Goodesy every day of the week.
You can't make too many judgments after just one round, and although I didn't watch a lot of footy on the weekend, I was really impressed with a couple of the teams I saw.
One in particular was Port Adelaide.
There were a few shots at goal they could have easily kicked, and while everyone has been pumping Geelong up, I thought Port were pretty good on the weekend, and actually should have beaten the Cats.
We all know we've got a big job against them on Sunday back home at the SCG.
