Season preview on AFL site

[Thunder Shaker]

Season preview - Sydney

[Ryan Bomford]

Fifth? PhPhfffff..

[Mike_B]

Funny that they say 5th yet have this comment referring to their notion of our strongest lineup.

The premiership-winning 22 as named before the Grand Final with the exception of Doyle in for the retired Ball. It's the best 22 in football until somebody proves otherwise

[NMWBloods]

"There's no doubt Sydney has the talent to go all the way again, but it will be intriguing to see how Roos and his Swans navigate the season."

Very interesting and pertinent point.

And some other key observations:

"Will the Swans adopt the same defensive pattern as last year?

Why change a winning formula? The new rules brought in prior to the start of the season may cause Paul Roos to tweak his defensive model a bit, but don't expect to see wholesale changes because as much-maligned as it is, the simple truth is that it works."

"The Swans are traditionally slow starters and a late start to the pre-season after a summer spent celebrating will not help. That said, Sydney still has the players to be there or thereabouts in September and many of their younger players will have benefited enormously from the experience of last year's finals series."

[anne]

....yeah, but four other teams are better!

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Mike_B
Funny that they say 5th yet have this comment referring to their notion of our strongest lineup.

I think it's a truism.

[NMWBloods]

I think Brisbane will be in the mix again this year.

So you could take the top six teams and throw their names up in the air for finishing order after H&A.

If we start slow again, it doesn't help us gain a high position in a fairly even competition.

[katie-scarlett]

So?
We were 3rd last year but still got the cup.
Being 5th doesn't count out another cup.
Top 8 = finals chances.

"The premiership-winning 22 as named before the Grand Final with the exception of Doyle in for the retired Ball. It's the best 22 in football until somebody proves otherwise."

I think Teddy Richards might have a chance to be that 'somebody'.

[william wallace]

Originally posted by katie-scarlett
So?
We were 3rd last year but still got the cup.
Being 5th doesn't count out another cup.
Top 8 = finals chances.

"The premiership-winning 22 as named before the Grand Final with the exception of Doyle in for the retired Ball. It's the best 22 in football until somebody proves otherwise."

I think Teddy Richards might have a chance to be that 'somebody'.

True, BUT its alot harder to win from outside the four. Don't forget that we used our double chance last year. First round finals loss to WCE.

[katie-scarlett]

Touche.

Then again i could be a baby & say we should've won that game, ha.

no but that's a very fair point william.

[Go Swannies]

"The premiership-winning 22 as named before the Grand Final with the exception of Doyle in for the retired Ball. It's the best 22 in football until somebody proves otherwise."

- shouldn't that be "unless" not until?

And despite the noted big step up that some of the Swans younger players took in the finals, the Swans are being regarded as easier to beat than last year, it seems.

The slow start is a good point (AD made sure everyone knows that about the Swans circa 2005!) but it seems that the "best 22 in football" is not as good as the other slow starters this year, the Saints. That's a logical inconsistency - especially as we made them look ordinary less than a week ago, with both teams at more or less full strength.

But bring it on. This stuff is the cattle prod I referred to earlier. All we need is Robert Walls to say that he expects us to miss out on the eight and we can look forward to winning the first 12 games of the season.

[cowcar]

I must say I quite enjoy the press writing us off, I mean last year most didn?t even have us in the 8! For my mind, the swans will be in the top 4 (perhaps a some what biased remark!). The question the press never seems to answer is who is going to be in the top four, and who will drop out. Again, personal opinion, but the two clubs most likely to drop out are the Eagles and the Crows.

The Eagles because their team hasn?t improved during the off season, it has in fact gotten weaker, plus there is a lot of off field antics that will take their toll. They still don?t have a forward line (and without the munchkin this year, perhaps they will persuade Sumich to come out of retirement?).

The Crows because they have a pretty old list which will make them more susceptible to injury than most, and they got there last year by being well coached and using a different game plan. But, that game plan has now no doubt been analyzed by the opposition coaches, who will / should have come up with some counter measures.

So I will go out on a limb, and name the top four, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER! : Stkilda , Swans, Geelong and the Crows (I know what I just said above, but I still think that a good run with injuries, and continued good coaching will see them in, plus the other teams in the comp just don?t stack up!)

[NMWBloods]

I think your comments on WC are good ones, as they don't appear to have addressed their main weakness which is a forward line. Will be interesting to see how it unfolds during the year.

Without injuries Brisbane could still do very well this year. The have about half a dozen players who will be 30 this year, but Voss is the oldest (31 in July) and that says more about longevity than current form.

Adelaide remind me of the Swans. Not too many standouts, but a good solid team with good skills and lots of options.

BTW - the references to slow starts have been the H&A season not pre-season.

[hammo]

I actually think we've got a stronger team this year when you consider the emergence and added experience of players like Buchanan, LRT and Dempster.

Then you have the middle tier players who have stepped up to be genuine top class AFL players - Tadhg, ROK, Davis.

I think a predicted 5th finish shows a significant lack of respect for a defending premier whose list is basically the same. I am confident about a top 4 finish when you consider the talent and our disposal and the fact we are an interstate club that has 12 games at home.

The "experts" still haven't worked out that a well-coached champion team (Sydney) will always beat a poorly coached team of champions (St Kilda), yet they are all tipping St Kilda to win the flag.

[cowcar]

Good point about Adelaide, they are a blue collar team like the swans. The difference i suspect though is that the star players for Adelaide are a lot older than thier equivalents at the swans.

In particualr, look at Ricchuto (spell?) and Mcleod, both getting on in years.

Not so sure on the lions, i still think they are missing some key players, and again, their stars are getting very old (although they do have one of the best players in the league in the man mountain of J Brown).

I would have said the Bulldogs to be in the 8 this year, but with all the injuries, dont think they will make it. I think Richmond will probably make up the numbers in the 8. Which brings me to thinking of my bottom 4....

(again in no order) : West Coast, Essendon, Richmond , Brisbane

Not so sure on Richmond , they coudl easily be replaced by Freo...