Where Do the Swans Go From Here?

[RUNVS]

Yes I'm just making it all up

Its complete speculation on my part

Only I believe that the AFL have treated Sydney differently over the years

It's been 9.8% more expensive to live in Sydney for the last number of years - this % of expense is consistent from $50,000 earners to $1,000,000 earners
While all other cities in Australia have had identical cost of living

Buddy has been treated consistently by the MRP throughout his career

There is no variation in the ratio of FF and FA for Adam Goodes in 2013 and 2014 compared to the rest of his career.

All players who bumped someone in the head in 2014 received a suspension as the head is sacrosanct

The AFL did not interfere with Tony Lockett in his decision to play for the Sydney Swans

The Swans have not played key matches in the last few years where their opponents have been on the back of 3 consecutive 6 day breaks

The Swans have had as many 6 day breaks over the last few years as other clubs generally have had

The Swans were punished appropriately for putting an extra player on the field in a match that was involved in the play

The Swans did not gain extra days breaks over Collingwood and Hawthorn in the 2012 finals series. As usual, the AFL were especially considerate regarding Collingwood as their week was heavily disrupted by a funeral

As always the AFL are careful to ensure teams that are third on the ladder don't have fixturing advantages in the finals over teams that are higher placed

The Sydney Swans have never had more "ambassadors" than what the "average" club has had since the introduction of ambassadors

Truly pathetic. Not only are you wrong but it is also so far off topic it is not funny.

 

[Caj]

I find it interesting that less than 12mths from when the Swans were favourites in a Granny, that it is all now gloom and doom....give them as run without injury and all is back to normal..although Horse will need have a better plan when succumbing to injury...Clarko does and always has

Good summation, although Clarko is a class above every coach in the league and may end up GOAT, question is has Horse got it in him?

He's been underestimated previously and delivered in 2012, can he do it again?

 

[pacman]

They'll win all their remaining games and finish 4th.

Then what go out in straight sets, the writing has been on the wall for a while and without Buddy they are no chance of having any impact at all.
To me I see very little in that reserves side with players like Jack, Lloyd, Jones and Cunningham going out quicker than they come into the side.

Obviously their academy must be going ok and with the possiblilty of Dunkley coming in that is a positive.

 

[pacman]

Our KPD depth is such a worry that people on the Swans board have genuinely suggested we rookie Lachie Keeffe because then we will have a KPD at the start of the 2017 season.

Truth be told though the big worry is the midfield. It is not an old midfield as well which is the strange thing but if you look at Kennedy, Jack, McVeigh and Hannebery they are all worse players than they were in 2012. Why they are worse we have no idea but the Swans midfield goes missing too often and not just one or two players. When they Swans midfield goes missing they go missing on mass.

Would have thought it has been Hannerburys best year and it was nearly impossible for Parker to improve after last years fantastic season.
I see your defence as your achilles heel, especially in the next 18 months.

 

[RUNVS]

Would have thought it has been Hannerburys best year and it was nearly impossible for Parker to improve after last years fantastic season.
I see your defence as your achilles heel, especially in the next 18 months.

See I am not so sure. I think he had a better year in 2012. His kicking these days is shite and he goes missing in games like he didn't in 2012.

 

[Roby]

I find it interesting that less than 12mths from when the Swans were favourites in a Granny, that it is all now gloom and doom....give them as run without injury and all is back to normal..although Horse will need have a better plan when succumbing to injury...Clarko does and always has

Should they have been favourites? They have had three-four good performances all season this year. Their ladder position is flattering them.

 

[RUNVS]

Obviously their academy must be going ok and with the possiblilty of Dunkley coming in that is a positive.

Dunkley and Mills. Two hard nuts that can get the ball no problem but who let themselves down with their footskills. Sounds like they will fit in at the Swans perfectly.

 

[deflated]

Can we please leave stuff that happened in the past, along with any residual resentment and bitterness aside, and discuss the future of the Swans, as the thread intended?

That rare breed, an optimist. Bigfooty is fuelled by resentment and bitterness.

