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Roos ready for the season
10:31:16 AM Fri 19 March, 2004
Paul Roos
sydneyswans.com.au
Firstly, on behalf of all the coaches and football staff I?d like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our supporters back into the fold for the 2004 season, a season in which we?ll be endeavouring to play the same exciting brand of footy we played last year.
But as we take aim on the opening game against Brisbane at The Gabba it?s important to reiterating what I?ve maintained all along - we are committed to the process of building a solid foundation which will stand us in good stead for many years to come - and as such our focus must remain on the development of our youth.
After a successful 2003 we could have been excused for taking the easy path and setting our sights on a couple of proven 27 or 28 year-olds with the target of short-term gain. However that is not what we are about and we remain dedicated to the path we embarked on 18 months ago, to develop a core group of youngster that will lead the Club for many years into the future.
Even though we reached the Preliminary Final last year it must be remembered in the final quarter against the Lions they overwhelmed us by 12 scoring shots to one. In the cold hard light of day there might have were excuses, we were down on personnel, the young players may have run out of gas, certainly that last quarter was not a true reflection of what happened for the first three quarters or for the rest of the year.
But what that last quarter did do was underline the tremendous depth of talent in the Brisbane squad. They are without question a class unit as they showed a week later with a one-act affair of the Grand Final. For us it was so close - yet so far.
Following three successive premierships Brisbane are the benchmark, without doubt, and one of the major reasons they have achieved so much in the past three years comes from the building blocks they put into place along the way.
We must continue to do the same. And that means develop our young players into 100-plus gamers.
When you look at the 2004 Brisbane side you will see 18 players with over 100 games experience - 11 of those having run out more than 150 times. Compare that with the 2004 Swans, 13 have played more than 100 games with just three ticking past 150, Stuart Maxfield, Paul Williams and Michael O?Loughlin being that trio.
We have five players who have contested Grand Finals but only two were as Swans, Michael O?Loughlin and Stuart Maxfield. The other three being Jason Ball (West Coast), Nick Davis (Collingwood) and Barry Hall (St Kilda).
Brisbane now have a staggering 26 players on their current list who have won a Grand Final with the Club.
Never for one moment though think success came overnight for the Lions, and it?s unlikely to happen overnight for the Swans. Brisbane developed their core player group over a period of years starting in the early to mid 90?s and prior to their first Grand Final win in 2001 had finished in the top eight five of the previous six years, fourth and fifth in 1999 and 2000.
This is exactly what we are striving to achieve with the current Swans, to build a launching pad for sustained success well into the future, you need to have a depth of talent, but also a depth of experience.
Being honest I still think we have a fair way to go to where we want to get to, but that doesn?t mean with hard work we can speed up the process. Certainly we are heading in the right direction as was shown last year.
The challenge now is to continue heading in that direction and see improvement from everybody on the list, thus far I have been delighted with the improvement shown in our next group of young players coming through, the likes of Jarrad McVeigh, Luke Ablett, Mark Powell, Jarrad Sundqvist and Amon Buchanan. And then there are all the new recruits who arrived late last year.
All of those players are learning continuously from a tremendous leadership group led by Stuart Maxfield and consisting of Leo Barry, Jason Ball, Jude Bolton, Adam Goodes, Michael O?Loughlin, Andrew Schauble, Jared Crouch, Paul Williams, Ben Mathews and Brett Kirk.
To look out on the training track and see the oldest three of that group, Stuart Maxfield, Jason Ball and Paul Williams leading the charge shows the character of our leaders and it?s certainly inspirational for the youngsters aspiring to greater heights.
Our bottom line for 2004 is improvement from every player, that?s all we can ask for. Add that to a better run with injuries for the likes of Jason Ball, Michael O?Loughlin, Jason Saddington, Ben Fixter and Stephen Doyle and the year should provide its fair share of excitement for Swans fans.
I?ve been asked on numerous occasions as to where I think we?ll finish and the truthful answer is ?I don?t know?, but I can guarantee one thing, we?ll be playing it hard and giving our all every time we step over the white line that, combined with it being such an even competition, who really knows what the next six months may hold.
I look forward to seeing you at the game.
