Highlights and lowlights for season 2004

[NMWBloods]

Because the season has finished but is still fresh in mind, here are my highlights and lowlights of the Swans season 2004 from a supporter's viewpoint.

Highlights

- Great performance and improvement by Kirk

- Continued good form by Hall (incl. improved ability to take overhead marks)

- Bevan's first year

- Fantastic win over St Kilda

- Great wins over Brisbane and Melbourne

- Ability to shut down opposition

- Winning elimination final


Lowlights

- Capitulation in last quarter against Kangaroos and Richmond

- Inability to win a final in Melbourne still, after weak second half against Saints

- Lapses in performance and too frequent inconsistency

- The struggle to kick enough goals

- Boring game plan (I can understand if it is a learning phase as part of a longer term plan, but I hope we are more interesting to watch next year)

- Schauble's hamstring

- Schneider's hamstring

- Davis' injuries

- Goodes' injuries

[Damien]

Good work Nick, agree with your summation.

Another lowlight (more from club/AFL in Syd side)) for me was the lower than expected Telstra Stadium crowds and the lack of hype surrounding the game in Sydney this year

Concerned me a bit, but scheduling against Union tests and Olympics were probably the major reason.

[RogueSwan]

Re: Highlights and lowlights for season 2004

Originally posted by NMWBloods
[B]Because the season has finished but is still fresh in mind, here are my highlights and lowlights of the Swans season 2004 from a supporter's viewpoint.

Highlights

...
- Bevan's first year

...

Whole heartedly agree, and I would like to add Pebbles consistency. I feel confident he will do something useful (normally take a strong mark) when the ball heads his direction.

[NMWBloods]

Re: Re: Highlights and lowlights for season 2004

Originally posted by RogueSwan
Whole heartedly agree, and I would like to add Pebbles consistency. I feel confident he will do something useful (normally take a strong mark) when the ball heads his direction.

Yep - probably should have included the further improvement of O'Keefe.

[Ajn]

Dissappointed we are looking for a star rather than unearthing our own, don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed with the year only the ability of players to stand up and take this competition by the scruff of the neck. eg Nick Davis..not fit, hence injury prone!

Highlight for me was the form of:
Bevan, O'Keefe, Kirk, Hall, Barry, Bolton's, Buchanan, Matthews, Willo who all took a step forward

Lowlight was the failure of these players to make any progress, with apologies only to those that were injured for a long period:

Luke Ablett, Jason Ball, Jared Crouch, Matthew Davis, Nick Davis, Sean Dempster, Stephen Doyle, Andrew Ericksen, Ben Fixter, Nic Fosdike, Adam Goodes, Heath James, Tadhg Kennelly, Nick Malceski, Stuart Maxfield, Scott McGlone, Jarrad McVeigh, James Meiklejohn, Matthew Nicks, Michael O'Loughlin, Mark Powell, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Aaron Rogers, Jason Saddington, Andrew Schauble, Tim Schmidt, Adam Schneider, Jarrad Sundqvist, Joshua Thewlis, Rowan Warfe, Josh Willoughby

[liz]

I'd like to add the continued form of Leo as another highlight. Last year he took the step from rejuvenated and reliable backman to be one of the top dozen or so defenders in the league. This year he showed that it wasn't a one off fluke and that he is capable of sustaining this level of performance. His AA selection, after being unlucky to miss out the year before, was testament to this.

And while it wasn't a highlight per se, the signs from Monty that he could become a pretty handy AFL player were a very encouraging sign. He'd not shown much previously but this year showed he is a smart and hard working footballer.

[liz]

Originally posted by Ajn


Lowlight was the failure of these players to make any progress, with apologies only to those that were injured for a long period:

Luke Ablett, Jason Ball, Jared Crouch, Matthew Davis, Nick Davis, Sean Dempster, Stephen Doyle, Andrew Ericksen, Ben Fixter, Nic Fosdike, Adam Goodes, Heath James, Tadhg Kennelly, Nick Malceski, Stuart Maxfield, Scott McGlone, Jarrad McVeigh, James Meiklejohn, Matthew Nicks, Michael O'Loughlin, Mark Powell, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Aaron Rogers, Jason Saddington, Andrew Schauble, Tim Schmidt, Adam Schneider, Jarrad Sundqvist, Joshua Thewlis, Rowan Warfe, Josh Willoughby

Bit of a harsh call on some of those players.

O'Loughlin, Ball, Nicks, Maxfield, Crouch you probably wouldn't expect to make much progress, as such. Remaining at the level they are at is a reasonable achievement for mature players. Ball at least managed to stay in one piece for substantially all the season.

It's also not fair to say that M Davis, Schmidt, Willoughby, Erikson made no progress. If you'd seen them play reserves football you'd see that they've all made significant progress this year.

Ablett and McVeigh have also made significant progress, and Dempster and Thewlis some.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by liz
I'd like to add the continued form of Leo as another highlight. Last year he took the step from rejuvenated and reliable backman to be one of the top dozen or so defenders in the league. This year he showed that it wasn't a one off fluke and that he is capable of sustaining this level of performance. His AA selection, after being unlucky to miss out the year before, was testament to this.

Yep - was thinking about Barry's good form down back. We had less run from him, mainly due to circumstances, but he really showed that he could actually play a defensive role well.

And while it wasn't a highlight per se, the signs from Monty that he could become a pretty handy AFL player were a very encouraging sign. He'd not shown much previously but this year showed he is a smart and hard working footballer.

