Opinion Your 2025 expectations

[Heeney2Franklin]

With the last week or so remaining of 2024 we endured what could be described as the highest of highs and then the lowest of lows a season can have.

Im sure a few if not all are still carrying the emotions from that disaster but moving forward what are your personal expectations for the club in 2025?

Finishing Position -
Membership tally -
Debutons -

 

[The King!]

I don’t honestly know what to expect now, I have felt we built a group from 2019 onwards ready to peak and be a contender, and they did contend, just messed up at the end, but does that mess a group up too much

Gut feel is we have a year like 2023, the Warner shit might be annoying if it it lingers

 

[Jewelsbon]

I agree with the King, absolutely no idea what next season holds for us. I'd like to think we'll be right back up there at the pointy end, but I just don't know what mental scars remain from the disaster in September. Hopefully with a new coach there will be a new mindset and the old bloods spirit will return.
As far as membership numbers go, I just can't imagine surpassing this year's number. In my opinion, it was all too heartbreaking in the end to convert the casuals into the rusted on, but who knows!
No thoughts on debutants.

 

[Kiama Chris]

I have both hopes and expectations.

Expectations:
1) Cox will prove to be a competent head coach leading the team to finals.
2) Our pressure/contested side will become more consistent.
3) We will maintain crowd attendance within 5% of 2024. That's more important than membership.

Hopes:
1) Top 4.
2) Warner extends.
3) We improve our midfield and forward setups.
4) Edwards takes the next step and allows McCartin to play forward or interceptor.
5) Macca does a terrific job with the reserves so we get real performance and development.
6) Somehow we find a way to get an expert midfield coach over the Xmas break.
7) The fringe (not development) players put real pressure on the selection committee.

My biggest hope is that I will be proud of our team's effort every game, win, lose or draw.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

I’m not feeling optimistic.

History shows sides coming off a GF belting struggle the next season.

1. We struggle to 8th & go out first week of finals
2. Membership steady
3. Paton and Snell debut for the club

Warner’s contract saga drags on & becomes a frustrating distraction. He ends up leaving.

 

[Kiama Chris]

I’m not feeling optimistic.

History shows sides coming off a GF belting struggle the next season.

1. We struggle to 8th & go out first week of finals
2. Membership steady
3. Paton and Snell debut for the club

Warner’s contract saga drags on & becomes a frustrating distraction. He ends up leaving.

The more Warner delays the more likely it is that he's leaving. If he's staying he will want that out of the way.

 

[rustycrate]

The more Warner delays the more likely it is that he's leaving. If he's staying he will want that out of the way.

I am actually very ambivalent about Warner. Yep sure he is a fantastic hard and hard to replicate player.

But
so was Mitchell, and
so was the other guy that left and is captaining Adelaide.

These players don't define us.

so was Buddy at the Hawks. Losing him did not define them.

I like to think of Sydney as a team. One soldier goes down and another soldier fills the gap. It is not a tragedy. It is life. Life goes on. Sydney will continue to threaten the top eight and the top four again regardless.

 

[Punts]

Think will finish 5-8th

Bit of a change over year

Can’t see us contending next year

 

[Dubai Quacker]

I am actually very ambivalent about Warner. Yep sure he is a fantastic hard and hard to replicate player.

But
so was Mitchell, and
so was the other guy that left and is captaining Adelaide.

These players don't define us.

so was Buddy at the Hawks. Losing him did not define them.

I like to think of Sydney as a team. One soldier goes down and another soldier fills the gap. It is not a tragedy. It is life. Life goes on. Sydney will continue to threaten the top eight and the top four again regardless.

I don’t fully agree Rusty.

I do agree that Warner leaving won’t cause the club to slump.

What I am more worried about is the contract uncertainty affecting the team this year.

I equate it to Dawson in 2021. Sure, we finished 6th that year - but it always felt like Dawson’s shenanigans were a distraction that affected us.

We improved quite a bit once he was gone.

So - for me, the worst outcome is Chad still doing the whole “I’ll let my manager sort it out” thing come the mid season bye.

 

[Millky95]

Similar to last year but with more ownership by the younger players and more consistency.

Expecting Durham, Martin and Caldwell to go up a new level as a trio.

Finish: 15th
Membership: 55,000
Debutants: 6

Wrong board, my dudes

 

[FAILTOSUCCEED]

Wrong board, my dudes

Oh yeah… haha!

