No Smith, No Swans

[Triple B]

Good ordinary player .....

In time he will be much better than 'good ordinary'.

I think he is better than that now and he is very early into his career...

[wolftone57]

Can't kick goals... assume we make it in September it will be brief. Writing has been on the wall for a number of weeks now (even when we were winning)

That is the point isn't it, if you can't kick goals you can't win a premiership. In 2005 we weren't the most prolific team on the scoreboard but we certainly were able to pile up a big one against teams out of the 8.

[wolftone57]

Good ordinary player in the Crouchy mould, every team needs these types of players.

Doubt he'll ever be captain the team

Crouchy was a pretty effective player. But I wouldn't call Nick Smith an ordinary player, I think he is on the way to being a gun, not only does he get some very big scalps but he hurts them in return by kicking goals & getting high possession rates.

[caj23]

I'm certainly not bagging him, he has a role to play and is very good as a lockdown player, but he's 23 now and I don't think he has the development left in him to turn into a gun midfielder who can find his own ball and hurt the opposition.

Happy to be proven wrong

[Kirkari]

Nick Smith is this week's victim on Ask a Swan this week on the Swans website, if anyone is interested...

http://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7106/newsid/117767/default.aspx

[Nico]

You can listen on the net - ABC melb (on the dial 774) every Sat morning (11am to 1pm). They podcast after 6:30pm but you should be able ot pick it up live, you can also see them on The Coodabeen Champions Bit if a footy institution down here. One o fthe crew (torch Magee) is a keen swans fan.

I reckon "Torch" Magee played for South seconds.

[Nico]

Smith and Jack back into the side makes a huge difference.

[aardvark]

I reckon "Torch" Magee played for South seconds.

Played 6 senior games.....

[magic.merkin]

I'm certainly not bagging him, he has a role to play and is very good as a lockdown player, but he's 23 now and I don't think he has the development left in him to turn into a gun midfielder who can find his own ball and hurt the opposition.

Happy to be proven wrong

He hasn't even cracked 50 games yet, can lock-down the oppositions best small forwards and is starting to be more creative. I think the fun parts about to start .

[dimelb]

Good ordinary player in the Crouchy mould, every team needs these types of players.

Doubt he'll ever be captain the team

We have very different views on both counts. Crouch was way better than ordinary, was our best player in the finals overall in 2005. Smith, while not slow, doesn't have Crouch's pace but manages to be as effective a stopper.
And his leadership potential is widely noted.

[caj23]

We have very different views on both counts. Crouch was way better than ordinary, was our best player in the finals overall in 2005. Smith, while not slow, doesn't have Crouch's pace but manages to be as effective a stopper.
And his leadership potential is widely noted.

I'm not bagging Crouch or Smith as I think they are/were both good players, but I think there is some overrating of Smith's potential.

Some posters seem to think he can take the step up to be one of the comp's premier midfielders who can win his own ball and cause damage to the opposition, I'd love it if that was to be the case but I can't see it happening. At 23 years old he is our premier stopper in the backline and could probably play a similar role in the midfield, although I note he has never played on a Judd or Ablett. I think there are probably others ahead of him in line for the captaincy

As for Crouchy, he was one of my favourites and you're correct about his role in 2005, we sorely missed him in 2006. He was a good player and rated extremely highly internally, but I doubt he would be regarded by many outside the inner sanctum as a champion of the game

[Nico]

Played 6 senior games.....

I thought he had played a few games around 1971, but the oracle Jim Main doesn't have him in the edition of the Encyclopedia of League Footballers that I have. Good one Jim, you missed another Swans player.

[ScottH]

I thought he had played a few games around 1971, but the oracle Jim Main doesn't have him in the edition of the Encyclopedia of League Footballers that I have. Good one Jim, you missed another Swans player.

According to: RWO - RedAndWhiteOnline.com

Jeff McGee was number #26 from 1967-1968