Swans select at 31

[timthefish]

another thing that the swans may be thinking of is injuries. i haven't checked this, but while we had poor luck with injuries last year generally, our midfielders were okay. willo missed a few and i guess fixter could be counted, but the rest were pretty durable week in, week out. benny had the ankle at the end.

perhaps the panel think we were somewhat lucky last year with that group of players.

[liz]

It's true that our midfield depth wasn't really tested last year. Fosdike was the other that missed a significant number of games. But with Willo and Maxfield not getting any younger it is more likely to be an issue in the next year or two.

We now need a genuine top flight midfielder or two to emerge from the group of Willoughby, Schmidt, McVeigh, Schneider, Bevan, Buchanan, Malceski, Ablett, Moore (and Potter if he can "do a Bevan")

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Mark
Agree with sentiments, but wish it was that easy, many many things can and do go wrong

Of course. We don't know how good he'll be, how many injuries we'll suffer and even what Paul Roos is thinking.

He could well play, but its unlikely.

We got a good kid in Moore today.

[DST]

Originally posted by Nico
On Spriggs my first thought were he is too soft. maybe a proviso with him coming on board is that he becomes much harder or perishes.

Saying Spriggs is soft is one of those urban myths, everybody says it so it must be right.

When he joined Geelong he was anything but soft. Yes he has pace and endurance but what made him stand out at Geelong was his ability to win his own ball and get his hands dirty.

Post knee injury he struggled with this, but that could just be that he was struggling with form and confidence on his return over the last year.

If he can regain his confidence/form while in Sydney then soft will not be an issue with him.

His disposal is another matter though, but as I have said before you can't teach someone how to find the thing themselves but you can work on their disposal (I offer you exhibt "a" Tagh Kennelly for that one).

DST

[robbieando]

Originally posted by liz
It's true that our midfield depth wasn't really tested last year. Fosdike was the other that missed a significant number of games. But with Willo and Maxfield not getting any younger it is more likely to be an issue in the next year or two.

We now need a genuine top flight midfielder or two to emerge from the group of Willoughby, Schmidt, McVeigh, Schneider, Bevan, Buchanan, Malceski, Ablett, Moore (and Potter if he can "do a Bevan")

Add Dempster to that list, as he "could" be used in the midfield. I agree Liz that our midfield will need one or two of the list you named to become very good senior level midfielders and hope like hell we get our hands on a matchwinner next year or the year after.

[footyhead]

Originally posted by Charlie
Ok - The philosophy is fairly obvious - they think they're close to a flag and are rolling the dice.

And that my friend is exactly where they are dead wrong ! Take another look at the talent amoungst the ranks of the opposition.
We are about to see some awesome attacking football played within the next 5 years, and not much of it will be coming from the Swans.