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Steady plan makes cents for Roos
February 16, 2004
Paul Roos is focused on helping the Swans improve in 2004.
Picture: Simon Alekna
Sydney coach Paul Roos dismisses thoughts of any extra pressure after his side's heroics of last season, Richard Hinds reports.
Paul Roos has been asked the question a lot. Sometimes, he even asks himself. Has the coach who started last year with a three-year contract and four-year plan for his Sydney side made a rod for his own back? Has last year's heroic season created expectations that will inevitably weigh his team down?
"I think about it all the time, but it's a funny question because it's almost like saying would you rather last year didn't happen," says Roos. "No (I wouldn't prefer it did not happen), that's the simple answer to that. It was a great year.
"I've heard people say '96 was the worst thing that happened to the Swans. I completely disagree. It is that hard, the competition, that if you can take a preliminary final and a top four (finish) and a grand final appearance (in '96), you've got to take them. They don't happen every year."
When he considers the legacy of his incredible first full-time year as coach, Roos's answer is slightly surprising. He does not begin with the confidence it has given stars such as Adam Goodes and Barry Hall or even the experience youngsters such as Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Adam Schneider gained. Instead, he talks dollars and cents.
This week, the Swans are expected to release their financial results for 2003. What at the beginning of last year looked like being a catastrophic seven-figure loss will now be a far less worrying red figure.
The turnaround has been largely performance-driven. While the Swans made big cuts in costs last season, big crowds such as the 70,000-plus attendance at the Telstra Stadium match against Collingwood increased membership, while some bonuses, such as incentives from sponsors for making the finals, have left the club in a healthier position.
While those results might seem more the concern of the chief executive than the coach, as a survivor of now-defunct Fitzroy, Roos knows how distracting financial problems can be. At the Swans, he also has seen how pressure to achieve short-term success can create problems.
"We've set ourselves to rebuild the list and if you have a bad year, it's hard to follow down that path," he says. "There is less money coming in, less membership, less sponsorship. You are faced with having another year of rebuilding, but suddenly everyone gets a bit nervous. So I think (the improved financial returns after last year's third-placed finish) makes it a bit easier to keep going."
After reaching the 1996 grand final, the Swans traded draft picks for experienced recruits, hoping to pinch a premiership while Tony Lockett and Paul Kelly were still productive. There is still debate about whether this was at the instruction of the board or simply the choice of the coaching staff. But the result was that the Swans remained competitive without threatening to win the flag.
As Roos has stated ad nauseam, the Swans' new approach is to recruit young and build for the future.
Like Roberts-Thomson and Schneider last season, Roos expects it will be youngsters who have already been on the list for a season or more who will make an impact this season.
The most promising of those is Jarrad McVeigh, the No. 5 selection overall in the 2002 national draft. In a practice match against Essendon on Saturday, the 18-year-old was a stand-out amongst a host of youngsters and is already given some chance of playing the first home-and-away match against the Brisbane Lions. Another teenage midfielder, Nick Malceski, also looks likely to be given senior games this season.
They could well play an important part in the final year of Roos's four-year plan. But the key to the Swans' immediate prospects is whether the big number of players who had career-best seasons in 2003 can consolidate, or even improve.
With stars such as Michael O'Loughlin, Barry Hall, Stuart Maxfield, Paul Williams, Brett Kirk, Jason Ball, Leo Barry and Nick Davis all missing from Saturday's practice match, Roos can only judge whether there is any complacency or hangover by how his team has trained so far. He has no concerns yet.
Perhaps an equally pertinent question is whether Roos can improve. Named the coach of the year by his peers, Roos was widely praised for his tactical nous and calm demeanour.
He believes changes such as the appointment of his former Fitzroy teammate Ross Lyon to the coaching panel will ensure there is no decline in standards.
Which leads to the next, and perhaps most difficult, question. What represents a good result for a team that finished last season with a 14-8 record, and beat Port Adelaide in a final at AAMI Stadium?
After the now customary preface about sticking to their long-term goals, developing youngsters, etc, etc, Roos mentions that a finish of anywhere from fourth to 12th could be acceptable - providing he felt his team was still moving toward its objective.
"I look at Geelong (who finished 12th last year with one of the AFL's youngest lists) and I still think they are going forward, even though they went backwards last year (in ladder position)," says Roos. "That's the model we need to keep our mindset on. In '97-98, we had an older list and we were recruiting 27 and 28-year-olds. Now we are recruiting younger kids. I think that means we can go backwards in 2004 and still progress to where we want to go ultimately."
