Pack Your Bags, Ya Mug

[sharpie]

Since its pretty much our halfway mark of the season, I reckon its time for a bit of a discussion about who's coming and, more importantly, going at the end of the year. This is what I think will happen.

Unless we have a major collapse in the 2nd half of the season, there is no reason for a huge turnover of the playing list, and we all know that the swans have never really done this sort of thing anyway, so it looks highly unlikely to happen this year.

So, with that in mind, I think the following will be delisted:
Fixter, James, Sundqvist.

Its time to get rid of the injury-plagued guys. You may want to add Doyle to that list, but with already culling those three, and at 203cm and with the possible retirement of Ball, I think he may as well stay around for another year.

Adding to the delistings are the retirements. You'd have to say Maxfield is a certainty, with possibles Nicks and Ball. Ball at 33 by years end will certainly be close to throwing in the towel, while Nicks seems to be on the outer, despite only just turning 30. However, as he is a veteran, there is a possibility of keeping Nicks around as he still does provide good backup for when injuries hit.

Any other names that disappear from our list at the end of the year will go due to trades, as even guys like Fosdike, Spriggs and Powell offer depth to our list and we wont need to get rid of too many more names.

So I'd say there are 4 definites to go from our list (Maxfield and the 3 delistings), with 5 other names likely to be under scrutiny. There would be virtually no chance of all these guys going, as 9 is a very large number of changes before any trading occurs.

Any thoughts?

[Rod_]

James, Fixter, Doyle, Fosdike and Sunny are "could be's with injuries" And as much as we are frustrated with the lack of on ground performances I would recommend to keep one or two..... (IMO)

We normally get rid of about 50 % of the Rookie list

With some oldies to go due to expiration of use by date. I feel that we could target a Key on baller and retain the rest with out hurting the balance. (exchange players to benefit us for a change...)

How much change do we need?

IMO if we are going to be a force in the immediate future, minimal change is required. Therefore keep the best and most likely to get a spot in the top 22.

Go for the A grader and offer the above as bait.... keep the best that remains

Rod_

[timthefish]

Originally posted by Rod_
James, Fixter, Doyle, Fosdike and Sunny are "could be's with injuries"

james isn't. he's way too slow and is now quite old with minimal experience. fosdike can't hide behind injuries either.

[Sean]

Re: Pack Your Bags, Ya Mug

Originally posted by sharpie
So I'd say there are 4 definites to go from our list (Maxfield and the 3 delistings), with 5 other names likely to be under scrutiny. There would be virtually no chance of all these guys going, as 9 is a very large number of changes before any trading occurs.

This year may be slightly different to other years because we have 3 or 4 rookies who could be pushing for selection next season. So, we may need to make room for a few of them on the main list. Vogels is an obvious one but it's possible that Grundy, Campbell and even Clarke & Shaw (especially if Ball retires) may be "promoted".

Of course if we package players together to trade then we will make more room - wouldn't be surprised to see Fosdike/ Saddington offered as a trade again.

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by Rod_
James, Fixter, Doyle, Fosdike and Sunny are "could be's with injuries" And as much as we are frustrated with the lack of on ground performances I would recommend to keep one or two..... (IMO)

We normally get rid of about 50 % of the Rookie list

With some oldies to go due to expiration of use by date. I feel that we could target a Key on baller and retain the rest with out hurting the balance. (exchange players to benefit us for a change...)

How much change do we need?

IMO if we are going to be a force in the immediate future, minimal change is required. Therefore keep the best and most likely to get a spot in the top 22.

Go for the A grader and offer the above as bait.... keep the best that remains

Rod_

Who in their right mind would trade an 'A' grader for any of the above? If we want to get a good outside mf-er, from say Saints, Geelong, WCE etc, would YOU be interested in them?

I reckon:
Retire - Maxy, Ball, Schaubs (maybe), Nicks (poss, although could be fair value as a vet).
Delist - James, Fixter (both def), Sundqvist, Powell (both prob), .
In danger / trade bait - Doyle, Saddo, Schneids, Fosdike, Spriggs.

I would actually like to keep Saddo as I have a sneaking, sorta forbidden liking for the chap. Doyle will be 50/50 dependent on the rucks stocks (Erikson?). Schneids could be an OK trade maybe, Spriggs'll be worth nothing. A good fitness coach maybe?

