Youth Policy

[motorace_182]

just wondering, do we still have one?? If we do, then we arent exactly sticking to it with this chase for developed and established players are we. Has Roos been told we need a premiership immediately to secure a solid supporter base in Sydney over the next few years and he is going for the big one straight up and aborted his long term policy?

[liz]

Hear hear bxxxxy hear.

I thought the message that Ireland brought with him from Brisbane is that you have to be patient and develop a squad from within.

The Swans have a good track record with attracting quality players and then revitalising them and if there were an obvious choice who really wanted to come here (ala Hall or Willo) then fine, lets do a value-trade and get them up here.

But I fear that the club has announced it is going to recruit a bit name and thus is hell-bent on doing this, while maybe losing sight of the future.

I know Roos said a few weeks ago that we'd drafted lots of youth over the past few years and now wanted to top up with experience. But in reality we haven't drafted that many youngsters - probably only the average number - and still have plenty of experience within the squad. Plus we have to draft at least 3 players this year, so unless we are going to trade all our top picks away, delist Malceski, Sundqvist and Dempster (say) and rely on the fact that they'll still be around by the time the 50th or so pick comes along, it all seems daft.

If Roos has decided (which he may well not have done, only based on the rumours) that the likes of Saddo, Fosdike, Davis, Doyle are expendable if he is going to build the squad he thinks he needs, so be it. But if we can extract decent value for them then why not draft some quality kids and add to the pool of developing talent we have? Or just do some lower key trades and find unfulfilled potential, ala Craig Bolton or Andrew Schauble.

[Mark]

That is a bit harsh, Roos youth plan was hatched over a season and a half ago before the emergence (in real terms) of Schneider, LRT, Bevan, Ablett or Monte.

I think you will find that 5 youngsters into the top 22 would be very high in orginal expectations. Roosy in everything i have read is now looking to top ouir squad up with two quality players.

The Brisbane "youth" myth is just that, they topped up with plenty of players from other teams. You cannot expect all our deficiencies to be met in house

[Damien]

Roos has been given a pretty clear mandate by supporters and the club, and if he and his football department believe that to take the next step we need to recruit, we need to recruit.

Roos has his vision of how the team has to look to win a premiership, just have to trust he is doing the right thing. If he isn't he goes down the Frawley path, if he is, he joins the greats.

Surely seeing some people were willing to stalk the club 2 years ago to get him appointed, he can now be trusted to do the right thing.

[liz]

Originally posted by Mark
The Brisbane "youth" myth is just that, they topped up with plenty of players from other teams. You cannot expect all our deficiencies to be met in house

They've never gone out waving the cheque book though (figuratively speaking, in terms of players or picks). Their core were all drafted or came via FS / zone picks / or the merger. Admittedly they've had some good fortune along the way, especially with the merger, and extracted far more value from their zone picks than Sydney ever did, but they've not chased big name players. Nor have Essendon really, nor Port.

I'm not against trading - I'm just against mortgaging everything for a 25yo underperforming sometime ruckman. If we pay any more for him than we paid for Hall, I just don't reckon its worth it.

[liz]

Originally posted by Damien
Roos has been given a pretty clear mandate by supporters and the club, and if he and his football department believe that to take the next step we need to recruit, we need to recruit.

Roos has his vision of how the team has to look to win a premiership, just have to trust he is doing the right thing. If he isn't he goes down the Frawley path, if he is, he joins the greats.

Surely seeing some people were willing to stalk the club 2 years ago to get him appointed, he can now be trusted to do the right thing.

That's a fair comment Damien. We need to trust he and Ireland know what they're doing. I just hate this time of year, I guess, wondering which of one's favourites could be wearing different colours next year.

[Nico]

It looks as if one big name is the best they will do. That means that the rest of their draft picks in the first draft will be youth. 1 experienced and 3/4 young players would seem ok from a development point of view. Given that pick 15 is our first, they would not expect to pick up the obvious cream.

[CureTheSane]

I was waiting for the youth policy posts to start.

Two good years finals wise indicates to me that a 'youth policy' in the context in which it is generally mentioned is totally inapropriate.

A proper 'youth policy' is uaually adopted by a club who have been through the ringer and have consistenlt wound up near the bottom of the ladder.

I would suggest that the club are still quite mindful of changing the way we have drafted over the years and will continue to look at younger players more than they used to.

There are two extremes, playing a team of under 19s and playing a team of vetrans or legends.
Somewhere in the middle there is a balance.

Roos has said a few times that we are a couple of guns away from a flag.
He is putting his money where his mouth is this trading period, and that has to be a good thing.

Besides, if it all comes crashing down, because of Roos' stupid decisions, then we can simply blame SSI.
After all, they are the ones soley responsible for Roos becoming coach, playing for the Swans, and picking up on his 21st birthday

[Damien]

Originally posted by liz
That's a fair comment Damien. We need to trust he and Ireland know what they're doing. I just hate this time of year, I guess, wondering which of one's favourites could be wearing different colours next year.

Just wish they would hurry up lol

I love the thought that we could recruit the player that could take us somewhere we have never been, and then I think of Nick Daffy and I come tumbling back to Earth!!

Be glad for 2pm Friday to rock around.

[NMWBloods]

I find it bizarre that people continually raise the youth policy issue.

Trading for say 2 players to bolster our team now is not giving up on the youth policy. If we were able to pick up a couple of players around 24-26 I can hardly imagine that means we are going old!

If we just recruit new young guys then by the time they are ready then the older guys in the team will no longer be at their peak. What's the team meant to do over the next 3-4 years while we wait for the new guns to come on stream - tread water?

Given we are not overly endowed with masses of high draft picks, how could we possibly fill our side with young gun recruits anyway?

[Snowy]

Problem is none of the youngsters (McVeigh and Schneider included), will be superstars. Only way to get them is to have early picks.

[NMWBloods]

But firstly we are not going to have many (any?) early picks unless we finish well down the ladder and high picks are still no guarantee of superstars anyway (eg: Saddington, Bolton, Fosdike).

Missing out on just one year of recruiting through the draft is not necessarily going to be a long-term disaster.

[DST]

Originally posted by Damien
Just wish they would hurry up lol

I love the thought that we could recruit the player that could take us somewhere we have never been, and then I think of Nick Daffy and I come tumbling back to Earth!!

Be glad for 2pm Friday to rock around.

Enough of the Nick Daffy references when talking about trading for players.

Anyone would think we gave up our first two draft picks for him and were going to pay him half a million a year for four years.

Nick Daffy was tacked onto the Stafford deal and helped us get what we needed for the Hall trade.

We gave up nothing, payed him nothing and got nothing in return, no need to go into hyper melt down about the cons of trading.

Try pick 31 for Green & Hawking.............................

DST

[Damien]

Don't take it too seriously DST!

Simply stating that you can get greatness or nothing. There is a fair bit of risk with any trade.

[dendol]

Originally posted by Snowy
Problem is none of the youngsters (McVeigh and Schneider included), will be superstars. Only way to get them is to have early picks.

You got a crystal ball?