Yes, I started to include Buchanan, as he has definitely improved this year, but probably not quite to the level of being a highlight.

[Ryan Bomford]

Originally posted by liz
Bit of a harsh call on some of those players.

O'Loughlin, Ball, Nicks, Maxfield, Crouch you probably wouldn't expect to make much progress, as such. Remaining at the level they are at is a reasonable achievement for mature players. Ball at least managed to stay in one piece for substantially all the season.

It's also not fair to say that M Davis, Schmidt, Willoughby, Erikson made no progress. If you'd seen them play reserves football you'd see that they've all made significant progress this year.

Ablett and McVeigh have also made significant progress, and Dempster and Thewlis some.

I agree with you Liz on the issue of being too harsh on the performance of first year players and our expectations of better performance from veterans but Ajn makes a valid observation. A major disappointment for me also was the seeming lack of player development in 2nd and 3rd year players like Dempster, Thewlis, LRT, James, Powell, Rogers, Meicklejohn, McGlone, Hunt.

The unacceptable performance of the last quartet has been acknowledged by the club and they have been delisted.

Sundquist and Malceski, of course, had injury excuses and you may cut LRT a break by including him in this group as well.

Doyle, Ablett and McVeigh made some progress but perhaps not as much as many would have expected.

The fact that only Bevan and Buchanan made a major claim to senior selection this year must be of some concern to the club and that must be one of the major reasons why we are looking at recruiting ready-made players next year from other clubs.

[Ajn]

Many have potential, but with hard work and dedication there are a number who could elevate their game to an elite level. N.Davis is a prime example of someone who has enormous ability, but doesn't put in the effort required. The steps Ryan O'Keefe has made this year through hard work is testiment to this, although to go to the next step he needs to continue his momentum.

P.S. Granted the newbies added last year have probably till 2006, until we see the full results. But the opportunity to shine is there, not every club waits for a long time until the development phase is over. Bevan took that chance this year!

[liz]

Originally posted by Ajn

P.S. Granted the newbies added last year have probably till 2006, until we see the full results. But the opportunity to shine is there, not every club waits for a long time until the development phase is over. Bevan took that chance this year!

Bevan was on his second year on the list. He's a year older and had one more AFL pre-season under his belt than Willoughby, Schmidt etc.

Plus different players develop at different rates. It's what they are able to produce during their mature years (22 or so onwards, 75+ games) rather than what they can do as a teenager that matters. It's taken O'Keefe until he's 23 and has five years on the list to produce really good, consistent football. Kirk stepped up to a new level at the age of 26.

Every so often a Judd or a Riewoldt comes along, but they are the exceptions rather than the rule. They also play for clubs that have been forced to develop their youth quickly because their mid-aged range is non-existent. Sydney has a pretty solid core of mid-aged players - maybe they collectively lack a bit of star quality but they are all good enough to hold their places over a raw teenager, unless that teenager is really top drawer.

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Ajn
Dissappointed we are looking for a star rather than unearthing our own

I think that the Swans have done much to unearth some its own stars eg Kirk, O'Keefe, Bevan, Bucchanon. And with our first draft pick at 15 this year, I think trading for a star or three is the right thing to do.

highhlight for me was the form of:
Bevan, O'Keefe, Kirk, Hall, Barry, Bolton's, Buchanan, Matthews, Willo who all took a step forward

Not sure I agree with you about Willo and Jude Bolton.

Lowlight was the failure of these players to make any progress, with apologies only to those that were injured for a long period:
Luke Ablett, Jason Ball, Jared Crouch, Matthew Davis, Nick Davis, Sean Dempster, Stephen Doyle, Andrew Ericksen, Ben Fixter, Nic Fosdike, Adam Goodes, Heath James, Tadhg Kennelly, Nick Malceski, Stuart Maxfield, Scott McGlone, Jarrad McVeigh, James Meiklejohn, Matthew Nicks, Michael O'Loughlin, Mark Powell, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Aaron Rogers, Jason Saddington, Andrew Schauble, Tim Schmidt, Adam Schneider, Jarrad Sundqvist, Joshua Thewlis, Rowan Warfe, Josh Willoughby

Kennelly? Nicks? I thought that they were both much improved.

[Chubby Muffler]

A major highlight for me has been the year that Nicks has had. After last year's rather disaml effort, he has made himself into a very handy utility and his game against the West Coast was very tight. Consistant all year.

I'm a big fan of Rhino too and think he is shaping up nicely. With a hopefully fit and firing Schnieder next year, combined with Baz and Mick - the foreward line has a potent look to it. If they get the ball from the midfield. Which doesn't always happen.

[swansrule100]

the biggest bloody lowlight was the fact they kept losing games after being in winning positions


brisbane, geelong, kangaroos, richmond etc

should of done better

also the coaching staff playing unfit players


my years highlight was the win against the eagles in the finals

[Matt79]

For what it is worth here are my hightlights and lowlights of 2004...

HIGHLIGHTS

* Our win over St Kilda at a packed SCG
* Win over Brisbane after 2 away losses
* Elimination final win over West Coast
* The emergence of Paul Beven and Jarred McVeigh
* Comeback over Carlton after being goooooooone!

LOWLIGHTS
* Loss to the Kangaroos in THAT last quarter and of course losing Wally Jackson
* 4 losses in a row
* Getting flogged by St Kilda in the Semi's
* Getting smashed by Port Adelaide
* Injuries to Schnider, Goodes and Shaubs.

But hey when you balance the two out that is why we love footy!!