10am: Beware the Sleeping Swans

[R-1]

Well you never know, maybe Port will be the sudden contenders.

[The_Jam]

To add to sharp9?s point, dramatic and quick improvement can be seen in individual performances all the time. And some of these are very significant; Jude Bolton, while very reliable, played like an absolute superstar for the first few rounds last year and Teddy went from fringe-play to keystone-of-the-defense very quickly as well.

These variations are different from natural improvement. Jetta?s recent success, for example, seems to be the product of improved fitness and a stated effort to teach him defense. We have a few, very good young players that we can expect this type of improvement from.

But to win a flag we will need a few older players to bust out something special. Unlike sharp9 I don?t think this type of improvement has no rhyme or reason. Variation in performance is the lot of humans (just ask my girlfriend). Good club culture, well drilled structures, etc increase the chances of those special sustained performances. And no one could doubt our culture.

That being said, as with almost all premiers, in any given year, it is more likely that we won?t win the big one, then win it.

[swans_premiers]

I think everyone here has been reading too many fairytales.

It's utterly ridiculous that a team that has finished 5th and 6th in the last two years can improve one or two positions and challenge for a flag.

[sharp9]

I think everyone here has been reading too many fairytales.

It's utterly ridiculous that a team that has finished 5th and 6th in the last two years can improve one or two positions and challenge for a flag.

[Primmy]

I think everyone here has been reading too many fairytales.

It's utterly ridiculous that a team that has finished 5th and 6th in the last two years can improve one or two positions and challenge for a flag.

[longmile]

I'm predicting Collingwood not to make the four this year due to there harsh draw. So fair early in the season they are looking nowhere near the prowess of there previous two years.

Which we can all be thankful for.

[Velour&Ruffles]

There is a saying I have come up with to encapsulate the thoughts on this thread. It is very profound and when you read it I am sure you will be impressed by its profundity too. You may use it at appropriate junctures in your life so long as you attribute it to me. This observation, which is my own, and which I devised without input from others, and which is entirely original, goes as follows. Here it is:

"Football is a funny old game. We're not without a chance."

Extrapolating from that generalisation, I guess what I'm trying to say is that football is a funny old game and that we are not without a chance in season 2012.

[Ratna]

I think we can win the flag this year although it is unlikely. Chances will improve over the next few years with development and a good run with injuries.

I KNOW, however, that we will send out 22 players every week to play to there potential. No tanking bull****.

I love watching Sydney and if they keep this strategy of putting 22 players on the ground giving their all I will continue to love it until such time that I am planted in the ground.

I believe in the bloods culture even as an evolving thing.

I would love to know what Kirky, Jude, Leo, LRT, Paul Kelly etc. would think of a tanking policy at the Swans.

[Beerman]

I'm predicting Collingwood not to make the four this year due to there harsh draw. So fair early in the season they are looking nowhere near the prowess of there previous two years.

Which we can all be thankful for.

They also have a mass of injuries, particularly after last night. Maybe, is it possible? That this might be, you know, the year that....

I won't say any more because of the risk of invoking a mighty curse on the club for the next 10 years, but I think you know what I'm talking about.

[aardvark]

They also have a mass of injuries, particularly after last night. Maybe, is it possible? That this might be, you know, the year that....

I won't say any more because of the risk of invoking a mighty curse on the club for the next 10 years, but I think you know what I'm talking about.

Wouldn't it be SWEET !!!

[liz]

They also have a mass of injuries, particularly after last night. Maybe, is it possible? That this might be, you know, the year that....

I won't say any more because of the risk of invoking a mighty curse on the club for the next 10 years, but I think you know what I'm talking about.

Don't even think it...

[wolftone57]

It's called being a Swans fan. Winning easily through complete dominance is not the Sydney way. Every time I think I'm ready to give up on them (the Richmond game last year) they come out with something special and remind me why I love them (the Geelong game). They love to tease and torture us. Really it's a form of abuse.

I think it goes back to going through several seasons with the most wins topping the ladder and either not making the GF or being beaten in said final. Swans fans still remembered how their team was pumped up as flag favourites and never even made it. A positive media always makes a Swans fan nervous.

[robamiee]

considering last nights Pies effort we have a real chance against them.
the Hawks and the Blues i think will be in the GF..
hard to know where the toasters are, they haven't played anyone yet...Bulldogs on the down and the demons well enough said there....

the biggest thign for us is winning games that we should win, and laso putting teams away, we dont need to play finals footy just yet that will come in the 2nd half of the year..

and FFS get plugger or someone down there helping Reid with his kicking

[wolftone57]

I think the last seven games of 2010 sums up my opinion of the swans. We are a team who can expect to finish no better than 7th or 8th and possibly worse, but who somehow manage to win enough games to finish 5th!

My theory is that we are low on skills and (traditionally) on pace but we are very good at contested possession. We give the ball away a lot, but we put up a darn good fight to win it back and that makes games close and a close game can go either way.

As far as winning a flag goes, I think Michael Voss said it best - even for the best teams, to win a flag means that a lot of things have to go right. Injuries, draw, venues, weather, the other teams you meet in the finals etc. Even the best teams can't be sure of winning a flag, and anyone in the top four is a chance.

I still think we're a little way off the top 4 but I'm starting to think we might finish 5th or 6th in the next couple of years, which means we will probably finish 3rd or 4th!

I don't agree with the lack of skills and pace comment. We have deliberately drafted skilled players who knoe how to win the hard ball. What Joey does every week is incredibly skillful. The same with Lukie, Kieren, Goodsie, Rohan, Sam, Hannas, Jetts and the list goes on. I think in reality other than a few glaring examples, mainly due to headspace, we are a pretty skillful unit. We can only get better with Mitch, JL, TDL, Lambchop, Harry etc coming in as they are all highly skilled players. Top ten draft picks don't guarantee a premiership or that a player is going to be a star. Goodsie was taken 43, Mickie O was a low pick and we have always done well with highly skilled players taken low in the draft.

Don't think we haven't got pace and skill because it is there.

[wolftone57]

considering last nights Pies effort we have a real chance against them.
the Hawks and the Blues i think will be in the GF..
hard to know where the toasters are, they haven't played anyone yet...Bulldogs on the down and the demons well enough said there....

the biggest thign for us is winning games that we should win, and laso putting teams away, we dont need to play finals footy just yet that will come in the 2nd half of the year..

and FFS get plugger or someone down there helping Reid with his kicking

I thought Plugger made his allegiances very clear when inducted into the Saints hall of fame. The Blues were really good last night and Pies were torn apart. If you pressure Pies they make mistakes and if you fill the corridor they are stuffed. They like to take the ball wide and then centre once in the Forward line and if you shut down that option they start to make blues plus thay are forced to have all their shots at goal from the boundary.

We have the best solution for Sam right here coaching at the academy. Yes Nick Davis, just send Sam to Nick every day for a month and I'll bet his goal kicking improves markedly. Funnily enough his field kicking is almost perfect so it is more to do with the head than pure technique. The head rules how you use the ball and if the are nerves involved then the technique stuffs up.