On the Swans I'm putting the blame on the back 6. We haven't been able to consistently stop competent attacks this year and the rebound has been slow and inaccurate no matter how many players they try back there. Horse doesn't seem to have an answer to getting some form back into the team and the midfield looks lost with the current gameplan.

 

[MightyHawks]

Truly pathetic. Not only are you wrong but it is also so far off topic it is not funny.

I'm glad to hear you disagree with those statements

Anyway back on the Swans trading and drafting?

Assuming you'll pick up some talent from your Academy

 

[Shaneprice97]

Should be looking at David Astbury(Richmond) and Mitch Brown(VFL) as solutions for there backline, thats 2 diamond in the rough stories waiting to happen.

What happened to Zac Jones, isnt he a half back?

 

[telsor]

Richmond was not mentioned other than this little bit, something you clearly did not notice

So you're quibbling over if he was going to Richmond, not that the VFL paid him a significant amount of 'ambassador money' to go to Sydney...

Tell me, how isn't this a case of the league treating the Swans as a special case and helping them achieve success by gift wrapping them a star player? (far more than they tried to do with Buddy/GWS)

 

[telsor]

Every sydney thread gets Hawthorned.

Well, Hawthorned and Telsored.

I just find it amusing now.

Sorry is bringing facts into your flawed narrative upsets you.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

I don't think Nankervis has the tank to take on sole ruck duties as yet and either way, he's more of a forward/part time ruck like Tippett. Everything else you've said however is pretty much spot on.

Personally, I think their ruck situation has ok. re: bolded part, I'm sure things were probably said about Hale when we recruited him. Give the kid a chance, he has looked ok thus far. Big bodied, can take a mark. Just needs time to develop.

The trade sanctions that have Sydney are going to impact them hugely. They can't even signed a bloke to a short term contract (say 1-2yrs), then pumped it up down the track as the AFL will be looking in to all of these.

As has been mentioned, KPD is the worry more than anything else. Well, outside of over-paying Tippett by about double what he is worth.

The $350k mark is going to be difficult to be able to stick under, as you'd think most players are on this level as it is. They will need to really troll the league to find guys that are able to step up. Really, something they did under Roos and early days under Longmire to great effect. Kennedy, McGlynn, R Shaw, Mattner in the past, and lately Laidlaw.

There best 22 right now is still clearly good enough, Reid probably needs to be bedded down back permanently as opposed to being a floater to develop him against the biggest and best forwards.

Maybe the bite the bullet, trade out Jetta, have Goodes and Shaw retire and keep some in reserve for a play at a couple of solid replacements come 2016 when the trade bans start to be reduced.

For the record, I think the trade restrictions are blatantly wrong from the AFL and will impact on other players getting moves they want.

Surely if the Swans are able to trade out players or reduce salary cap pressures then they should be able to sign players at levels that will see them within the same cap as everyone else by the time the AFL are reducing it.

 

[NewMelbournian]

Trade Tippett for picks. Trade the picks for defenders when the stupid trade ban is over.

 

[RUNVS]

THe ban does not help. What if, for instance the Swans wanted to trade Tippett to Brisbane for Matthew Leuenberger. It is a trade that could potentially benefit both clubs but because of the trade ban it could never happen.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

THe ban does not help. What if, for instance the Swans wanted to trade Tippett to Brisbane for Matthew Leuenberger. It is a trade that could potentially benefit both clubs but because of the trade ban it could never happen.

The stupid part about it, is you could trade Tippett out, shaving off $900k off the salary cap, sign Luenberger for $500k thus reducing what you pay under the Cap by $400k, and it's still not allowed.

It's non-sensical.

 

[replicant]

Sorry is bringing facts into your flawed narrative upsets you.

Since when have you brought any facts? MightyHawk doesn't deal in those either.

All you do is post idle speculation, rumour and BF gossip as "fact". I couldn't care less what you post bud, I only keep you off the ignore list so i can see what unsubstantiated line you're going to peddle next, and have a good eye roll to it. This is me, reading everything you post:

Go on, give us some "facts" on Sydney stealing Lockett from Richmond. And by fact, i don't mean vaugely related newspaper articles or rumours or what your uncle reakons. Give us something we can believe.

