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The Swans as a footballing organization, are to be put to the test over the next three seasons, I believe.
With the advent of a lot of changes within other clubs footballing and coaching dept's, the era of mediocrity, and sneaking into the bottom half of the finals, being enough to earn the continued support of fans, both fickle and fanatic; is just about over !
It will be harder and harder to get into the top eight I predict because the saints have improved dramatically, so have Calton and west coast, as well as Geelong, so have Melbourne. Collingwood and North Melbourne both look like being well in the push for finals berths in the next year or 2.
Along with this there is the fact that even if Port or Brisbane do not win another flag between them in the next 3 years, they will certainly be strong finals contenders.
Have the Swans administration done enough to improve their stocks and keep up with the ever improving field ?
I believe that the Swans administration have enforced a policy on both Roos and Eade of rebuilding the team while trying to at least make the finals, Thereby keeping the crowds up for Sydney home games, but not allowing a complete and comprehensive rebuild of the team to take place.
This may have been the right decision, because without a long term commitment by the Sydney fans, the club would not have had any room to move in terms of money and attendances. However the crunch time for this particular philosophy may well be at hand.
With Rodney Eade back in the fray, and Terry Wallace at the helm of the Tigers, I can see a lot of improvement coming from at least two bottom four teams, maybe even three. Perhaps so much improvement that they all could make the finals within two years.
On top of this I don't see any of the other teams mentioned above loosing anything in the off season. In fact the only teams I think may fall out of finals contention are Fremantle and the Swans.
How will the Swans deal, if they suddenly find that their accepted 10 year plan of making the finals without a real clean out suddenly leads the club to the bottom 1/4 of the competition ?
This I think is a real very real possibility, and the only way out of it will be to cut into our list deeply (ie using at least 3 or 4 of our starting line up as trade bait), and try to find some excellence in the draft or at the trade table. Both options are dangerous, because short term drafting and trading has proved not to be the true road to success.
I fear the Swans may well have a true rebuild forced upon them if the rest of the field improves as much as I think they may. Standing still will not cut it for much longer, Neither will making the finals without premeirship glory. The competition is coming.
May the force be with us all.
With the advent of a lot of changes within other clubs footballing and coaching dept's, the era of mediocrity, and sneaking into the bottom half of the finals, being enough to earn the continued support of fans, both fickle and fanatic; is just about over !
It will be harder and harder to get into the top eight I predict because the saints have improved dramatically, so have Calton and west coast, as well as Geelong, so have Melbourne. Collingwood and North Melbourne both look like being well in the push for finals berths in the next year or 2.
Along with this there is the fact that even if Port or Brisbane do not win another flag between them in the next 3 years, they will certainly be strong finals contenders.
Have the Swans administration done enough to improve their stocks and keep up with the ever improving field ?
I believe that the Swans administration have enforced a policy on both Roos and Eade of rebuilding the team while trying to at least make the finals, Thereby keeping the crowds up for Sydney home games, but not allowing a complete and comprehensive rebuild of the team to take place.
This may have been the right decision, because without a long term commitment by the Sydney fans, the club would not have had any room to move in terms of money and attendances. However the crunch time for this particular philosophy may well be at hand.
With Rodney Eade back in the fray, and Terry Wallace at the helm of the Tigers, I can see a lot of improvement coming from at least two bottom four teams, maybe even three. Perhaps so much improvement that they all could make the finals within two years.
On top of this I don't see any of the other teams mentioned above loosing anything in the off season. In fact the only teams I think may fall out of finals contention are Fremantle and the Swans.
How will the Swans deal, if they suddenly find that their accepted 10 year plan of making the finals without a real clean out suddenly leads the club to the bottom 1/4 of the competition ?
This I think is a real very real possibility, and the only way out of it will be to cut into our list deeply (ie using at least 3 or 4 of our starting line up as trade bait), and try to find some excellence in the draft or at the trade table. Both options are dangerous, because short term drafting and trading has proved not to be the true road to success.
I fear the Swans may well have a true rebuild forced upon them if the rest of the field improves as much as I think they may. Standing still will not cut it for much longer, Neither will making the finals without premeirship glory. The competition is coming.
May the force be with us all.
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