10:31:16 AM Fri 19 March, 2004
Paul Roos
sydneyswans.com.au
Firstly, on behalf of all the coaches and football staff I?d like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our supporters back into the fold for the 2004 season, a season in which we?ll be endeavouring to play the same exciting brand of footy we played last year.
But as we take aim on the opening game against Brisbane at The Gabba it?s important to reiterating what I?ve maintained all along - we are committed to the process of building a solid foundation which will stand us in good stead for many years to come - and as such our focus must remain on the development of our youth.
After a successful 2003 we could have been excused for taking the easy path and setting our sights on a couple of proven 27 or 28 year-olds with the target of short-term gain. However that is not what we are about and we remain dedicated to the path we embarked on 18 months ago, to develop a core group of youngster that will lead the Club for many years into the future.
Even though we reached the Preliminary Final last year it must be remembered in the final quarter against the Lions they overwhelmed us by 12 scoring shots to one. In the cold hard light of day there might have were excuses, we were down on personnel, the young players may have run out of gas, certainly that last quarter was not a true reflection of what happened for the first three quarters or for the rest of the year.
But what that last quarter did do was underline the tremendous depth of talent in the Brisbane squad. They are without question a class unit as they showed a week later with a one-act affair of the Grand Final. For us it was so close - yet so far.
Following three successive premierships Brisbane are the benchmark, without doubt, and one of the major reasons they have achieved so much in the past three years comes from the building blocks they put into place along the way.
We must continue to do the same. And that means develop our young players into 100-plus gamers.
When you look at the 2004 Brisbane side you will see 18 players with over 100 games experience - 11 of those having run out more than 150 times. Compare that with the 2004 Swans, 13 have played more than 100 games with just three ticking past 150, Stuart Maxfield, Paul Williams and Michael O?Loughlin being that trio.
We have five players who have contested Grand Finals but only two were as Swans, Michael O?Loughlin and Stuart Maxfield. The other three being Jason Ball (West Coast), Nick Davis (Collingwood) and Barry Hall (St Kilda).
Brisbane now have a staggering 26 players on their current list who have won a Grand Final with the Club.
Never for one moment though think success came overnight for the Lions, and it?s unlikely to happen overnight for the Swans. Brisbane developed their core player group over a period of years starting in the early to mid 90?s and prior to their first Grand Final win in 2001 had finished in the top eight five of the previous six years, fourth and fifth in 1999 and 2000.
This is exactly what we are striving to achieve with the current Swans, to build a launching pad for sustained success well into the future, you need to have a depth of talent, but also a depth of experience.
Being honest I still think we have a fair way to go to where we want to get to, but that doesn?t mean with hard work we can speed up the process. Certainly we are heading in the right direction as was shown last year.
The challenge now is to continue heading in that direction and see improvement from everybody on the list, thus far I have been delighted with the improvement shown in our next group of young players coming through, the likes of Jarrad McVeigh, Luke Ablett, Mark Powell, Jarrad Sundqvist and Amon Buchanan. And then there are all the new recruits who arrived late last year.
All of those players are learning continuously from a tremendous leadership group led by Stuart Maxfield and consisting of Leo Barry, Jason Ball, Jude Bolton, Adam Goodes, Michael O?Loughlin, Andrew Schauble, Jared Crouch, Paul Williams, Ben Mathews and Brett Kirk.
To look out on the training track and see the oldest three of that group, Stuart Maxfield, Jason Ball and Paul Williams leading the charge shows the character of our leaders and it?s certainly inspirational for the youngsters aspiring to greater heights.
Our bottom line for 2004 is improvement from every player, that?s all we can ask for. Add that to a better run with injuries for the likes of Jason Ball, Michael O?Loughlin, Jason Saddington, Ben Fixter and Stephen Doyle and the year should provide its fair share of excitement for Swans fans.
I?ve been asked on numerous occasions as to where I think we?ll finish and the truthful answer is ?I don?t know?, but I can guarantee one thing, we?ll be playing it hard and giving our all every time we step over the white line that, combined with it being such an even competition, who really knows what the next six months may hold.
I look forward to seeing you at the game.
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