Rd 1 2010

[goodesy37]

this is actually the most excited ive been for the start of a season! with all the new players and youth injected into our team i cant wait to see how we perform next year hurry up season 2010!!! i can definately see us being back in the top 8 next year

 

[jasongomightyswannies]

Best 22 for season 2010

The look of our team going into 2010 is mouth watering. How do people view our best 22 potentially next season?

IMO I see it resembling something like this:-

FF: Bradshaw - White - Trent Dennis-Lane
HF: O'Keefe - Goodes - Jack
C: Malceski - Kirk - Jetta
HB: Mattner - Grundy - Kennelly
FB: Shaw - C.Bolton - LRT
RUCK: Mumford - J.Bolton - McVeigh
BENCH: Seaby - Kennedy - Hanneberry - Bird

Reserves: Rohan, Reid, Sumner, McGlynn, Smith, Meredith, Currie, Barlow, Moore, Johnston, Bevan, O’Dwyer, Heath, Thornton, Richards

...as you can see it is hard to leave out certain players now that we have a real "squad" finally after we trimmed and topped up our list superbly this year!

 

[swansfan51]

I think a lot of people are getting a bit carried away with our squad strength, particularly about a number of average players we have on our list. I've taken a different approach, looking at our 'very good' to 'excellent' players and seeing what other spaces there are.

B C. Bolton
HB
C Shaw Kirk McVeigh
HF O'Keefe Goodes
F Bradshaw
R J. Bolton
Int

I don't quite rate Shaw as an excellent player, but as 2nd in our best and fairest last season he earns a spot in that lineup. Any of those players have a strong claim to make most teams in the competition.

Then there are a number of other players who I can't rate in the top tier of the AFL, but they are definitely going to have a spot due to positional requirement, or being a clearly better option than anyone else available:

B Grundy C. Bolton
HB L R-T
C Shaw Kirk McVeigh
HF O'Keefe Goodes
F Bradshaw White
R Seaby J. Bolton
Int Mumford Jack

Mumford and Seaby are clearly the first choices so they might as well be in there. We have a shortage of tall defender options, and Grundy and LRT are very serviceable. I don't really see a way they could be left out of the team at this point. White is needed as a forward target and showed he can play to the level required this year. Jack has been pretty much a fixture in the team for the past 2 seasons.

I don't think there is a strong argument against any of these players, and that's 14 spots. Obviously the big gap I've left so far is the rebounding defenders, where we definitely have a lot of strength, but I haven't included them above as I don't feel they have a guaranteed spot yet (due to our depth in that role). Once 2 of Kennelly/Mattner/Malceski are added, that would be 16 spots.

A lot of the other players we are mentioning as 'great depth' are either average players, or very much untested and unproven youngsters. There are a heap of players with a lot of potential on our list, but potential does not win football matches. Veszpremi is arguably the poster boy for that class, but there are numerous others such as Hannebery, Johnston, Meredith, Jetta, Rohan and Currie. When I'm talking about 'average players' I mean the likes of Bevan, Richards, Barlow and McGlynn.

I'm extremely excited about our squad and the changes we've been able to make over the off-season, but I don't think we should be expecting the world out of them quite yet.

EDIT: Formatting on this page is screwed and I can't see a way to fix it at the moment

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Can a mod do something about the post that stretched this page?

 

[iGNITER]

Mattner Bolton Richards

Shaw LRT Kennelly

Kennedy Kirk McVeigh

O'Keefe Goodes Rohan

White Bradshaw Veszpremi

Mumford Bolton Jack

Bevan Seaby McGlynn Malceski

 

[CAS79]

While thanking the Collingwood fan for his attempt at our best 22 he overlooked and IMO so to did swansfan 51

Craig Bird.

has been sensationally developing as a non flashy inside midfielder for two years and now upon his return from injury will IMO be spending more time around the centre as Kirk gets older.

Does anyone disagree with Bird comfortably being in our starting 22.

 

[swansfan51]

While thanking the Collingwood fan for his attempt at our best 22 he overlooked and IMO so to did swansfan 51

Craig Bird.

has been sensationally developing as a non flashy inside midfielder for two years and now upon his return from injury will IMO be spending more time around the centre as Kirk gets older.

Does anyone disagree with Bird comfortably being in our starting 22.

