Malaxos interview on 6pr

[Dpw]

Was asked by Adrian Barich what are the goals for the Swans next year he said qoute" to make the six, the swans would not be aiming for any higher or to make the grand final"

asked about Cresea he said will be hard to replace but swans have some improvement in there kids and should get Ball and others back. Interesting he also said Saddington had poor season and that MO was far from his best and for these reasons along with the guy's postive attiude and with the strong infastructure Sydney should be there again.

rest of interview was based on his new job as forward??? coach at the Dockers.

[Charlie]

Well... that had better not be true.

How is it that so many people seem willing to accept a decrease in performance???

WE MUST MOVE FORWARD!!!

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Charlie
Well... that had better not be true.

How is it that so many people seem willing to accept a decrease in performance???

WE MUST MOVE FORWARD!!!

Maybe some people recognise that the guys played above themselves this season and there is some risk of it not being repeated. Or maybe they do not want to put too much pressure on the younger guys.

[DST]

Originally posted by Charlie
Well... that had better not be true.

How is it that so many people seem willing to accept a decrease in performance???

WE MUST MOVE FORWARD!!!

So Charlie are you saying we juat throw out the Roos three year plan, draft for now and go for it next year.

Top 6 is a good choice. Means you are on the positive win wise, you get to play finals football and it sets you up for a shot at GF if you can play your best football in the finals.

I for one will be happy if at the end of the third years that Roos has been in charge we have a young, finals expeirenced and capable team that is seen by everyone to be ready to win a premiership and build an era of dominance.

Roos is on the way to that at present.

DST

[Jimmy C]

Originally posted by Charlie
How is it that so many people seem willing to accept a decrease in performance???

Reverse psychology, anyone? I'm actually looking forward to reading about where the Vic-based media see us ending up.

[CureTheSane]

It's all about getting the best out of the players.

The first goal should be to start the season well and win as many of their early games as possible.

As the season unfolds, and when we are doing weel, then we should lookt o a final 8 position.

When that is in the bag, we look to the top 4 and higher when applicable.

No point getting the players all set for "position 1 or 2" only to have them come down to Earth with a thud when we 'only' make the top 4

Top 6 before the season starts is not a bad idea.

Reasonable goal in a season where everything is unknown...

[Charlie]

a) How, exactly, could they have "played above themselves this season"? You can play below your best, but by definition you cannot play better than your best.

b) I am not saying that we should "throw out" Roosy's three-year plan... we need to amend it. The three-year plan had a Grand Final appearance as the stated aim for 2005. That needs to be a premiership now. It also called for steady improvement. Improvement means making the Grand Final in 2004: Not top six which would be a decrease in performance.

Anyone who is willing to accept a poorer performance in 2004 as a positive step has not got a winner's mentality. We can't keep accepting finals performances as success. Success is PREMIERSHIPS!

It's as simple as this: If we make the preliminary finals next year, we have merely tread water. If we don't even make it that far, both 2003 and 2004 will have been wasted. The only way is forward, and the only way forward is the Grand Final.

I WILL NOT BE HAPPY WITH ANYTHING LESS!

[swansrock4eva]

Charlie there's a very good chance you will end up disappointed with an attitude like that then.

There is no point sending a team in with a "premiership or else" mentality - what better way to have them lose than make them afraid of losing? Realistically we are around a top 6 to top 4 chance, given that there will be a few teams on the rise (think the likes of the Bombers, Dockers, Eagles from the 8 and the likes of North and Hawthorn and even StKilda from out of the 8). It is likely that we CAN improve our performances, and hopefully that translates to improved ladder position, and eventually a premiership, but if other teams improve MORE than us, the way we did this year, then it is likely we could drop a couple of places. This doesn't mean we are any less of a chance to make and win the GF if we play our best footy in the finals, it just means we have more competition of a similar standard to us.

Obviously, the club's aim will be for a premiership - that's what every player dreams of playing in when it comes down to it, but the RIGHT work has to be done in the 24 or 25 games beforehand to get there first. But sending a team in with the knowledge that anything else other than a premiership is garbage is not the way to go because it will mentally drain them within weeks, especially if they lose two or more in a row - with that sort of mentality, there is quite a possibility they wouldn't bounce back they way they did this year after the early rounds. Dreams are great things Charlie, but you have to be realistic in the steps you take to achieve them and imo this is what the club is doing.

[liz]

Originally posted by swansrock4eva
Dreams are great things Charlie, but you have to be realistic in the steps you take to achieve them and imo this is what the club is doing.

