Swans forwards of 2005 compared with today

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  • Dosser
    Just wild about Harry
    • Mar 2011
    • 1833

    Swans forwards of 2005 compared with today

    I had the great fortune of receiving the 2005 Swans Collectors Pack of DVDs over the weekend (birthday) and watched the season highlights disc last night. I got a bit depressed. To see the skill level in 2005 and compare it with now showed me that we are still a long way off, however the BIG difference for me was in the freakish skills of our forwards. Hall was taking grabs and just pushing defenders out of the way, Micky O was snapping from anywhere and outmanoeuvring his opponents, and Nick Davis was roving the packs and slotting them from the boundary.
    The more I watched, the more I realised that we are light years away from this and have nobody in our forward line capable of these things at present. What do you think?
  • caj23
    Senior Player
    • Aug 2003
    • 2462

    #2
    Yep - we had 5 player permanent forwards capable of kicking 5 goals in a match - Hall, Micky O, Davis, Schneids and O'Keefe

    In 2011 we had none (I don't count Goodes as a permanent forward)

    Comment

    • penga
      Senior Player
      • Jan 2003
      • 2601

      #3
      Sam Reid.
      C'mon Chels!

      Comment

      • BSA5
        Senior Player
        • Feb 2008
        • 2522

        #4
        Reid has the potential (there's that dirty word) to be a class above Hall. If TDL can get fit and strong enough to play AFL football then he'll be fantastic. Morton at FP/HF, if he plays the way we all know he can, would be an upgrade on Nick Davis.

        Plus rotate guys like Goodes through, see how Walsh develops, etc, etc. Yeah, not nearly as good as 05, but we make up for it in the midfield. Mumford, Goodes, Bolton, Kennedy, Jack, McVeigh, ROK, and Hanners are better than Ball, Goodes, Bolton, Kirk, Williams, Fosdike, Ablett, Dempster, Buchanan.
        Officially on the Reid and Sumner bandwagon!

        Comment

        • Dosser
          Just wild about Harry
          • Mar 2011
          • 1833

          #5
          Originally posted by BSA5
          Reid has the potential (there's that dirty word) to be a class above Hall. If TDL can get fit and strong enough to play AFL football then he'll be fantastic. Morton at FP/HF, if he plays the way we all know he can, would be an upgrade on Nick Davis.

          Plus rotate guys like Goodes through, see how Walsh develops, etc, etc. Yeah, not nearly as good as 05, but we make up for it in the midfield. Mumford, Goodes, Bolton, Kennedy, Jack, McVeigh, ROK, and Hanners are better than Ball, Goodes, Bolton, Kirk, Williams, Fosdike, Ablett, Dempster, Buchanan.
          I hear what you are saying, but watching this last night I was staggered at just how good Buchanan was when he was at his best. Also, Ablett started the season on fire in the middle and was clearing packs and kicking goals (long ones, too). One of the big differences was also the quality of the outside runners like Williams and Fosdike - what a great team.

          I guess one thing that encouraged me was the fact that in a lot of the h&a games we were as inaccurate in front of goals as we are today.

          Comment

          • Chilcott
            Regular in the Side
            • Jan 2008
            • 595

            #6
            Until we win another flag, nothing compares to the 2005 forward line.

            However, I'm excited how our 2012 forward line is taking shape:

            FF: Lamb - Reid/Walsh - Morton/TDL
            HFF: O'Keeffe/Rohan - Goodes/Reid - Hanners/Jack/McGlynn

            There's been wraps on young Lamb, so hoping he can fill a forward pocket, if not we have many midfielders that can play through that spot.
            Can't find room for White at the moment, but hope he steps up and pushes Walsh for the FF position.
            I believe there will be room for only one of Morton/TDL.
            I believe Goodes and O'Keefee will spend more time up forward in 2012, than 2011.
            The second HFF spot to be filled by players changing through the midfield.

            Comment

            • dimelb
              pr. dim-melb; m not f
              • Jun 2003
              • 6889

              #7
              I haven't been watching the game long enough, but I suspect our 2005 forward line stands comparison with (please note, I didn't say 'is better than') any other club forward line you care to name.
              He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)

              Comment

              • penga
                Senior Player
                • Jan 2003
                • 2601

                #8
                Originally posted by dimelb
                I haven't been watching the game long enough, but I suspect our 2005 forward line stands comparison with (please note, I didn't say 'is better than') any other club forward line you care to name.
                You don't need to have watched the game for very long to realise that Brisbane's forward line in their heyday is very hard to compete with:

                HF: Akermanis Brown Power
                FF: McRae Lynch Bradshaw
                C'mon Chels!

