Uncle Sam

Was that a career best performance from Uncle Sam Switkowski? Or as a commentators call him Sam Swiskowski or Sam Sierakowski. Time to Restump Podcast that season setting up win over the Suns.

Have we moved from cautious optimism to guarded enthusiasm? Or has that magnificent victory seen a release of the shackles, sending us into expectational elation? But we must be measured and keep some perspective, as we know the dangers of getting ahead of ourselves. With that been said… we may never lose again!

Are we seeing the team and the performances we thought we’d see at round one this year? There has been a conspicuous shift across the board. There is a notable difference in the unwavering intent and effort, there is desire to contest, to run for each other and there has been widespread adoption of the non-negotiables. 

The game plan has been tinkered with and there have been a couple of personnel changes and positional adjustments, but the predominant the change has been mentality. 

It feels that the St Kilda game was the catalyst for change. Whatever happened post-match, whether it was the reading of the riot act, hard truths being aired or ultimatums given, it flicked the switch and snapped them out their funk. Will we look back in history and remember that game as our Keating recession moment, the horrendous performance we had to have?

But back to Saturday to that almost impossible victory. 

It was so pleasing to see Sammy Switkowski put in a monster, arguably a career best game. All anyone is asking of him is to bring that consistency in effort and intent.  

Did we learn anything about the prospects of team JackArce? If that combo allows that type of performance from Jackson, then it works and it’ll only improve. Darcy spent just 50% time on ground but got to 57 ruck contests and won over half of them. Let’s not forget he’s far from full match fitness. Jackson was mental… 27 influential possessions… 19 ground ball gets… for god’s sake… he’s 2 metres tall. What world is he from!

Can we give some love to Corey Wagner? What a wonderful pick up he has been. His tweaked role has unleashed his inner midfielder. He was superb on Saturday with his versatility, hitting the scoreboard, taking territory and defending. 

But as much love as we’re throwing Wagner’s way, we’ve got a little bit more than that for Shai. Were we sure we’d get such effort-based leadership from him? I’ll admit I thought he’d be the cream on the top and would cap things off when we were going well. I didn’t expect him to be the buy in guy and lead with such attitude. And I’m not sure I ever contemplated he’d win a game for us with a fatigued, last gasp tackle in the wet. Its like we donned the balaclava and shotgun on Richmond! 

 But let’s pull up a bit, the big love-in is getting a bit much. 

So, for some balance and to keep us grounded, is it too far to tongue in cheek suggest Caleb might not hit water if he fell out of a boat? You know your foot skills need sharpening when you’d contemplate backing Fyfey in a one-on-one goal kicking contest! We still love you, Caleb!

Speaking of the great man, how good was it to see Nat Fyfe run out there at ¾ time and a have a meaningful impact on the game. Shut up… I wasn’t crying… it was a Gold Coast rain drop in my eye…. 

To hell with the lid, let’s start some safe, non-Voss style high fiving and yahooing about that season setting up win on the pod. Feel free to join us but if you’re going to come in hot with your ‘one week at a time’ stick in the mud pessimistic nonsense, you’ll be shown the door!