While I didn't have him as a lock, I also didn't list him as an 'average player' because I think he is better than that. I think he is extremely likely to be in our round 1 team, but so will 5 other players I didn't list. He's in the middle ground IMO because he isn't just unrealised potential (like a Veszpremi) but has shown enough to be regarded as more than a list-filler. He has demonstrated a good work ethic on the field and has benefited from a steady increase in playing time, with the obvious exception of the last quarter of 2009 where he wasn't playing. He was in my initial list, but I replaced him with Kieren Jack. I feel Jack has a more guaranteed place in the team at this point, but I still expect to see Bird in round 1.

 

[swans16]

Did the new swans players get their jumper numbers yet?
The tigers already got theirs.

 

[indieswan96]

yeh i think they have i think rohan got 26 playfair's old number dont know about the rest though i want to know what did the traded players get u kno seaby, mumford, kennedy etc.

 

[swans16]

How do you know he got 26?

 

[kira]

i'm 99% sure the players haven't got their numbers yet*

Evidence

they'll get them during some fancy presentation

*Note: there's a 1% margin of error in my statistic

 

[Rhino5]

While thanking the Collingwood fan for his attempt at our best 22 he overlooked and IMO so to did swansfan 51

Craig Bird.

has been sensationally developing as a non flashy inside midfielder for two years and now upon his return from injury will IMO be spending more time around the centre as Kirk gets older.

Does anyone disagree with Bird comfortably being in our starting 22.

This is the year he makes his claim to being comfortably in that 22.....at this stage, he hasn't separated himself from the pack at all really, despite the hype (and a handful of really excellent games).....if I had to choose only one out of him and Jack to have in the team, I would choose Jack in a heartbeat.

 

[swans16]

i'm 99% sure the players haven't got their numbers yet*

Evidence

they'll get them during some fancy presentation

*Note: there's a 1% margin of error in my statistic

That just proves he did not get number 26. I hope he gets no.16, becuase that is my fav number(Jolly).

 

[chucksnephew]

yeh i think they have i think rohan got 26 playfair's old number dont know about the rest though i want to know what did the traded players get u kno seaby, mumford, kennedy etc.

Mumford will wear number 41 as he did at Geelong. He wants to be the first player to wear it and play 100 games.

 

[cptkirk]

Barlow has a lot of talent, just needs to apply it. He's actually one of the best kicks in the team. Granted, his decision making is not always fantastic. This is usually a confidence thing. Get him a good preseason to work on his core strength, and give him a good run of games from round 1, and you'll see what he can do.

how many pre seasons do you need to develop core strength?

when your first game has been your best one by far, you're in trouble (scott harding/mark mcgough disease)

 

[Rhino5]

Maybe the best thing for Barlow would just be to give him a guaranteed 5-10 games in a defined position so that he can learn a specific role.

 

[db swannie]

This is the year he makes his claim to being comfortably in that 22.....at this stage, he hasn't separated himself from the pack at all really, despite the hype (and a handful of really excellent games).....if I had to choose only one out of him and Jack to have in the team, I would choose Jack in a heartbeat.

I hope Jack gets released from his tagging role and takes over from where buchanan could no longer go. To me Jack is the real deal: he's tough as teak, has a great kick (not that long, but at 40m, with his height, he has a great, low spearing and accurate left foot, excellent for finding the likes of Bradshaw, White and Goodes on leads), and can tackle, another thing Buchanan could no longer do.

 

[db swannie]

Maybe the best thing for Barlow would just be to give him a guaranteed 5-10 games in a defined position so that he can learn a specific role.

The clock is ticking for Barlow. Sure give him one position, but tell him to go in hard and put his body on the line or else.

 

[swans16]

The clock is ticking for Barlow. Sure give him one position, but tell him to go in hard and put his body on the line or else.[/quote]
I think this applies to all the players.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

It does, and most players at Sydney seem to have no problem doing it.

 

[db swannie]

The clock is ticking for Barlow. Sure give him one position, but tell him to go in hard and put his body on the line or else.[/quote]
I think this applies to all the players.

Of course it does. It's just that some do it more often (and some cases much more often) than others. Barlow is IMO one who doesn't do it often enough. I hope he proves me wrong in 2010.

 

[swans16]

He has all the skills, but not the hardness. <-that sounds funny.

 

[MF]

Barlow will shock the football world next year. He'll be in our top 5 players by seasons end.

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