Season is nearly over what do we need for next year?

[Nico]

Given our penchance for recruiting gumbies, misfits and hasbeens, it might be easier to put together a list of players we don't need:

* Courtney Johns
* Jason Laycock
* Setanta O'Ailpin
* Chad Fletcher
* Rhys Shaw

They are all no good. Ryce Shaw was the one who got off lightly out the debacle a couple of weeks ago.

Tim Boyle, absolute waste of time. Ordinary player at the very best. When he has played against us he has been pretty weak. Wouldn't think he is any better than Henry Playfair.

[Lucky Knickers]

John Anthony. He may look like ET, but he also looks like an absolute gun.

Agree on all fronts but can't see Pies letting him go.

[Lohengrin]

What about Roughhead?

[Plugger46]

They are all no good. Ryce Shaw was the one who got off lightly out the debacle a couple of weeks ago.

Tim Boyle, absolute waste of time. Ordinary player at the very best. When he has played against us he has been pretty weak. Wouldn't think he is any better than Henry Playfair.

Hammo did say that we don't need them.

As for Tim Boyle - obviously no worldbeater but I've got him a fair away ahead of Henry. At least he can kick.

He hasn't played well against us in the past but I thought his 2007 season as the third tall at Hawthorn was quite good.

[Plugger46]

What about Roughhead?

He's a gun. Have to give up a lot to get him.

[ScottH]

What about Roughhead?

Or Williams.

[Lucky Knickers]

Or Williams.

Williams and Roughhead just resigned as part of that group of 8 did they not?

[ScottH]

Williams and Roughhead just resigned as part of that group of 8 did they not?

Spoilsport!

Clarkson said the re-signing of stars including Chance Bateman and Jarryd Roughead this week was vital to the side's plans to produce a league powerhouse.

The trio, along with Mark Williams, Robert Campbell, Brent Renouf, Jarryd Morton and Mitch Thorp have all committed for at least the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

[DST]

Will be an interesting trade period coming up.

Possibilities that we will be looking at are:

* Tim Boyle
* Ryan Murphy
* Kosi (to play as a permanent CHB)
* Didak

All of the above will take an early second rounder or greater to bring one of them to Sydney.

The other option is Cousins for a late national draft pick as a stop gap 2 or 3 year measure to tie us over while we lose our experience in the next two years.

As for drafting I think we need to go KP Forward with our first pick this year.

DST

[Lohengrin]

He's a gun. Have to give up a lot to get him.

But he might be keen to get out from behind Franklin's shadow.

edit: Obviously not - just saw he has re-signed.

[Lucky Knickers]

* Ryan Murphy

I try hard not to watch Freo much so haven't seen him play. Give me pros/cons?

[Legs Akimbo]

Beau Dowler.

[Plugger46]

Beau Dowler.

I played a lot of footy against him growing up. He was always good going through the juniors but lacked something. Also played a bit of footy against Dale Thomas and a little bit with Salopek (He was a couple of years older). Dowler had nothing on them at that stage. I was amazed that he went so high in the draft but I guess you could put that down to being a key position player.

I'm not surprised that he hasn't cemented a spot in the Hawthorn side but he'll probably get a go somewhere else if they decide to let him go.

[Plugger46]

I try hard not to watch Freo much so haven't seen him play. Give me pros/cons?

Has good hands, reasonably quick off the mark and kicks pretty well. He has played a couple of really good games but hasn't done it consistently. A fresh start might be what he needs. I'd take him.

[Ludwig]

I think the biggest problem facing the Swans heading into next season is that there is so much uncertainty over our list of younger players.

On one hand, some of the young players introduced this year as very promising. I have little doubt that Moore, Bird, Jack and Vespa will be first class players.
MOD and Nick Smith look promising as well. Grundy, White, Braba and Barlow have done enough to suggest that they could go one to become solid enough AFL players, but these 6 are far from certain. We will probably have to create extra places on the senior list to promote MOD and Smith.

DOK, Thornton, Meredith and Laidlaw have lost a year through injury. Although they all looked promising at some point in the past, it seems that we will have to wait till next year to find out.

Schmidt looked a certainty to start this year, but was also lost to injury.

Murphy, Currie and Bruce have also shown good signs for the future. And then there's Orreal and Pyke, as well as a few others of greater uncertainty.

That's 20+ players that could well be our future, with a vast majority having both promise as well as big question marks next to their names. And there lies the problem. I wouldn't suggest that we get rid of any of them this year, which means that we will go into next year with a lot of second and third year players simply not knowing what lies ahead and being stuck in a tight position for senior places. Add to that the highly rated nature of the draft this year and I think the problem who to axe.

I can see a possible trade of Nick Davis for either Ryan Murphy of Freo or a tall Carlton defender (like Setanta or Thornton), but this is just speculation.

Otherwise I think we should trade both Davis and Ablett (plus draft picks) for higher draft picks, e.g., Nick Davis plus our number one pick to Freo for their number one pick, thus moving up a few places.

I would think Spida, Benny and probably Brennan will retire or be delisted. To that I would suspect Leo and Crouch may retire as well, but far from certain; just depends on how they are holding up physically. MOL will probably go on, and why not, he's had a great year. And Hally is still under contract and looks fine physically. He's had a couple of tough years with injury and Suspension, but if he stays healthy, he could well play on beyond next year.

With the Cats looking so strong for next couple of years, I'm not so bothered about being in a rebuilding phase at the moment. I think our chances of playing in finals during this period are not too bad, but doubt that we will seriously challenge for a Premiership for several years. But that's okay. It's interesting seeing how the team develops with so many good prospects. This next group of players look to generally better skilled than the ones going out and look to offer a more exciting brand of football.

I'm hoping for a few years of Hawthorne type of football. An exciting and improving team with some good young players. They probably won't win the big one for a few years either. Good luck to the Cats. They've go a great team. I wish we had that sort of quality, but it didn't come overnight to them either. We have just got to be realistic about our chances over the next couple of years. I'm really pleased with the kind of run we've had since Roos took over. As long as we can be competitive, I'm rather pleased at how things are going. Whatever happens this campaign, I'm really looking forward to next year.