No talent team?

[Go Swannies]

Since Istarted following the Swans I keep hearing about our no talent, blue collar team. We now have a premiership and we don't seem to have moved on much since Mick Malthouse (?) said in 2003 that there was only a handfull of Swans players that would get a start at any other team.

This is starting to annoy me because, overall, we seem to have a team that largely reflects our current ladder position. I'd be interested to see what others here think.

I've listed the Premiership players below (the order comes from the Hun's GF stat sheet).

FOSDIKE,Nic - player who performed well in a tough Grand Final

KIRK,Brett - one of the competition's leading possession getters and tacklers.

GOODES,Adam - Brownlow medallist

CROUCH,Jared - one of the best go-with players in the AFL

BUCHANAN,Amon - now an elite midfielder/crumber

WILLIAMS,Paul - a long time class act.

HALL,Barry - picked by the coaches as the comp's most valuable player.

ROBERTS-THOMSON,Lewis - now an excellent KPP.

MATHEWS,Ben - good midfielder

BARRY,Leo - amongst the all-time elite defenders.

BOLTON,Jude - good tough ball winner. Listed as amongst the 50 most valuable AFL players.

KENNELLY,Tadhg - one of the comp's most exciting running players.

O'LOUGHLIN,Michael - brilliant full forward.

O'KEEFE,Ryan - rock solid forward.

JOLLY,Darren - a ruckman who can mix it with the best.

SCHNEIDER,Adam - exciting crumber who can lift for the big events.

DAVIS,Nick - game winning forward.

BOLTON,Craig - one of the comps best defenders, and certainly the most reliable. Listed as amongst the 50 most valuable AFL players.

ABLETT,Luke - much improved midfielder who can run with the best.

DEMPSTER,Sean - youngster who doesn't drop his game in the big ones.

BEVAN,Paul - youngster who doesn't drop his game in the big ones.

BALL,Jason - double premiership player.

That's not a bad team. Is there anyone on that list that any other team wouldn't now want?How many other teams have such an even spread of talent?

[sharpie]

Haha, I'd love a pair of those rosy glasses!

Perhaps a bit over-exaggerated, but I agree with your general sentiment.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by sharpie
Haha, I'd love a pair of those rosy glasses!

Swans Premiers beer goggles mate.

[Lucky Knickers]

I want them on my team.
Maybe STK wouldn't want Baz
Don't think wobbles would want Davo

IMHO you don't use enough superlatives. Team of the century (2005-2104)

[swan_song]

Personally, I would delete all the "one of"s from your list....

[NMWBloods]

'Interesting' observations...

[bandwagon]

Interesting quote from Malthouse (if it's true).
I'm sure someone with a better knowledge of the Eagles (and football in general) can improve on this - but here goes:

Combined Swans/WCE team

FF: N.Davis, O'Loughlin, Matera
HF: Kerr, Hall, O'Keefe
Cen: Fletcher, Kirk, J.Bolton
Ruck: Cox, Judd, Cousins
HB: Kennelly, Glass, Hunter
FB: C.Bolton, Barry, Wirrpunda
Int: Goodes, Embley, Crouch, Buchanan

12 Swans/10 Eagles. Ok - so who have I missed?

Sorry I can't get the buggers to line up!

[liz]

It's interesting to contrast the approaches of Roos and Sheedy.

Roos insists he has a team with only moderate talent, despite it being the current premiership side and one with a decent finals record over the past three years. A previously best-22 player, 18 months off a knee reco (ie he should be getting close to being back in form) who couldn't quite break into the premiership team but is a good, honest AFL player, looks doubtful to net a second round pick.

Yet Sheedy's team, which finished bottom four, contains players unable to break into a poorly performing team on a consistent basis who he believes are good enough to package up for a top 10 draft pick. And one who he managed to snare a top 20 pick for. This is coming on the back of the trade steal of the decade two years ago, when he managed to muscle in on the Veale deal and extract the number 6 pick for Danny Jacobs.

[Provost]

Originally posted by swan_song
Personally, I would delete all the "one of"s from your list....

including this one?
KENNELLY,Tadhg - one of the comp's most exciting running players.
That would be a good move

[cruiser]

I dont see the point of this thread. The team doesnt have to prove anything to anyone. They ARE THE PREMIERS! Who gives a fat rats what anyone else thinks.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by cruiser
I dont see the point of this thread. The team doesnt have to prove anything to anyone. They ARE THE PREMIERS! Who gives a fat rats what anyone else thinks.

I mainly did this for myself. Since we won, I've heard a lot about how we did it with a mediocre line-up. Specifically, I've heard how Crouch is merely a tagger in the Libba mould, Kirk is an ordinary player with a poor kick and that it's ridiculous that Craig Bolton was in Sheahan's Top 50.

There are a few players I wish played for us. But there's none in our team that I wish didn't play for us.

[aceman]

i've been a swans fan 4 27yrs, yet even i must admit this swans team isn't the most talented team in league. ranking sides in terms of lists i rate it about 5th, some distance behind this yrs west coast & nowhere as good as the 91 eagles side. the loss of jason ball is a big blow & certainly the addition of chambers doesn't go anywhere 2 filling the hole. without a strong ruck division, sydney slips 2 about 8th among afl teams ranked by personal. suspect goodes may b enlisted in2 ruck 2 help the inexperienced, in terms of 1st grade, chambers & doyle

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by aceman
i've been a swans fan 4 27yrs

Wow - what were the players like in the late 16thC - was the game different in style? Did the armour get in the way? Did the pre-game portraits look great?

[cruiser]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Wow - what were the players like in the late 16thC - was the game different in style? Did the armour get in the way? Did the pre-game portraits look great?

Excuse me while I go cut and paste that rolling eye smiley.

[Frog]

They may not be, individually, amongst the cream of the AFL and hence get missed when talking about Judd, Hird, Voss, Cousins and the like - The big point here is that all these players are spoken about in individual context.

We have blue collar workers that FORM a premiership TEAM. I don't think Paul Roos and the Swans think about individuals - they are all part of the greater good - and that has been proven.

The only thing I like is that nobody (?) rates us, not even for next year as a TEAM ... we like being the underdog, being under the radar ... It may just come back to bite the best of the rest !!!