Shane Crawford

[barry]

I imagine it would be Fosdike/James/Saddington plus draft picks. I'd hate to loose one of the current playing 22 or Davis.

[Hitman44]

James ???

Are you serious ?

Just trying to open cap space.. lol

[barry]

Originally posted by Hitman44
James ???

Are you serious ?

Just trying to open cap space.. lol

James will be the better of those three, but I suspect its probably Saddington.

[ScottH]

Didn't Saddington want to return to Melb??

It sould make sense if he was the one, as he is not invovled in the Finals, so won't affect anyone else, if word gets out!!

[j s]

Originally posted by barry
James will be the better of those three, but I suspect its probably Saddington.

Saddington denied categorically that he had any interest whatsoever in returning to Vic. He has bought a house, is now a Dad, etc. Said that Sydney is now his home.

Crawford would be another Brereton I believe

[Jimmy C]

Originally posted by j s
Saddington denied categorically that he had any interest whatsoever in returning to Vic. He has bought a house, is now a Dad, etc. Said that Sydney is now his home.

This article backs that up.

http://sydneyswans.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=169402

I'm not sure that I'd like to see Saddo go before one of Bolton J or Fosdike, but any one of these are tradeable and would be attractive to other clubs. I don't think any club other than Sydney would have persisted with James' injuries, so I don't reckon he's going anywhere.

Crawford would be another Brereton I believe

I dunno. Brereton lost alot of game time due to injury/suspension (7 weeks of each). My main concern with SC is his attraction to the media limelight. I see him pulling the pin after 18 months to pursue an acting gig, or taking over Backyard Blitz.

[Captain]

I have heard from several people in the footy industry that Shane has always been keen to come and play with the Swans.

Whilst I don't think we should go after him, it wouldn't suprise me if he was wearing the red and white next year.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by barry
James will be the better of those three, but I suspect its probably Saddington.

Dont think it is Saddington. They have a stack of tallish utility players on their list already. There is no logic to get another one.

[Hitman44]

Too true.

It wont be a tall defender they look for, they want a young'ish midfielder and a draft pick !

I expect Fosdike, Draft pick(s) and perhaps Powell as a utility type( if he has any value...)

[SimonH]

Everything in this crazy ol' life involves risks- they might succeed or not. The real question is whether you're getting value for money, i.e. whether you're backing a nag at 10-1 that will only win once every 20 outings.

Unless we got an absolute freakin' bargain on the deal, it's hard to see the value in trying Crawford as a short-term fix.

The evidence is here on this very website.

Here's the history of players drafted/traded who had achieved at least a little something at their old club, but were (known to be) over the hump in their careers, put into 3 categories:

Successes: Tony Lockett (1994 obviously, not 2002!), Paul Roos, Schwatta, Jason Ball, Paul Williams.
Failures: Rudi Mandemaker*, Paul Hawke (in 1991), Phil Krakouer, Richard Osborne, John Hutton, Brad Hardie (!), Dermie, Shannon Corcoran, Scott Russell, Brett Allison, Stephen Tingay, Nick Daffy.
Call it square: Darren Kappler, Dean McRae, Derek Kickett, Kevin Dyson.

I might have missed more obscure players, especially in the early years. Where it's not obvious, I've called a player 'over the hump' if they were over 25 yoa at the time of first playing for us.

I've only tracked whether the player was a success for us, as it's impossible to determine whether players who played very little for us and were then traded away (and played some decent footy after that) got us value with their replacements. For example, Richard Osborne.

It's true that Crawfod is a more talented player than most of the above. Nonetheless, in 17 years of trying (and trying, and trying), bringing in older players from other clubs has worked on very few, select occasions. The difference between successes and failures are those who are prepared to work hard and start afresh, rather than expecting to just drift through on natural talent and reputation- but that's a question-begging criterion, 'cos you only really know if they are going to buckle down once they arrive at the club. Well, except for Brad Hardie! Whose brain exploded that day?

If he comes here, Crawfie might be one of the successes. I hope so. I just don't like our chances so much.

* There's a slight typo on RWO where they call him 'Mandemacher'; and sure, he wasn't that old in 1988, but big Rudi was over the hump after about the 2nd season he played footy. I cacked myself when I found out that Sydney recruited him!

[Damien]

Add Shauble to the list of good and Barry Hall was 25 wasn't he?

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by Damien
Add Shauble to the list of good and Barry Hall was 25 wasn't he?

Was Schauble 25?

[Damien]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
Was Schauble 25?

Actually think he was 23/24...just looks older

[SimonH]

BBBH 24 at time of coming here, Schauble just 23!

(I grant you that on a strict reading you might be able to squeeze in BBBH as he turned 25 before he played his first match; but he was widely regarded as being still on the upward slope of his career when he came here.)

[Jimmy C]

Originally posted by SimonH
(I grant you that on a strict reading you might be able to squeeze in BBBH as he turned 25 before he played his first match; but he was widely regarded as being still on the upward slope of his career when he came here.)

Some would argue that he's still on the way up.