February 16, 2004
Paul Roos is focused on helping the Swans improve in 2004.
Picture: Simon Alekna
Sydney coach Paul Roos dismisses thoughts of any extra pressure after his side's heroics of last season, Richard Hinds reports.
Paul Roos has been asked the question a lot. Sometimes, he even asks himself. Has the coach who started last year with a three-year contract and four-year plan for his Sydney side made a rod for his own back? Has last year's heroic season created expectations that will inevitably weigh his team down?
"I think about it all the time, but it's a funny question because it's almost like saying would you rather last year didn't happen," says Roos. "No (I wouldn't prefer it did not happen), that's the simple answer to that. It was a great year.
"I've heard people say '96 was the worst thing that happened to the Swans. I completely disagree. It is that hard, the competition, that if you can take a preliminary final and a top four (finish) and a grand final appearance (in '96), you've got to take them. They don't happen every year."
When he considers the legacy of his incredible first full-time year as coach, Roos's answer is slightly surprising. He does not begin with the confidence it has given stars such as Adam Goodes and Barry Hall or even the experience youngsters such as Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Adam Schneider gained. Instead, he talks dollars and cents.
This week, the Swans are expected to release their financial results for 2003. What at the beginning of last year looked like being a catastrophic seven-figure loss will now be a far less worrying red figure.
The turnaround has been largely performance-driven. While the Swans made big cuts in costs last season, big crowds such as the 70,000-plus attendance at the Telstra Stadium match against Collingwood increased membership, while some bonuses, such as incentives from sponsors for making the finals, have left the club in a healthier position.
While those results might seem more the concern of the chief executive than the coach, as a survivor of now-defunct Fitzroy, Roos knows how distracting financial problems can be. At the Swans, he also has seen how pressure to achieve short-term success can create problems.
"We've set ourselves to rebuild the list and if you have a bad year, it's hard to follow down that path," he says. "There is less money coming in, less membership, less sponsorship. You are faced with having another year of rebuilding, but suddenly everyone gets a bit nervous. So I think (the improved financial returns after last year's third-placed finish) makes it a bit easier to keep going."
After reaching the 1996 grand final, the Swans traded draft picks for experienced recruits, hoping to pinch a premiership while Tony Lockett and Paul Kelly were still productive. There is still debate about whether this was at the instruction of the board or simply the choice of the coaching staff. But the result was that the Swans remained competitive without threatening to win the flag.
As Roos has stated ad nauseam, the Swans' new approach is to recruit young and build for the future.
Like Roberts-Thomson and Schneider last season, Roos expects it will be youngsters who have already been on the list for a season or more who will make an impact this season.
The most promising of those is Jarrad McVeigh, the No. 5 selection overall in the 2002 national draft. In a practice match against Essendon on Saturday, the 18-year-old was a stand-out amongst a host of youngsters and is already given some chance of playing the first home-and-away match against the Brisbane Lions. Another teenage midfielder, Nick Malceski, also looks likely to be given senior games this season.
They could well play an important part in the final year of Roos's four-year plan. But the key to the Swans' immediate prospects is whether the big number of players who had career-best seasons in 2003 can consolidate, or even improve.
With stars such as Michael O'Loughlin, Barry Hall, Stuart Maxfield, Paul Williams, Brett Kirk, Jason Ball, Leo Barry and Nick Davis all missing from Saturday's practice match, Roos can only judge whether there is any complacency or hangover by how his team has trained so far. He has no concerns yet.
Perhaps an equally pertinent question is whether Roos can improve. Named the coach of the year by his peers, Roos was widely praised for his tactical nous and calm demeanour.
He believes changes such as the appointment of his former Fitzroy teammate Ross Lyon to the coaching panel will ensure there is no decline in standards.
Which leads to the next, and perhaps most difficult, question. What represents a good result for a team that finished last season with a 14-8 record, and beat Port Adelaide in a final at AAMI Stadium?
After the now customary preface about sticking to their long-term goals, developing youngsters, etc, etc, Roos mentions that a finish of anywhere from fourth to 12th could be acceptable - providing he felt his team was still moving toward its objective.
"I look at Geelong (who finished 12th last year with one of the AFL's youngest lists) and I still think they are going forward, even though they went backwards last year (in ladder position)," says Roos. "That's the model we need to keep our mindset on. In '97-98, we had an older list and we were recruiting 27 and 28-year-olds. Now we are recruiting younger kids. I think that means we can go backwards in 2004 and still progress to where we want to go ultimately."
