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Don't disagree with previous nominations, but another one to ponder is the Captain.
He had a fantastic season this year - particularly coming from where he did in the pecking order - and as a tagger it's hard to see how he could do much better next year (or beyond). But his tagging almost clouded how effective he can be at getting the ball himself and his usage of it isn't bad either.
He's one of few Swans genuinely able to win clearances and some of his handballs are extremely creative. His kicking on goal is usually sound and his endurance top notch. Maybe his field kicking sometimes lacks penetration and he's not overly quick, but we have enough other midfielders around him who are strong in these areas that these should be manageable.
His style of play isn't the same, but I see parallels with Cresswell. Both "arrived" at the top level at relatively mature ages, having been rejected for various reasons at the 17/18yo stage. Even in 1996 Cresswell was primarily used as a tagger and didn't really come into his own as a true playmaker until 1997 onwards and got better and better over the next few seasons. I reckon his skills were still improving even this year, and although the conventional wisdom is that players won't improve much after the age of 24 or so, Cresswell proved this isn't always the case.
I reckon Kirk is still finding himself as a footballer and it's entirely possible that there's more improvement to come yet. If Fixter can rediscover his 2002 form and take some of the tagging responsibilities over from Kirk, I don't see any reason why he (Kirk) can't develop into a topline midfielder - not in the elite class but certainly a consistent ball winner and play maker.
He had a fantastic season this year - particularly coming from where he did in the pecking order - and as a tagger it's hard to see how he could do much better next year (or beyond). But his tagging almost clouded how effective he can be at getting the ball himself and his usage of it isn't bad either.
He's one of few Swans genuinely able to win clearances and some of his handballs are extremely creative. His kicking on goal is usually sound and his endurance top notch. Maybe his field kicking sometimes lacks penetration and he's not overly quick, but we have enough other midfielders around him who are strong in these areas that these should be manageable.
His style of play isn't the same, but I see parallels with Cresswell. Both "arrived" at the top level at relatively mature ages, having been rejected for various reasons at the 17/18yo stage. Even in 1996 Cresswell was primarily used as a tagger and didn't really come into his own as a true playmaker until 1997 onwards and got better and better over the next few seasons. I reckon his skills were still improving even this year, and although the conventional wisdom is that players won't improve much after the age of 24 or so, Cresswell proved this isn't always the case.
I reckon Kirk is still finding himself as a footballer and it's entirely possible that there's more improvement to come yet. If Fixter can rediscover his 2002 form and take some of the tagging responsibilities over from Kirk, I don't see any reason why he (Kirk) can't develop into a topline midfielder - not in the elite class but certainly a consistent ball winner and play maker.
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