Review of season

[doctor swan]

We made the finals and were out in straight sets after a cough a splutter season so id have to rate it a 6/10, and thats a lucky 6.
So lets look at the list of players who wore the red and white this yr
1. Barry Hall - do we need to say anything here, a season to forget , injury no injury he was off, struggled with the new rules output down and so were the goals 3/10
2. Nick Davis - was ok in bursts , when he got the ball and was used effectively he looked the part , but id only the rest of his teammates would remember he is there 5/10
3. Jarrod McVeigh - how he kept his place for 23 matches is beyond me, I thought he would be one player to step up, but went backward instead, 3/10
4. Ben Mathews - did some good tagging roles , but surely we have better than him. I think time has passed him by and retirement is on cards 3/10
5. Ryan O'Keefe - after a sensational 2006 , was way down on form, ran his heart out , but never used effectively enough 6/10
6. Craig Bolton - one bad game the entire season, punched way above his weight and likely AA again. 9/10
7.Luke Brennan - came of rookie list and did show he would be serviceable in the 5 games he played 4/10
9. Nick Malceski - testament to his season was his selection in the short list for AA. Took the step up that we expected and his a gun , a future star 8 /10
10.Spida - had some good games and some bad, joined us to play finals , if Hawks hadnt messed us around in 2005 he would have been a better trade , i dont think we got a good deal here 5/10
12. Nic Fosdike - another serviceable yr , did what was expected not a star but he is consistent 6/10
13. Adam Schneider - up and down , and often wasteful in front of goal. the feet work quicker than the brain. Did end up in the 2 s , still not th eplayer he should be and he is approaching 100 games now 4/10
15. Stephen Doyle - unsighted will be delisted 0/10
16. Darren Jolly - in top 5 ruckman in comp, good around the ground and a good mark although did make a clanger or 2 , but he wasnt the only one .6.5/10
17. Tadgh Kennelly- if only he was fit the whole season, did we miss his run badly. 5/10
19.MOL - still a champiuon player and gives his all , showed his usual brilliance and was pretty accurate on goal 6.5/10
20 Luke Ablett- had a interupted season and never really had a preseason so was underdone for most of season. 5/10
21. Leo Barry- the browny points for that mark ran out officially tonight. Way to many clanger and to many giveaway possesions. 4/10
22. Matthew Laidlaw - what a waste , should have been given more games played the one and showed he is a keeper 2/10
24. Jude Bolton - overrated, and had some shockers definite trade bait..please trade 3/10
25. Ted Richards - very up and down , but this was due to LRT being out for larger part of season. I expect much better 2008 4/10
26. Sean Dempster - love his kick and run, keeps his feet and may play a huge role in the rebuild ahead 4/10
28. Jared Crouch - time has passed him buy, showed nothing to team and was more a liability. Time to retire the pace has gone and teh skills are ordinary ...Retire 1/10
30 LRT - in his 2 games he showed he can play , did we miss his height at the back badly 1/10
31 The Captain- the heart and soul of the club , will go close with B2 for b and f. Always gives his all and is inspirational. 8.5/10
32. Amon Buchanan - up and down year but runs the ball well his disposal and kicking on goal can be wasteful. skill work needs a little work but he does do a lot more good than bad 5/10
33.Jared Moore- hard at it , but never given a real go , i guess to many similar type players, i dont see a future at the swans for him ..delist 1/10
36. Tim Schmidt- I am a big fan and i like his style of play. Showed a lot but got the raw deal a lot of the tim when there were more deserving players of losing their spots 5/10
37. Adam Goodes - a season of 2 halves one average and the other Brownlow form. what a ahampion if only we had more of him. on form at the moment he has to be the BEST player in the AFL. A 6 for thr first half of the season and a 10 for the second 8/10
38. Luke Vogels - got three games but never got much game time and when he did he struggled ..will be delisted 1/10
39. Heath Grundy - used both at the back and up front, with limited success . Has not developed as we would have hoped ...will be delisted 1/10
41.Ed Barlow - The find 2 great games , and 2 ordinary ones when th eteam was well beaten, showed more than enough 3/10
42. Paul Bevan -less said the better had 2 good games but the rest 2/10
47. Simon Phillips - Played the one game , i dont see him here in 2008 1/10
48 Kieren Jack- off the rookie list , had 2 games and showed he has ticker , a place on senior list next yr 1/10

Not a good year at all by our beloved Swans , a lot of improvement is needed next year and its time to rebuild the list, look at Collingwood and Port this yr does it irk me to watch it. But 2 GF s in a row i guess its more thann a lot of supporters of the other clubs have seen in their lifetimes.

[Allymay]

Excellent summary. I couldn't agree more. I said back in 05 that I would be happy witnessing at least one premiership in my lifetime and I am not greedy. But why can't we be greedy?? Why can't we enjoy more success than other teams?? We've already put up with the dark "Warwick Capper" days and the early 90's. Why shouldn't we just kick back and enjoy a few years of winning. I think that us supporters have surely deserved it?? Unfortunately, the players representing us don't seem to think so.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Excellent summary. I couldn't agree more. I said back in 05 that I would be happy witnessing at least one premiership in my lifetime and I am not greedy. But why can't we be greedy?? Why can't we enjoy more success than other teams?? We've already put up with the dark "Warwick Capper" days and the early 90's. Why shouldn't we just kick back and enjoy a few years of winning. I think that us supporters have surely deserved it?? Unfortunately, the players representing us don't seem to think so.

I agree mate. The Swans made their fans wait 72 years before they could muster up another flag, so we have every right to want just a few more tastes of premiership success, that's not asking too much as loyal fans.

[Rod_]

Well done

Mostly in the right area with assessments and gradings.

I believe that the taggers and stoppers were a little harshly dealt with. Or the people that do that role for time to time.

