Team List Team Selection: R0 v Carlton @ SCG

[KSAS]

With the pre-season done, though i'd kick off the first team selection thread for 2026. Seems weird with the summer vibe still happening.

Not going to list my 23 as there is plenty of them posted about, but expect they will be from the squad that played against GWS last Thursday.

I expect all our 3 new recruits (Charlie, Serong & Rosas jr) to be selected. Fingers crossed Gulden will be right as.the club has assured.

With 5 on the bench now, not sure if we'll play 2 Rucks with Ladhams. Have feeling we won't & play 3 tall key forwards instead, with Armatey & McDonald sharing the 2nd ruck duties.
Don't think we'll have all 3 talls in the forward line at the one time on the small SCG.


Chance we maybe playing against 4 former Swans (not sure how Nic Newman is progressing). Interesting whether Weitering gets up from his broken ribs.

I don't think Carlton will be as bad as most had predicted and expect a fiery and spirited contest from them. Lots of emotion from the trade period. We'll need to be really up for a hard contest and lots of expectation has been placed upon us for this season. Feeling toey, as i think it will be a close one.

[Hotpotato]

Yes lots of talk about a Swans bounce/resurgence but most
picking Lions as Premiers again.Depending on injuries
it all looks so promising.

[rb4x]

Will not see Newman as he is suspended.

Suggest we play the team that played GWS less three players, the two late ins Cleary and Hamling and also Corey Warner. McLean and Ladhams would be the two possible ins but not really needed against Carlton.

[dejavoodoo44]

With the pre-season done, though i'd kick off the first team selection thread for 2026. Seems weird with the summer vibe still happening.

Not going to list my 23 as there is plenty of them posted about, but expect they will be from the squad that played against GWS last Thursday.

I expect all our 3 new recruits (Charlie, Serong & Rosas jr) to be selected. Fingers crossed Gulden will be right as.the club has assured.

With 5 on the bench now, not sure if we'll play 2 Rucks with Ladhams. Have feeling we won't & play 3 tall key forwards instead, with Armatey & McDonald sharing the 2nd ruck duties.
Don't think we'll have all 3 talls in the forward line at the one time on the small SCG.


Chance we maybe playing against 4 former Swans (not sure how Nic Newman is progressing). Interesting whether Weitering gets up from his broken ribs.

I don't think Carlton will be as bad as most had predicted and expect a fiery and spirited contest from them. Lots of emotion from the trade period. We'll need to be really up for a hard contest and lots of expectation has been placed upon us for this season. Feeling toey, as i think it will be a close one.

Yes, Carlton might be a bit better than most people think. If preseason form is anything to go by, they have beaten Brisbane and Geelong. And while they lost Curnow, De Koning and Silvagni, they have got Jagga Smith back: who is a genuine ball magnet and who would've been my choice for number one pick in the 2024 draft. Cripps and Walsh can also rack up the possessions, even if their disposal can be a bit iffy. Plus Hewett often plays a good game against us. So our midfield will have to work hard to contain them.

But of course, if we at least break even in the midfield, then I our delivery into our forward line should be better and on paper, our forwards seem more capable of kicking plenty of goals in a hurry.

[cubby]

I'll have an attempt at it....

Assuming players who would be there abouts, but are injured...

Injured: Campbell, Lloyd, Cunningham, Adams, Dattoli, Bowman

FB: Wicks McCartin Rampe
HB: Blakey Melican Mills
C : Gulden Rowbottom Serong
HF: Rosas McDonald Warner
FF: Papley Curnow Amartey
Foll: Grundy Heeney Jordon
Int : Bice McInerney Sheldrick Cleary Ladhams
Emg: McLean Roberts Warner

[Thunder Shaker]

Yes lots of talk about a Swans bounce/resurgence but most
picking Lions as Premiers again.

This shows a lack of imagination from the various "experts". No doubt some of them have picked the 2025 top 10 and just shuffled them a bit to make this year's top 10 prediction.

Shuffling last year's top 10 to create predictions for this year is not an approach that will produce an accurate prediction. Here is a list showing the number of teams that made the top 8 finals that also made the top 8 the previous year, and the same for the top 4:
2020: 6 3 (Brisbane, Richmond, Geelong)
2021: 4 3 (Port Adelaide, Geelong, Brisbane)
2022: 5 2 (Geelong, Melbourne)
2023: 4 2 (Collingwood, Melbourne)
2024: 5 1 (Port Adelaide)
2025: 4 1 (Geelong)

If I was making a prediction, I would not simply fill up a top 4 with last year's top 4, and the same for the rest.

These are not in any particular order.

