I forgot we were that bad

[dazza]

How many games did we win in 75.I bet only 2 or more

What a joke we must have been in those years

How did we get better in the 80's then ?

Regards Dazz

[NMWBloods]

We won two in '75 - both against Geelong. I went to both of them. The first Swans game I ever went to was rd 4 1975.*

We had lost our first three games and were 11th with 73.8%. In front of a crowd of nearly 13K our reserves beat Hawthorn for their first win of the year. However, Hawthorn beat our seniors by 5 goals.

I then watched us get smashed in our next 5 games, before finally breaking through with a win against Geelong at home (under 10K in the crowd).

We then lost our next 10 in a row, nearly all of which I went to, before prevailing against Geelong again, this time at Kardinia Park. We then rounded out the year with two more losses!

We gradually improved in '76 when Ian Stewart took over as coach and actually made finals in '77. From there we tended to drift between just outside the five and down near (but not at) the bottom until '86 when Edelsten took over. We bought a whole heap of players and turned it around to two finals appearances.

In '86 we were close in finals but not quite good enough in the end, which was disappointing as we had a great side. In '87 a combination of hard training by Hafey at the end of the year in a humid environment destroyed our players and we were smashed in finals. After that the team started to break up and we went back to finishing just out of finals and then crashed to be woeful in the early '90s.



* the first VFL game I went to was the day before - Anzac Day - Essendon v. Carlton at Waverley!!

[dazza]

Hi.That is really amazing but we only became the Swans in I think 1982 if I remember correctly

We were still South Melbourne

When do you guys think the Swans will be a powerhouse team

They have threatened to do so for the last few years but have not quite done so.Teams like Geelong the Sainters and to an extent Melbourne are overtaking the Swans

I am so sick of that.Melbourne is a funny team

One year good one year bad.What do you guys make of that ?

What do the Swans need to do and who do they need to buy to become a team like the Lions

Regards Dazz

[NMWBloods]

We were South Melbourne Swans from the '30s until about 1982. In that year we were referred to as The Swans. Can't recall when we became the Sydney Swans, perhaps around '85.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
We were South Melbourne Swans from the '30s until about 1982. In that year we were referred to as The Swans. Can't recall when we became the Sydney Swans, perhaps around '85.

It was 1983 when the name "Sydney Swans" became official. 1982 was a trial to see how successful the move would be, thus the name "The Swans"

[Benevolent Ert]

The stats man is here to solve all your dilemmas.

IIRC, the Bears go in for their first(?) finals appearance coz of that win.

Correct - 10 points to hemsleys

If we were that bad and got priority draft picks then why the hell did we not win the flag 3 years running like Brisbane did

Because we traded a few picks away, and we had trouble holding on to the players that we drafted with early picks. To name just 3: Shannon Grant, Darren Gaspar, Anthony Rocca

10 points to Thunder Shaker

Some stupid trades were made at the end of 1992 - I believe we traded our #1 pick for Jason Spinks if my memory serves me correctly
1993 our first pick was Darren Gasper, who deserted us when Richmond offered him a hell of a lot more than what he was worth - and it fills my heart with glee when I see them wasting their $500,000 on him
Both of our first picks in 1994 went sooking home to mummy, and in all possibility, we may have been able to snag a premiership in 1997-99 if they had stayed.

No. The AFL waited for Fitzroy to die, then introduced priority picks in 1997.

Bzzzt. Anthony Rocca (pick #2 1994) was a priority pick for winning less than 5 games

Hi.That is really amazing but we only became the Swans in I think 1982 if I remember correctly
We were still South Melbourne

Bzzzt. The Swans name was adopted back in the 30's - 5 points to NMWBloods for picking this up - you would've got 10 by giving the exact years

It was 1983 when the name "Sydney Swans" became official. 1982 was a trial to see how successful the move would be, thus the name "The Swans"

It's not often somebody gets to buzz Robbie out, but Bzzzt.
Although the club played all it's home matches in Sydney in 1982, it was still officially known as South Melbourne that year. In 1983 the club was known only as "The Swans" before the name "Sydney Swans" became official in 1984

[NMWBloods]

Ah thanks Ert - I had a feeling we were still called South Melbourne in our first year in Sydney as I seem to recall it was rather strange and wondering how long it would last.

