Can we improve next year ??

[footyhead]

We seem to be very quite in this trading period. Assuming we trade no one and pick up only young players in the draft, do you all think we have a chance to improve our list at all next year ??

[Plugger46]

Without doubt, it's all a failure if we don't. Players such as Schneider, LRT, Powell, Meiklejohn etc, will be better. A full year out of a fit Micky and I reckon he can kick 70 or 80 goals. Heath James to finally make it. A full year out of Doyle and Ball.

We're on the way.

[swan_song]

Roosie reckons the list we have is capable of going further...will be interesting to see if this is so....
However, one minute he says words to that effect, another he states we need a couple of superstars...
I'm confused....

[Bleed Red Blood]

I believe we have enough superstars as in -



Luke Ablett

Jason Ball

Leo Barry

Craig Bolton

Jude Bolton

Amon Buchanan

Jared Crouch

Nick Davis

Sean Dempster

Stephen Doyle

Ben Fixter

And the rest of the list

[Ruda Wakening]

There's a big difference between superstars, and a potential superstars .

[taurus]

Originally posted by Plugger46
Without doubt, it's all a failure if we don't. Players such as Schneider, LRT, Powell, Meiklejohn etc, will be better. A full year out of a fit Micky and I reckon he can kick 70 or 80 goals. Heath James to finally make it. A full year out of Doyle and Ball.

We're on the way.

Let's hope so... Although I would not be terribly surprised if Schneider and LRT suffer from 'second-year blue'.

[AussieAnge]

IMHO I think if we finish fourth or above we have improved. Nobody expected us to be in the preliminary finals and if we are honest with ourselves we didn't either. We were lucky that results fell in our favour gifting us the 4th spot. Don't get me wrong I believe we were better than most gave us credit for but perhaps not as good as we'd like to think

[liz]

Originally posted by AussieAnge
IMHO I think if we finish fourth or above we have improved. Nobody expected us to be in the preliminary finals and if we are honest with ourselves we didn't either. We were lucky that results fell in our favour gifting us the 4th spot. Don't get me wrong I believe we were better than most gave us credit for but perhaps not as good as we'd like to think

Pretty much agree with that. Mind you, I thought similar things about Collingwood last year but they backed up to make a second GF.

There is no doubt that we will need further improvement from some players on the list to just maintain the level of this year.

[Charlie]

By definition, I don't understand how a lower position could be construed as improvement.

By the way, I'm reasonably confident of improvement next year. LRT could have only benefited from his exposure this year. We have several highly talented players - Fixter, Seymour, Doyle, perhaps James - who've been deprived of long runs without injury. Get a couple of them going, and they'll improve on our 2003 nucleus.

Saddo, Micky and Ball all struggled with injury - hopefully they'll get over that. Fosdike showed some improvement toward the end of the year, and hopefully Davis will have the benefit of a pre-season so that he can add consistency to his flashes of brilliance. Can Schneider continue his rapid ascent?

Then, of course, there's the players not currently considered in our best 22. I'm extremely optimistic about the futures of Sundqvist, Ablett (now) and Powell. Hunt will hopefully develop, McGlone may well be promoted and, from all reports, our 2002 draftees (McVeigh, Dempster, Thewlis and Malceski) are going to be a great vintage.

Yes, we can improve.

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie
By definition, I don't understand how a lower position could be construed as improvement.

Maybe it wouldn't, but improvement from one year to the next isn't the objective - a flag is. If we need a year of standing still, or even slightly slipping back, in terms of ladder position but are concurrently developing the younger players on the list so that in 2005 onwards we are a real force, then so be it. Not suggesting the club won't be trying to finish higher, but it might take a year or two for Schneider, LRT, Powell etc to really consolidate their debut years and develop into long-term quality players.

[BAM_BAM]

I agree with both Lizz and Charlie,

I hope the expectatons we have on Adam and LRT don't have an adverse effect on them.

And after watching our young guys in the ressies, I've got big hopes in particular for Scooter (McGlone) Thewlis and Malcelski.

[Xie Shan]

Now that I think about it, when Roosy got the job it was on the basis of a three-year plan, so if Roosy thought it would take 3 years to seriously challenge for the premiership I'm not going to argue with him, after all he hasn't gone wrong so far!

The past few years have been littered with teams that looked great one year and vanished the next - Richmond and Hawthorn were preliminary finalists in 2001 and haven't made the finals since; Carlton were sem-finalists that year and well, need I say more?

I'm confident that the Swans will NOT fall into the same trap next year. That said, they might find it harder to ger to where they did this year because other teams will wake up to them, but if it's a stepping stone to 2005 with continued development of the kids I'll accept that, what's another year when they haven't won a premiership in 70!

[NMWBloods]

I agree with the people who are nearly saying "we can live with a step back to take a greater step forward." We can still improve on this year without finishing higher. I think at the end of the year, after watching the team we will know whether we have improved regardless of ladder position. If they do then the younger guys will have taken another major step forward and the team will have an even more powerful and cohesive bond.

[TheHood]

This thread would be a hell of a lot easier if we hadn't improved so dramatically in 2003. The spike was sharp and the law of diminishing returns suggests we are probably not going to go through 2004 undefeated to take the flag.

I don't think we will falter in 2004 to the point of Richmond or the Hawks and definitely not Carlton.

Other teams will be awake to us, however I think that would be the respect that we deserve and if we're good enough like Brisbane, we can overcome that extra attention.

[Gunn]

Originally posted by sydfan83
Now that I think about it, when Roosy got the job it was on the basis of a three-year plan, so if Roosy thought it would take 3 years to seriously challenge for the premiership I'm not going to argue with him, after all he hasn't gone wrong so far!

The past few years have been littered with teams that looked great one year and vanished the next - Richmond and Hawthorn were preliminary finalists in 2001 and haven't made the finals since; Carlton were sem-finalists that year and well, need I say more?


I'm confident that the Swans will NOT fall into the same trap next year. That said, they might find it harder to ger to where they did this year because other teams will wake up to them, but if it's a stepping stone to 2005 with continued development of the kids I'll accept that, what's another year when they haven't won a premiership in 70!

The commonly held view at the start of the year was that the Swans would finish in the lower half of the ladder. Roos said he thought we might have to go backwards to go forwards and that he would recruit and play the younger players over a three year period. By finisheing third on the ladder (and no trading) we are denied quality early draft picks. Roos now has to rely on his present list "improving" as we are not being replenished from below or from without. How much the present list can improve over this year is the big unknown. One thing is certain however and that is that if we can't challenge for the flag with the present list we have to drop back to get an influx of new quality young players. It may take a year of three but we must win a flag or drop back.

Being consistently in the top half or quarter of the ladder but being unable to go all the way is very frustrating. It only takes as injury or two to key position players and your season is shot.

As pleased as I was with the team this season my pleasure is tempered with the knowledge that we have denied ourtselves the chance to get some more quality youngsters onto the list to improve our future.