I reckon that just about sums things up perfectly.

We lost a huge amount of experience at the end of 2002, and Cressa going this year has added to that. We have emerging stars in Goodes and Bolton, and a very very able "back-up crew" in Hall, O'Loughlin, Williams, Maxfield et al. But if you look through the Lions outfit there are stars on every line and we need a few more to emerge - whether that's Kennelly, Schneider, LRT or others.

Roos' original time-frame was realistic and sensible - it's hardly as if he was talking about a 20 year plan! If we emulate 2003 next year, or even come close to that, it will have been a successful year so long as we are then ready to launch a serious assault the following year.

[robbieando]

Charlie, I'm with the rest on this issue, sure we want to do better but we can't make the players think only a premiership will do because if you look at 1997 when we went in with the same outlook as your suggesting now, we didn't play well and went out of the finals in week 1 without putting up a fight.

Also my major fear coming out of this season is that fact so many of the team had their best seasons and indeed played above what many expected to be their best, that they fall back slightly on this years form. Remember we weren't expected to do well this season, but we did and did better than anyone expected, therefore it remains possible that the fall predicted for this season happens next year.

I think Top 6 is a fair "aim" for the season and if we do better than that then great.

[Charlie]

I think you're all missing my point.

All I WANT is improvement. Had we not made the preliminary finals, a preliminary final would have been my minimum AIM next year. Logically, to improve on this year we need to take at least one more step than we did this year, ie make the Grand Final. Therefore, this should be our AIM.

I did not say "expectation". I only expect that they do everything within their power to win the premiership. I do not necessarily expect them to do it, although I believe that we can.

Aiming for a poorer finish is, quite simply, not just accepting mediocrity but embracing it. We might be able to expect something like that, but we CANNOT aim for it.

We HAVE to aim to improve, because if we don't aim for improvement, we will not get it. Presenting top 6 as a "realistic aim" is simply offering an excuse for a poorer performance, in case it happens. This, in my opinion, is the sort of thinking that will only ever hold us back.

The thought that the club is actually aiming for something that is less than what they did this year fills me with nothing but despair.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Charlie
a) How, exactly, could they have "played above themselves this season"? You can play below your best, but by definition you cannot play better than your best.

Well you can actually - you play and everything goes right nearly every week for a whole season. You can't expect that to happen every year unless you are considered to be one of the best sides going around.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Well you can actually - you play and everything goes right nearly every week for a whole season. You can't expect that to happen every year unless you are considered to be one of the best sides going around.

People simply refuse to give the Swans credit... even RWOers!

So... we're not actually a top four team, but we got lucky. Is that what you're saying?

In actual fact, not everything went right. A lot went wrong. O'Loughlin, Ball, Seymour, Fixter, Doyle, Cresswell and Saddington all missed considerable chunks of the season through injury. We had a win stolen from us in round 18. We lost several winnable matches. How, exactly, does that constitute everything going right?

I don't think anyone can grasp my basic point: We may not improve, but if we don't, then that is nothing to be proud of. We cannot bow out in the semi-finals and have people congratulating us on how well we've done, because we will not have done well.

[NMWBloods]

It's not a case of not giving them credit, however no one will deny that they performed way above what anyone expected at the beginning of the year. I think to some degree that suggests they may have played above themselves.

Certainly injuries were troublesome, however our core group of players stayed together for much of the season so we weren't too badly hampered compared to some teams and some past years.

It may also have been the benefits of the honeymoon period for the new coach, which we have seen many times before.

As I said earlier in another thread, I will be happy if at the end of the year I can see an improvement and maturing in the performance of the team and their ability to maintain competitive pressure. This may perhaps mean we don't do as well in finals as this year, however it would also mean laying a strong foundation for great performances in future years.

I would prefer us to go out in semi finals next year and then come back the year after with an even more cohesive and mature group to seriously challenge for, and hopefully win, the premiership. An alternative of us going one step further this year and not quite winning and doing the same the year after, a la Collingwood, is a much worse option.

[Bear]

there is no such thing as "playing above yourself", only playing to your full potentail, where EVERYTHING goes right

we didn't even play to our full potential this year (but fairly close)due to key injuries at the business end of the season

much depends on how other teams play - i.e. Hawthorn did not play anywhere near their full potential, nor did Richmond. buty who knows how good they will be, or St K for that matter, in 2004...

if we play at or near our full potential, regardless of whether we finish 1st or 8th, I will be satisfied, as I was this year.