Top 4: Brisbane, Geelong have been consistent. I also include Gold Coast and Sydney.
Top 6: Western Bulldogs have been consistent for several years but they are not really a top 4 team. Hawthorn should improve.
Top 10: Fremantle (good list), Adelaide (will slide a bit with a harder fixture but should make it), Carlton, St Kilda may improve this year.
Sliders: Collingwood (older players), GWS (too many injuries already). Both will miss out this year.

Depending on injuries it all looks so promising.

All seasons look promising, but only one team gets awarded the premiership regalia each year.

[Thunder Shaker]

AFL website has posted their guess for the 23 players that could be selected for each team's first game.

It is similar to Cubby's team list, with two players missing and some players in different positions. The AFL list includes Lloyd and Roberts and omits Cleary and Ladhams.

Whether Ladhams plays depends on whether the selectors decide to have two rucks or a part-time ruck. I think two rucks should be selected because a part-time ruck will not be available as a marking target when they are involved in a ruck contest. I also read somewhere (probably someone posting here) that the selectors would be more likely to select two rucks if the sub rule was abolished with five on the bench.

So I think Ladhams will be selected.

[KSAS]

Yes, it was Cox himself on AFL360 last year who said he would play a 2nd Ruck if we had a 5th interchange on the bench.

Thought I heard Leidler mention that Lloyd is fine and was rested last week for loading reasons?

[imuninformedtwo]

This shows a lack of imagination from the various "experts". No doubt some of them have picked the 2025 top 10 and just shuffled them a bit to make this year's top 10 prediction.

Shuffling last year's top 10 to create predictions for this year is not an approach that will produce an accurate prediction. Here is a list showing the number of teams that made the top 8 finals that also made the top 8 the previous year, and the same for the top 4:
2020: 6 3 (Brisbane, Richmond, Geelong)
2021: 4 3 (Port Adelaide, Geelong, Brisbane)
2022: 5 2 (Geelong, Melbourne)
2023: 4 2 (Collingwood, Melbourne)
2024: 5 1 (Port Adelaide)
2025: 4 1 (Geelong)

If I was making a prediction, I would not simply fill up a top 4 with last year's top 4, and the same for the rest.

These are not in any particular order.

Top 4: Brisbane, Geelong have been consistent. I also include Gold Coast and Sydney.
Top 6: Western Bulldogs have been consistent for several years but they are not really a top 4 team. Hawthorn should improve.
Top 10: Fremantle (good list), Adelaide (will slide a bit with a harder fixture but should make it), Carlton, St Kilda may improve this year.
Sliders: Collingwood (older players), GWS (too many injuries already). Both will miss out this year.


All seasons look promising, but only one team gets awarded the premiership regalia each year.

Not a bad stab at it. I'd do it a little different though:

Top 2: Brisbane and Gold Coast. Have so much more elite talent than the rest. GC in particular add Petracca, JUH is a wildcard upside, got the draft class of 23 into a third year, the younger Uwland is a star and the biggest one for me - add Charlie Ballard back in. He's so critical to how they function as a defence. They are ripe for a flag.

Top 3-8: Sydney, Geelong, Dogs, Freo, Adelaide and Hawks. All capable of doing something special if things go their way, albeit with a couple of structural issues with their lists (different from club to club). My biggest question marks are on Adelaide and Hawks. Adelaide has some injuries and the scarring of a terrible finals exit. The Hawks are brilliantly coached, but they have midfield issues and no Day, Worpel's exit and missing Merrett compounds it.

Top 9-12 (maybe): GWS and Pies will slide but still well coached. Can then see any of Saints, Dees (who do have an emerging list and potential for bounce from refresh), Norf (who simply have to jump at some point despite my gut telling me Clarkson is past it) and Carlton. Saints most intriguing for me. Bar Flanders, don't think their recruits are that flash. But the upside from a full season of Nas at elite levels, Phillipou fit, Tauru improving, Windhager unleashed from tagging, Wilson is terrific and a few others means there growth is likely to come more from within that outside. They're most likely to jump.

The rest, forget it. I suspect I've erred in putting Carlton into the bracket above, but they do have some top liners, albeit they serve as sticky tape on a leaky list.

[Thunder Shaker]

Top 9-12 (maybe): GWS and Pies will slide but still well coached. Can then see any of Saints, Dees (who do have an emerging list and potential for bounce from refresh), Norf (who simply have to jump at some point despite my gut telling me Clarkson is past it) and Carlton.

North Melbourne defeated an understrength Collingwood by one point in a practice match last weekend. Practice match form is not regular season form, but it suggests that North Melbourne could improve this year (perhaps 7 to 10 wins) or that Collingwood will fall away badly if they have injuries to a few important players. Regardless, I think it's very likely that the finishing positions of North Melbourne (16th in 2025) and Collingwood (4th) will be closer together this year.

[KSAS]

Injury update from club on their website. 10 players on the list, of which Taylor Adams is now available:

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1964208/injury-update-opening-round