Swans forwards of 2005 compared with today

[Dosser]

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]

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)

[penga]

Sam Reid.

[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.

[Dosser]

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.

[Chilcott]

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.

[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.

[penga]

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

[Dosser]

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

[dimelb]

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?

[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!

[Dosser]

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)?

[swans_premiers]

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.

[BSA5]

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.

[Captain]

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!