[Nico]

1992, what a year.

Round 1 we came from 45 points down against Carlton half way through the 3rd Q. Got up with a Mitchell goal with a minute to go.
We looked sensational. Fell was our full forward, the great white hope from Tassie.

Our last points for the season were a draw at the MCG against the Demons when that superstar Jimmy West hit the post from straight in front. Saw him miss one from 5 metres out at Geelong one day, on a very slight angle. As he lined up I said to my boys, "lets get right behind the kick as it goes through". They were disappointed. He missed by a country mile. Just scraped in for a point.

This season put Gary Buckerina right up there with the worst coaches of all time, if not the worst. And he is Hawthorn's Recruiting Manager, sheesh, great judges of personnel that Hawthorn rabble. Couldn't happen to a better bunch.

[Rod_]

I recall this as if it was only last .... decade....!

I do recall that I lived in Townsville and the Swans were losing heaps... I joined the fight for the red and white. it was a big milestone when we won (ha ha Melbourne)

I also recall that when the coach was sacked I thought that I should apply - I couldn't do any worse... (I suppose they did get the next best to me a guy called RDB......)

I had figured that as I had supported the Swans for 20 plus years it was time to put up or shut up!

Membership all the way since!

I doubt that we will fall that far - however rebuild without hurt ain't going to happen! - hope we have had enough hurt. (Robert Walls didn't survive the hurt and Brissy is reaping the benefits of his hurt...) Can we hold in there?

If the shoe doesn't fit buy new ones! Same with players - do we need new ones?

Rod_

[Nico]

Originally posted by Rod_
I recall this as if it was only last .... decade....!

I do recall that I lived in Townsville and the Swans were losing heaps... I joined the fight for the red and white. it was a big milestone when we won (ha ha Melbourne)

I also recall that when the coach was sacked I thought that I should apply - I couldn't do any worse... (I suppose they did get the next best to me a guy called RDB......)

I had figured that as I had supported the Swans for 20 plus years it was time to put up or shut up!

Membership all the way since!

I doubt that we will fall that far - however rebuild without hurt ain't going to happen! - hope we have had enough hurt. (Robert Walls didn't survive the hurt and Brissy is reaping the benefits of his hurt...) Can we hold in there?

If the shoe doesn't fit buy new ones! Same with players - do we need new ones?

Rod_

My oath we need new players.

But if anyone thinks they will come from another club they are ****ing into the wind. Many players at other clubs have already been recycled. Anyone who is any good will be jealously guarded by their club.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Nico
Round 1 we came from 45 points down against Carlton half way through the 3rd Q. Got up with a Mitchell goal with a minute to go.

That was in fact 1990 when we did that and that was also Kel's first game. We had the bye in Round 1 1992 and in our first game we beat West Coast at home. We did however beat Carlton in 1992 at Optus in about Round 5.

Our last points for the season were a draw at the MCG against the Demons when that superstar Jimmy West hit the post from straight in front.

While the draw and West's miss are right, the 2 points for the draw weren't our last points of the season. Our last points for over 27 matches came in a huge win over the Brisbane Bears on a Friday Night on May the 8th.

[Thunder Shaker]

No. The AFL waited for Fitzroy to die, then introduced priority picks in 1997.

Originally posted by Ert
Bzzzt. Anthony Rocca (pick #2 1994) was a priority pick for winning less than 5 games

You may want to explain in a bit more detail how priority picks worked in the past. I was fairly sure that priority picks were introduced as an automatic rule in 1997 and prior to that they may have been granted under special circumstances.

In 1995 Fitzroy won only 2 games. Did they get a priority pick in that year?

[Benevolent Ert]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker

In 1995 Fitzroy won only 2 games. Did they get a priority pick in that year?

Yep. Fitzroy had picks #2 and #4 at the 1995 National draft, they selected Matthew Primus and Scott Bamford respectively