Not everyone can kick 5+ goals a week or get 30 possessions.


Rod_

[mcs]

good summary and I agree with them all. Though I feel Grundy will be kept and I would of liked to see Phillips get a better go but that didnt happen so I think he will also be delisted as you say.

[dendol]

Agree with most of that assessment as well. I cant wait for our team to have Dempster, Barlow, Laidlaw and Schmidt playing every week. The latter 3 may not have proven themselves yet, but ffs they deserve a run now in place of some Mathews, Crouch etc.

[Chow-Chicker]

We need a clean out, and we need to bite the bullet on some of the senior blokes. Hall, Davis, Barry must all be in the gun IMO. Bolton, Buchanan, Crouch, McVeigh are finished in my book. We need another ruckman. Everitt has another year and that's it. We can't rely on Jolly on his own.

I see a big decline next year unless we chop and recruit well....

[Robbo]

Simon Phillips would be very unlucky to be delisted. He kicked countless amounts of bags in the ressies but his form was ignored.

He certainly shouldn't be delisted, but he probably will be.

[hammo]

Simon Phillips would be very unlucky to be delisted. He kicked countless amounts of bags in the ressies but his form was ignored.

He certainly shouldn't be delisted, but he probably will be.

I suspect his papers were marked long ago. Was a mistake to put him on the senior list in the first place. He was always going to struggle because of his size.

[NMWBloods]

We need a clean out,

I agree, but the forward line personnel is not the main problem.

and we need to bite the bullet on some of the senior blokes. Hall, Davis, Barry must all be in the gun IMO.

Hall's certainly not 'in the gun' - you'd want to see how he goes next year fully fit (even though I don't think that's the main cause of his problems).

Davis continues to be maligned as doing nothing, yet in the overall competition he finished 34th in total goals kicked this year, 25th in goals per game and 4th in accuracy!

I see a big decline next year unless we chop and recruit well....

Absolutely. I think we need to bring the young reserves into the seniors as early a possible to see if they have what it takes.

[barry]

My review of the season:

1. It brought home the fact our game plan relies on Hall and Kennelly.
2. The hands-in-the-back rule has, as predicted, had a negative effect on Hall (our primary forward), and our undersized defense.
3. The everitt experiement was a 5/10. Lasted the whole season, but not very effective. We'd be stuffed without him though.
4. The free-kick problem needs rapid attention.
5. Injuries hurt us this year. We are suseptable to injuries more than other teams.
6. We have little depth. Many lament Moore, Phillips not being selected, but they havent warranted selection IMO.
7. Back to back grand finals have caught up to us. a bit of time off this year should give this team one last shot at a flag in 2008.
8. 2007 is a one horse race. Geelong are unbeatable.
9. No point rebuilding just yet. What with? Pick 10?
10. Roos needs to get over himself. The thing that got us on track to 2005 was letting players enjoy themselves. he did that in rnd 22. He needs get the players enthused again. Can he do it. Is he too beholden to older players?
11. When Goodes plays in the midfield, it shows how crap the others are. My god we need a midfielder with only half Goodes tallent!

It was a @@@@ final, but as Ben Cousins says "Such is Life". WC or Pies wont win it, so might as well sit back and enjoy the footy. We were a very long shot from 7th anyway, and Collingwood is the one side we dont play well against.

[barry]

We need a clean out, and we need to bite the bullet on some of the senior blokes. Hall, Davis, Barry must all be in the gun IMO. Bolton, Buchanan, Crouch, McVeigh are finished in my book. We need another ruckman. Everitt has another year and that's it. We can't rely on Jolly on his own.

I see a big decline next year unless we chop and recruit well....

I see a big decline if we chop and trade.


... But I can see the point that it may be for the best in the long term.

BUT, why not adopt an approach where we try and milk out a flag for the next few years, then really bottom out with a heap of priority picks ?

[mcs]

Problem with that strategy is that according the SSFC and the AFL we cant afford to bottom out for more then a season or two and to do what you say would mean 3 or 4 years down there. I feel our best shot at a flag next year (Which really is our last chance) is to trade a bit if we can and try to get some young blood in and hope it clicks like it has for Collingwood. I think if we just try to top up the list its not going to help and will make the fall even worse.

I do agree though that it will be very hard to rebuild this year with no good picks and not a great draft to pick from but you have to start somewhere. I can see a big decline as well, but Id be happy to endure it in the knowledge that our next shot for a flag if it doesnt come next year (Which i really doubt it will whatever our strategy) it wont be too far away. If we take the wrong strategy it could be getting on 7 or 8 minimum before we are anywhere near one as the task will be enormous. If we infuse some young talent (If we can find some of course) we can still use our experienced heads to give them the leadership they need early. I feel we have to do what Port did after their flag and what Brisbane has done (They havent yet reaped the rewards but its not far away), but I have a bad feeling we wont.

[barry]

Problem with that strategy is that according the SSFC and the AFL we cant afford to bottom out for more then a season or two and to do what you say would mean 3 or 4 years down there. I feel our best shot at a flag next year (Which really is our last chance) is to trade a bit if we can and try to get some young blood in and hope it clicks like it has for Collingwood. I think if we just try to top up the list its not going to help and will make the fall even worse.

Collingwood have acheived nothing. They finished one spot above us on the back of a very soft draw, and are likely to be on mad monday by next week.

Model ourselves on Port. Now there is a painless rebuild!

[hammo]

The experienced heads had this year to prove themselves and came up short... just 3 wins in 11 matches against top 8 sides shows we are deficient in many areas.

Just hoping for a good run with injuries, greater hunger and a few young blokes coming through won't cut it.

If we weren't good enough this year then I can guarantee next year will be more of the same and a mid table finish at best.