Roos' Legacy?

[DST]

i think roos is an excellent man manager and could rebuild a "new" swans team. He would probably need a bit of a change around him to spark fresh ideas, but he is obviously a good coach and seems to get the players to play for him.

I also think he does a good job as the face of the club and gives us a reasonable marketing tool unlike some other coaches (not that it is that important) but if we are going to drop down the ladder a bit it cant hurt to have a coach with a bit of profile and admiration.

If roos did go he leaves as our only living premiership coach and i would think his place is secure in the club history, i also think it will be hard for the next coach to emerge from his shadow.

If he does leave as much as i like longmire i would prefer a complete change of direction and would like to see someone from the outside of the current coaching group step in.

If the next coach is not Longmire it will be Maxfield.

DST

[hot potato]

He's done an excellent job, outstanding.
He looks bored with it all now and is sending out the 'no more faith ' message to this group of players who shifted the earth for him in 05 and 06.
The chemistry is fading he needs a break, it is a demanding business. He should mange the Reserve Bank for a couple of years.

[DST]

To be honest I would too, though I don't get the same vibe as you.

It's a faint vibe...............

But in all honesty Roos does not strike me as someone who could walk away from a half finished project.

If he doesn't decide to hang up the magnetic board this year, then I feel he will struggle to hang it up next year with what will be essentially a new team to build from scratch.

I just reckon he will get the urge to see it through.

DST

[Goal Sneak]

Time to start again. I remember when Roos was first going for the coaching job he laid out his five year plan for the swans. Everyone who he talked to was so impressed with both the plan and Pauls enthusiasm (hence, he got he the job). If he is to keep going, he has to sit down, re-write the game plan and put the same kind of thought into how he would get us back to the top. If he doesn't have the same motivation or any new ideas as to how to go about implementing a new, innovative five year strategy, then he should step aside now.

[Darren Thomson]

I have no doubt Roos could rebuild the side and take us upward again, there is, however, a rough patch coming, as others have mentioned. Not like Carlton rough(although the draft picks would sure help), but middle tier. Give Roosy a break, make him PM for a couple years, he'd get less criticism

[timthefish]

...Roos does not strike me as someone who could walk away from a half finished project....

and this is the perennial conundrum that coaches face. i have never paid any attention to roos' previously stated intentions past this period of clear success. despite his obvious attachment to his faithful troops of old and his declarations that he would go out with them, it has inevitably come to pass that he has grown new attachment to his younger charges and now he sees new opportunities. this has happened with every coach in history, irrespective of recent achievement and very few have been brave enough to say goodbye at the point they may recognise as "the right time".

he has been criticised here and elsewhere for persisting with a favourite set of players and a gameplan that i) others have dissected to death and defeated and ii) his ageing squad is no longer capable of consistently performing. some have said he is a one-trick pony unable to see clear of past success, but it is possible that he is more conscious and deliberate than that and has given his old players (and by his stated creed he puts the players first) a last chance to perform in the manner that he thinks they can perform best.

what is unknown is how roos would approach afl with the next incarnation of the sydney swans. he has already proven himself able to master through tactics a period of football very different from that in which he played most of his career. his coaching game did not reflect the tactics that dominated his experience as a player (eg dominant forwards, positional play, purely stopping backmen, head-to-head midfielders) so why should it be assumed that he is not capable of drafting, trading, training, selecting and coaching a team that is able to succeed in the new domain of lower contact and freer play by the faster and fitter players that we have today.

we have a coach that is proven as being of the very best. without doubt he has good competition in thompson and laidley with others like ratten just starting to show something of themselves, but none of the other young coaches better roos' record over the last five years.

he deserves, if he wishes it, a shot at a new approach with a new group. i for one firmly hopes he takes it if offered.

if not, i'd love to see us poach bomber.

[robbieando]

There are many here who think that Roos is an unthinking ego on legs. Others see him as the messiah for the 2005 Premiership. Whatever, it's pretty clear that next year will be his last as the Swan's coach.

It will be his last. He has stated he won't sign another contract and that means 2009 will be his last season. As for what I think of him, well I think he is a very good coach who managed to guide the 2005 team to a Premiership and turn the 2002 team that was sinking to the bottom of the ladder and facing multable seasons at the bottom into a finals unit without many changes to the playing group.

If you were Roos and planning this last year, how would you set it up?

Easy, ask Mathews, Crouch, Everitt, and Barry to retire. Put the likes of Buchanan, Ablett and McVeigh up for trade and see if we can get as many early 2nd Round Picks in this seasons draft and then in this years draft look to draft with our first pick a FB that is athletic and doesn't need much more work in the gym. Then go looking for 2 KP Forwards a Ruckman and a Midfielder with some class. Then with the young players we gave games to this season give them more responablity and importance within the team.

Next season would be used to bring though the kids and give Murphy, Faulks and White as change to show what they can do in KP's, what Currie can do in the ruck and what Jack, Bird, Moore, Schmidt and the likes can do as full time midfielders and what Barlow and Malceski can do fully fit and in the team for a full season.

Next season the younger players should be the sole focus of the team with the older player in the side to add balance, focus and support. Lets use 2009 to grow the younger players into what they should become - the future of this team.

How about coaching staff? What coaching structure would you put in place?

Keep it as it is. Unless of course Roos decides to leave and then that means Longmire becomes coach and therefore Longmire should be allowed the right to pick his OWN coaching staff, not left with the coaching staff that Roos left behind.

Do you tank for draft picks or can you rebuild the team with what's left and the twos?

What's the point of tanking after this season? The Gold Coast have the best available pick for the next two drafts and then the Western Sydney side the 2 after that. We should just do the best we can with the team and players we have with the focus on youth as I outlined above and then focus on the draft from the pick we have after that. Tanking isn't going to help any side for the next 4 years.

[hot potato]

and this is the perennial conundrum that coaches face. i have never paid any attention to roos' previously stated intentions past this period of clear success. despite his obvious attachment to his faithful troops of old and his declarations that he would go out with them, it has inevitably come to pass that he has grown new attachment to his younger charges and now he sees new opportunities. this has happened with every coach in history, irrespective of recent achievement and very few have been brave enough to say goodbye at the point they may recognise as "the right time".

he has been criticised here and elsewhere for persisting with a favourite set of players and a gameplan that i) others have dissected to death and defeated and ii) his ageing squad is no longer capable of consistently performing. some have said he is a one-trick pony unable to see clear of past success, but it is possible that he is more conscious and deliberate than that and has given his old players (and by his stated creed he puts the players first) a last chance to perform in the manner that he thinks they can perform best.

what is unknown is how roos would approach afl with the next incarnation of the sydney swans. he has already proven himself able to master through tactics a period of football very different from that in which he played most of his career. his coaching game did not reflect the tactics that dominated his experience as a player (eg dominant forwards, positional play, purely stopping backmen, head-to-head midfielders) so why should it be assumed that he is not capable of drafting, trading, training, selecting and coaching a team that is able to succeed in the new domain of lower contact and freer play by the faster and fitter players that we have today.

we have a coach that is proven as being of the very best. without doubt he has good competition in thompson and laidley with others like ratten just starting to show something of themselves, but none of the other young coaches better roos' record over the last five years.

he deserves, if he wishes it, a shot at a new approach with a new group. i for one firmly hopes he takes it if offered.

if not, i'd love to see us poach bomber.

Sunny side up? He CAN get cranky .