 

[S120]

Think will finish 5-8th

Bit of a change over year

Can’t see us contending next year

Exactly my expectations. I think we’ll be a good team and look like we could contend at times but I can’t see us truly contending this year after the two recent GF pummelings. First year for Cox will have some growing pains but ultimately I think the change will be for the good of the club and we’ll start seeing what he wants to imprint into the side over the course of the year.

Hoping we can put some real pressure on the old guys in Lloyd, Cunningham, and Rampe for their spots asap. They’ve been great servants but we need to start moving them out of the first picked. I want to see Sheldrick, Campbell, Cleary make themselves undroppable. I want to see Buller get back to full fitness to put proper pressure on the tall forwards.

 

[Kiama Chris]

Exactly my expectations. I think we’ll be a good team and look like we could contend at times but I can’t see us truly contending this year after the two recent GF pummelings. First year for Cox will have some growing pains but ultimately I think the change will be for the good of the club and we’ll start seeing what he wants to imprint into the side over the course of the year.

Hoping we can put some real pressure on the old guys in Lloyd, Cunningham, and Rampe for their spots asap. They’ve been great servants but we need to start moving them out of the first picked. I want to see Sheldrick, Campbell, Cleary make themselves undroppable. I want to see Buller get back to full fitness to put proper pressure on the tall forwards.

I hope we can put pressure on EVERYONE for their spots, not just the older guys.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

I must be feeling more positive than most on here. Few coaches inherit a team as strong as this Swans team, and Cox will have a lot of ideas on where they can improve. To me, there is more upside with his appointment than downside.

My prediction: swans will start very strong; then get challenged mid season; people to start to write them off after poor losses; but Cox holds his nerve and continues to rotates players, enabling the team to come home with a wet sail. Team is fiery and accountable come finals; opponents do not enjoy playing the swans; swans make a serious run at prelim / GF and if they lose they lose with honour.

Lots of debutants and rotations. Cox’s big innovation is introducing squad mentality to the AFL, keeping players fresher than any other team (it gets mistaken for panic but Cox holds his nerve).

Membership grows to just higher levels than 2024, after Swans allow people to buy pet memberships for their goldfish.

 

[Kiama Chris]

I must be feeling more positive than most on here. Few coaches inherit a team as strong as this Swans team, and Cox will have a lot of ideas on where they can improve. To me, there is more upside with his appointment than downside.

My prediction: swans will start very strong; then get challenged mid season; people to start to write them off after poor losses; but Cox holds his nerve and continues to rotates players, enabling the team to come home with a wet sail. Team is fiery and accountable come finals; opponents do not enjoy playing the swans; swans make a serious run at prelim / GF and if they lose they lose with honour.

Lots of debutants and rotations. Cox’s big innovation is introducing squad mentality to the AFL, keeping players fresher than any other team (it gets mistaken for panic but Cox holds his nerve).

Membership grows to just higher levels than 2024, after Swans allow people to buy pet memberships for their goldfish.

The use (or not) of rotations/management will be super interesting. The lack of it definitely hurt Grundy and possibly Heeney last season. For mine I felt that the lack of rotations through the midfield was equally damaging by wearing out the players being used the most ie Heeney, Rowbottom, Warner. That's why I'm so keen on Mills and Sheldrick sharing the load.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Honestly I just hope for a change in gameplan (finally) which unlocks some players.

My gut feeling says we come in the top 6, but we had an injury draw from heaven last year and didn’t make it count (not helped by our coach not making the most of it by resting players when he could)

Dattoli to debut is all I want sorry but it is

 

[Tedeski]

Same soft front running game plan means we miss the 8.
If Cox demands some tough old fashioned real Bloods type footy, then he may piss off the soft front running types that can get away with their finger twirling, chest thumping antics.

If the remaining players embrace the real tough Bloods ethos, then we should contend again within 5 years but not until we flush out the front running defenceless show ponies.

 

[Bandicoot]

I am actually very ambivalent about Warner. Yep sure he is a fantastic hard and hard to replicate player.

But
so was Mitchell, and
so was the other guy that left and is captaining Adelaide.

These players don't define us.

so was Buddy at the Hawks. Losing him did not define them.

I like to think of Sydney as a team. One soldier goes down and another soldier fills the gap. It is not a tragedy. It is life. Life goes on. Sydney will continue to threaten the top eight and the top four again regardless.