Qn's: What are the possibilities of playing Schmidt, Willoughby & Erikson in games next year? How close are they - can anybody help who's seen the magoos?

[AussieAnge]

I hope it won't be so but in last week's Inside Football Weekly (IFW) Crackers Keenan reckoned that Goodes might be traded at the end of the year.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by AussieAnge
I hope it won't be so but in last week's Inside Football Weekly (IFW) Crackers Keenan reckoned that Goodes might be traded at the end of the year.

They don't call him Crackers for nothing.

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by AussieAnge
I hope it won't be so but in last week's Inside Football Weekly (IFW) Crackers Keenan reckoned that Goodes might be traded at the end of the year.

Hmmm. My three reasons to treat that quote with suspicion:

1. Inside Football Weekly.
2. Crackers Keenan.
3. the word '...might'.

Plus I don't think the Swans admin would inform Crackers of this at Rd 12.

And if it's a Crackers 'opinion' piece, then just focus on my Point 2. above.

[TheHood]

Originally posted by mocaholic
Hmmm. My three reasons to treat that quote with suspicion:

1. Inside Football Weekly.
2. Crackers Keenan.
3. the word '...might'.

Plus I don't think the Swans admin would inform Crackers of this at Rd 12.

And if it's a Crackers 'opinion' piece, then just focus on my Point 2. above.

Crackers must have felt a hint of irrelevance. So sharp!

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by TheHood
Crackers must have felt a hint of irrelevance. So sharp!

A hint? More like a miasma.

[dread and might]

My thoughts

Throw money at Luke Power and players and\or draft picks at Brisbane. If he is on the way out of the Lions, we should do everything to get him.

Do not trade Goodes under any circumstances.

Stop drafting potential "great stories", we have Tadgh and Kirk, the football karma bank does not owe us anymore "freak import from the unlikely world of lacrosse/ player from the scrapheap" types.

McVeigh to play at least 80minutes a game on the wing for the rest of the season. LRT has been given the chance to take the steep learning curve week in week out, seemingly regardless of form, why not the same for JMcV?

[Schneiderman]

Well you have to consider the depth of our current Rookie list (most likely in order of quality ATM):

Vogels
Grundy
Campbell
Shaw
Clarke
Garruba
Hayes
Potter

Thats a LOT of pressure for current players on the list. All of those Rookies are capable players, and the first six were highly recommended during selection. In fairness to them, they are the likely reason behind our sudden dominance in the ACTFL.

So do these players (who were around last year too) have a higher value?:

Powell
Sundqvist
Fixter
James
Spriggs

In my humble opinion:
Maxfield will retire
Ball may stay on (one more year I reckon, especially if we are close again)
Schauble will retire if he gets less than 50% of the remaining games (had to throw a controversial one in there)

Nicks to be delisted
Saddo to be offered for trade (again)
Fosdike to be offered for trade (again)
Doyle to be offered for trade

With such a deep Rookie list filled with mature-bodied players, and a desire to "rebuild" the team for a real crack in 2008, this may be the best chance for Roos to inject some youth. We could well delist 5-6 players, trade a couple (maybe for only one in return) and have a couple of retirements.

Thats a loss of 8-10.

Replace them with 5-6 from the Rookie list, plus three draft picks and a trade (maybe).

Then there is another 5-6 spots free on the Rookie list for some more for next year.

I think there will be plenty of sleepless nights in the Swans team over the next 5 months.

[Ruda Wakening]

Re: My thoughts

Originally posted by dread and might
Throw money at Luke Power and players and\or draft picks at Brisbane. If he is on the way out of the Lions, we should do everything to get him.

Apparently they already are.

[NMWBloods]

As good as Power is, I'm still not sure if he's your $600K marquee midfielder.

I'd possibly prefer to get a couple of good, skillful runners for half the price.

I'm thinking of the Geelong midfield as a possible model.

[dread and might]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I'd possibly prefer to get a couple of good, skillful runners for half the price.

There are not too many of those on the market though are there?

The other thing with Power, is that he may actually want to come to Sydney, given his northern state experience. Some players don't strike me as being ready to leave their home patch, and therefore aren't realistic options to chase.