                Comment

                • Dosser
                  Just wild about Harry
                  • Mar 2011
                  • 1833

                  #9
                  Originally posted by penga
                  You don't need to have watched the game for very long to realise that Brisbane's forward line in their heyday is very hard to compete with:

                  HF: Akermanis Brown Power
                  FF: McRae Lynch Bradshaw
                  Ouch - add that to Voss and Black in the mids and they were unstoppable

                  Comment

                  • dimelb
                    pr. dim-melb; m not f
                    • Jun 2003
                    • 6889

                    #10
                    Originally posted by penga
                    You don't need to have watched the game for very long to realise that Brisbane's forward line in their heyday is very hard to compete with:

                    HF: Akermanis Brown Power
                    FF: McRae Lynch Bradshaw
                    True, a genuinely great lineup. Has there been a better?
                    He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)

                    Comment

                    • stellation
                      scott names the planets
                      • Sep 2003
                      • 9720

                      #11
                      I think the brilliance of the 2005 forward line was not so much that you had an elite spearhead in Hall, but that you had 2 very, very smart mid-sized forwards in O'Loughlin and Davis. We were obviously very Hall focused, but with those 3 as a core it meant Hall could just focus on running in a straight line whilst O'Loughlin and Davis created space for him and created options themselves. It's amazing to think the amount of space they seemed to have given the small size of the SCG.

                      I actually think it's Lamb that is the ace up our sleeve in trying to get to something close to that again.

                      Also- if you want to compare accuracy then to now, that trio kicked 170.88 for the season!
                      I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
                      We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his time

                      Comment

                      • Dosser
                        Just wild about Harry
                        • Mar 2011
                        • 1833

                        #12
                        Originally posted by stellation
                        I think the brilliance of the 2005 forward line was not so much that you had an elite spearhead in Hall, but that you had 2 very, very smart mid-sized forwards in O'Loughlin and Davis. We were obviously very Hall focused, but with those 3 as a core it meant Hall could just focus on running in a straight line whilst O'Loughlin and Davis created space for him and created options themselves. It's amazing to think the amount of space they seemed to have given the small size of the SCG.

                        I actually think it's Lamb that is the ace up our sleeve in trying to get to something close to that again.

                        Also- if you want to compare accuracy then to now, that trio kicked 170.88 for the season!
                        It is quite possible that the same setup may not work today due to the different zoning tactics that are used. Having said that, I have never seen Chops play but the reports from RWO are good so far. Is he the new Davis (KFC aside)?

                        Comment

                        • swans_premiers
                          On the Rookie List
                          • Feb 2003
                          • 1101

                          #13
                          If you're trying to work out how far away our current forward line is to premiership material you're much better off comparing to recent premiers Geelong and Collingwood rather than our 2005 as that was just exceptional.
                          Adam Goodes: Rising Star 99, Brownlow 2003, 2006
                          Swans Premiers 1909, 1918,1933,2005, 2012

                          Comment

                          • BSA5
                            Senior Player
                            • Feb 2008
                            • 2522

                            #14
                            Lamb isn't much chop (sorry! ) up forward IMO. OK, but Gordon and TDL offer much more I reckon. Lamb's strength when I saw him was in the midfield. Genuine inside/outside midfielder, capable of finding space when there was none, ran brilliant lines, made clever use of the handball and could kick beautifully even as he burst away from the pack. Not great top speed but plenty of acceleration. He may get a few games as a small forward to start with, but I think it will be when he's part of the midfield rotation that he'll cement his place in the side.

                            I reckon one or both of Gordon and TDL will play that clever medium-forward role that Davis and Magic (who was simultaneously our FF!) played.
                            Officially on the Reid and Sumner bandwagon!

                            Comment

                            • Captain
                              Captain of the Side
                              • Feb 2004
                              • 3602

                              #15
                              Our current forward line is nothing on 2005. If we get a gun midfield then it won't matter.

                              The forward line of WCE was pretty average and it didn't stop them!

                              Comment

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