I'm firmly of the believe it's not "will Warner leave but when will he leave"? If he doesn't leave at the end of next he will more than likely take a two year extension taking him to free agency at the end of 2027. He surely leaves then giving us basically nothing in return as that draft will include all the Tasmanian selections. I would much rather he goes to WC in 2026 giving us their first selection together with at least one other round 1 selection, if not 2.
A pick of around 3-4 then extra round 1 picks to use for our academy picks.
I'd be quite happy with that.

 

[Swansujelly]

top 4 finish and then see what happens. I reakky don't see us falling off, slow start perhaps, but not ut of the 8.

 

[anotherletdown]

5-8 on the table but playing harder football, with a younger team. No expectations on a finals run.

I think this year highlights that we really had a couple of bad drafting years around COVID.

 

[Punts]

I also think we will play a young team next year , is why more so a transition

I can see struggling , fox , Lloyd and rampe

 

[Kiama Chris]

I also think we will play a young team next year , is why more so a transition

I can see struggling , fox , Lloyd and rampe

Not too worried if Fox or Lloyd are overtaken by others but I would like to get one more decent year with Rampe, especially if we introduce another "new" tall in either Edwards or Snell, or even Bice, to help with organisation and leadership, and even more so if we move McCartin forward.

 

[RubbaDuck]

Last year we had the 2nd highest of the highs IMO. I was very disappointed with the GF but I thought Brisbane had shown they had the edge on us. Once McInerney crapped his dacks and let Brisbane slingshot past him to start a run of goals from about 10 mins into the 2nd we were left gasping. We didn't have the firepower against such a powerful defence and without Heeney to drag the team into yet another miracle comeback, we were stuffed.

Am I disappointed that we had a barrowful of incredible wins, that we overcame a mid-season slump to bounce back hard and finish minor premiers? Hell no. The ride was great.

I said early on that I was still concerned about our depth. Our lack of confidence in our depth really showed in the finals as we shuffled and rested the regular players to get them match fit. We should have been more confident in young players who have shown the right stuff. Still, we've been building good depth for some few years now. Our subdued approach to the draft was an indication of confidence in the men we have.

It may be harder to make finals without Horse, whose win/loss ratio over a decade and a half was outstanding, but I don't think the GF loss will affect us. 2023 was an annus horribilis of injuries to key players, yet we still recovered and made finals. We've got a good shot or redeeming either the 22 or the 24 GF, either one will do.

We've got a good bunch of young guns eager to play, we've got the all conquering talent of Isaac Heeney and, if size is important, we're the team of big Cox.

 

[Kiama Chris]

Last year we had the 2nd highest of the highs IMO. I was very disappointed with the GF but I thought Brisbane had shown they had the edge on us. Once McInerney crapped his dacks and let Brisbane slingshot past him to start a run of goals from about 10 mins into the 2nd we were left gasping. We didn't have the firepower against such a powerful defence and without Heeney to drag the team into yet another miracle comeback, we were stuffed.

Am I disappointed that we had a barrowful of incredible wins, that we overcame a mid-season slump to bounce back hard and finish minor premiers? Hell no. The ride was great.

I said early on that I was still concerned about our depth. Our lack of confidence in our depth really showed in the finals as we shuffled and rested the regular players to get them match fit. We should have been more confident in young players who have shown the right stuff. Still, we've been building good depth for some few years now. Our subdued approach to the draft was an indication of confidence in the men we have.

It may be harder to make finals without Horse, whose win/loss ratio over a decade and a half was outstanding, but I don't think the GF loss will affect us. 2023 was an annus horribilis of injuries to key players, yet we still recovered and made finals. We've got a good shot or redeeming either the 22 or the 24 GF, either one will do.

We've got a good bunch of young guns eager to play, we've got the all conquering talent of Isaac Heeney and, if size is important, we're the team of big Cox.

Been missing you Monsieur Duck.

 

[rustycrate]

I don’t fully agree Rusty.

I do agree that Warner leaving won’t cause the club to slump.

What I am more worried about is the contract uncertainty affecting the team this year.

I equate it to Dawson in 2021. Sure, we finished 6th that year - but it always felt like Dawson’s shenanigans were a distraction that affected us.

We improved quite a bit once he was gone.

So - for me, the worst outcome is Chad still doing the whole “I’ll let my manager sort it out” thing come the mid season bye.

I reckon the club will know by around March what is going on. I like Cox's posturing on this. He has spoken about it like he is on the front foot. He will want to know for the team's sake, so I reckon he will put it on Warner to make an early decision.

That is the vibe I get from Cox.

But maybe I'm too positive a person.