 

[Moody Blue]

Sydney has been carried by the AFL for over 20 years as have a number of Interstate teams. Now that they face some genuine challenges they start whining like stuffed pigs. Added to that we have GWS being given secret assistance and it was fairly obvious that the AFL Commission was trying to manufacture a Buddy trade to GWS until the Swans and Buddy did a deal. Brisbane were given three flags courtesy of the AFL and their decision with Fitzroy. The Gold Coast mess is being swept under the rug and no doubt they will be a force next year thanks to another high draft selection. Hint AFL, perhaps punish them for their activites. Well I suppose we can't do that since West Coast got away with a player taking drugs, avoiding the testing, another player nearly dying and a former player actually dying. Then we had a number of West Coast players hanging around organized criminals pretending they were wanna be bikies, but no one at West Coast knew anything. West Coast have never been sanctioned. Why would they be sanctioned? For being totally incompetent and inept at their jobs. Never sacked one player until the evidence was overwhelming with Ben Cousins that the 'didn't know' excuse could no longer be accepted.

There is a perception in Victoria that Sydney is protected, never allowed to fail because somehow if they do AFL in Sydney will collapse. Sydney have been carried for too long and it is time that they experienced the real world and spent some time in the bottom 8 and see how their supporters and business plan cope with it.

 

[Balance]

They need to change their gameplan, need to be more attacking. Buddy should not have to move up the ground just because the ball isn't coming to him, they have good midfielders that can win the ball and bring it forward but instead, they have a defensive gameplan that sees them go back in order to go forward. The good attacking teams lap this up and overrun them.

 

[smeltitdeltit]

I'm glad to hear you disagree with those statements

Anyway back on the Swans trading and drafting?

Assuming you'll pick up some talent from your Academy

When did the Swan supposedly have too many on the field? Genuine question

 

[replicant]

They need to change their gameplan, need to be more attacking. Buddy should not have to move up the ground just because the ball isn't coming to him, they have good midfielders that can win the ball and bring it forward but instead, they have a defensive gameplan that sees them go back in order to go forward. The good attacking teams lap this up and overrun them.

Agreed. My personal opinion is our defence isn't as great as the stats make out. We have a miserly defence, but only because our mids work so hard to help out. Our defenders are undersized (Ted 192, Grundy 193 are our KPDs) and average quality. Without the mids helping, they crumble, and teams like Hawthorn and WC with good leading forwards just chew us up.

We need a couple of bigger, taller KPDs that can actually win one-on-one contests. Reid could be one, but he's not spent enough time down back yet. If we had two reliable KPDs who we can trust to make a contest, then it'd free up our mids to be more attacking, and we'd be a much more dangerous team.

 

[Roylion]

Brisbane were given three flags courtesy of the AFL and their decision with Fitzroy.

No that is not correct.

1. The clubs decided that Brisbane was to receive player concession and merger monies. 14-1 in favour.

2. I don't recall Brisbane winning three flags in 1996. The Bears did make the preliminary final that year though and played in three finals.

 

[bungwahl]

The Swans were punished appropriately for putting an extra player on the field in a match that was involved in the play

We're a long way off topic, but just on this point - the Swans were fined $50,000 for Jesse White illegally entering the field of play for 30 seconds, despite him not being involved in the play. Meanwhile Hawthorn played Brent Guerra spare in defence as a 19th man for nearly 4 minutes and were fined only $7,500... so I wouldn't complain too much about that!

 

[bungwahl]

They need to change their gameplan, need to be more attacking. Buddy should not have to move up the ground just because the ball isn't coming to him, they have good midfielders that can win the ball and bring it forward but instead, they have a defensive gameplan that sees them go back in order to go forward. The good attacking teams lap this up and overrun them.

That is 100% correct.

Do you mind emailing it to Horse? We've tried but he's not responding.

 

[Glenn_]

Considering the AFL have put them in the naughty corner, their going to find it tough to replenish quickly? When will they be able to trade and bring in free agents again? End of 2016?

2017