Meet Isaac Heeney

[JPK12]

So we have too many mids, a nice forward line BUT our staple for many years, our defense, aging and perhaps our achilles heel and cant do anything about because of the "feels" downs at AFL house towards us. Great.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Xavier and Aliir should not be underestimated ...........ive watched them a few times thru 2014 live and i couldnt be happier with their progress

Both these kids will level jump in 2015 in physical ability

I have no issue with their game awareness and skill and lets face the facts..........they are getting opportunities a few times a week to match up on Buddy, Tip, Goodes and Reid......it aint bad pre snr experience

[wolftone57]

Xavier and Aliir should not be underestimated ...........ive watched them a few times thru 2014 live and i couldnt be happier with their progress

Both these kids will level jump in 2015 in physical ability

I have no issue with their game awareness and skill and lets face the facts..........they are getting opportunities a few times a week to match up on Buddy, Tip, Goodes and Reid......it aint bad pre snr experience

Exactly AG. They get the best awareness any KD can get. The other thing is they both read the play so well and are both very agile. I think we need to look at another HB since we lost Biggs. Hewett, Heeney, Mitchell will all get game time I believe. But I also believe we need to rethink the mids. Our mids output has been poor for a top four side as we are ranked on average 9th for clearances and 7th for stoppages. The coaches need to rethink the rebound footy strategy. In other words if we win more ball out of the clearances and stoppages and then deliver with accuracy we will win premierships. to do this we need players in the mids that are natural extractors giving the ball fluently to natural outside mids who deliver well. Heeney is certainly a player that can play extractor or outside and he delivers well, same with Hewett.

[Xie Shan]

Nice write up in the Maitland Mercury about Heeney:

Heeney adds feather to city?s sporting bow | The Maitland Mercury

[Bloodthirsty]

Exactly AG. They get the best awareness any KD can get. The other thing is they both read the play so well and are both very agile. I think we need to look at another HB since we lost Biggs. Hewett, Heeney, Mitchell will all get game time I believe. But I also believe we need to rethink the mids. Our mids output has been poor for a top four side as we are ranked on average 9th for clearances and 7th for stoppages. The coaches need to rethink the rebound footy strategy. In other words if we win more ball out of the clearances and stoppages and then deliver with accuracy we will win premierships. to do this we need players in the mids that are natural extractors giving the ball fluently to natural outside mids who deliver well. Heeney is certainly a player that can play extractor or outside and he delivers well, same with Hewett.

Precisely. I for one can't understand why we don't do as you suggested. Feel that we've wasted talent lately with stupid strategies.

Also, any strategies employed should be geared towards short term success, because it doesn't get any easier than having Franklin, Tippett, Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery etc. Strategies that take until Tip's retiremement and a 32-year-old Bud will not be helpful in terms of capitalising on the current list.

[Auntie.Gerald]

who will make way for Heeney, Mitchell and or Zac Jones in 2015 ?

[Melbourne_Blood]

Shaw, malceski, Goodes? Bird? They would be my first 4,

[liz]

Shaw, malceski, Goodes? Bird? They would be my first 4,

Bit rough on Shaw that you've listed him ahead of Malceski!

Other than Mal, all these players are still well ahead of any youngster, based on their 2014 seasons. Even Shaw played some terrific football at times last year. While time might catch up with him, as it did for ROK and LRT last year, at this point it is still his spot in the team to lose. Bird had his best year in the RWO to date, while Goodes got significantly better as the year went on and we know how good even close to his best is.

The most likely way doors will open is via injuries. They are almost as certain as death and income taxes.

[dimelb]

Shaw, malceski, Goodes? Bird? They would be my first 4,

Bird again. He and Jake should have swapped places before the GF.

[S.S. Bleeder]

Shaw, malceski, Goodes? Bird? They would be my first 4,

Jones, Mitchell & Heeney - Please refer to my comments in "Sydney Swans best 22, 2015 AFL Premiership Season" thread.

[Melbourne_Blood]

I like Bird too, but I can't see any other front line midfielders going out ahead of him. I did have a mental lapse though and forgot about Harry and Jake. It's been a while...

[wolftone57]

I like Bird too, but I can't see any other front line midfielders going out ahead of him. I did have a mental lapse though and forgot about Harry and Jake. It's been a while...

I can see us restructuring the mids this year. One of our problems is we have too many ex-outside players playing in the mids together. I think we have to go with more natural inside mids like Kennedy, Parker, Bird, Mitchell, Heeney (inside/outside), Hewett (inside/outside). We need to go with 2 nat inside to 1 I/O in the centre square. The outside mids should attack from the back of the square running toward our goal or from wings. This would free up our forward line and enable us to run the ball in if they dropped one back.

[Meg]

Meet Isaac Heeney

According to Peter FitzSimmons in the SMH: 'Isaac Heeney. The new Swans player has been christened by his teammates "Zucchini."'

[Auntie.Gerald]

obviously !!

[sharp9]

Listen out for "Zook, Zook, kick it to me!"