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With so many potential retirements this year who will go and who should stay another year? Goodes, Shaw, Pyke, Richards and McVeigh should all get their marching orders in my book. Time for a clean out.
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And how have Lloyd and Cunningham and Sam Reid progressed - none are at senior level and yet get a game every week???? We do not have talented youngsters and the NEAFL is not a competition where they can improve. I also thnk the coaching staff are stagnant both senior and reserves coaches.Comment
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Those who have the greatest power to hurt us are those we love.Comment
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McVeigh has had a patchy year, his good is brilliant, his bad is horrible soft football. He hasn't bee the same since the GF last year. I he only 30 though, and he is a champion of our club. This club seems to have more issues between the ears and I the coaches box than it does with talent. Bring in the sports quacks.Comment
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Agree with this. It's been an odd year, with the team's seeming inability to play a second half. Even in our better performances, the second halves have been patchy at best. The team clearly can play good football but not for four quarters. I don't believe it can be attributed to fitness. If we were getting overrun late in quarters, maybe, but coming out after the long break and barely giving a yelp suggests its mental.
I think McVeigh is far from finished, but the gap between his best and worst this year has been puzzling (and disappointing).Comment
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Other than Shaw, retirements are not that obvious this year. Ted is likely to play another year and Goodes is unclear, but playing well enough to go around again. Marsh is likely to be delisted. Maybe we can rookie Derickx as he is still contracted for next year. Bird will need to be traded simply because it's hard to see how he plays seniors with us. We have too many slow midfielders. For the first time I have been thinking that we should consider trading either Kennedy or Mitchell (but probably not this year), just to make room for some quicker mids. We might think about making Kennedy a forward playing out of the goal square (but it's a long shot). We've got time on that decision.
We don't have to delist or retire many as we only need to take 2 in the ND, likely to be Mills and Dunkley, and perhaps 1 rookie, which can be covered by Shaw, Bird and Marsh going out. This draft is pretty weak anyway and we'd be lucky to get Mills and perhaps Dunkley as well.
The Swans may be headed down the ladder regardless of what we do in the off season. But I feel we need to restructure our side to get more skill and pace. Hopefully players like Hewett, Mills, Newman and Perris, all yet to play a game, will provide some answers.
I'm not worried about the trading ban, as unjust as it has been. Just about any player that would improve our side would put us over the salary cap anyway. We should remember that our cap is being reduced by around 700k over 3 years, but Buddy and Tippo's salary aren't changing. The only 2 players that might be available that could help our list are very risky anyway: Carlisle is still under a WADA suspension cloud and Leuenberger has been injury plagued his whole career.
The future is unclear, but what is clear is that the formula we used this year isn't working. Sometimes it doesn't take much change in personnel to make a big change on the field. Heeney is a gun, and hopefully Mills will be too. I like the skill set that Hewett has to offer. Xav Richards didn't look bad in his game v WCE and has a bit of pace for a backman. Newman, Perris and Davis all look to have something to offer at senior level.Comment
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The thing is that whilst we are now outside the top 4, every match from now on is very winnable and we are a very good chance to finish in the 4. That is of course if some players get their act together and also if Buddy, Benny, Gazza and (perhaps) Pyke get back on the field asap. As a result we won't be going down the 'play the kids' path as we will be fighting and scratching to make the top 4.
I for one hope the team hasn't decided to put the cue in the rack. My advice would be to get yourselves back into the 4 and give it your best shot. I might be bordering on the delusional based on recent performances (except Adelaide) but that's what I, as a fan, expect to see anyway.Comment
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Surely its time for Shaw and Goodes to goComment
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Article on the AFL website with Derwayne quoting club recruiters who say this is a very weak draft and past pick 20 it's very weak.
Means we take Mills AND Dunkley if we can because later picks are likely to yield nothing.
No need to panic about retirements because there is no quick fix. We just have to accept that we may fall short of a flag in the immediate future, but then so are another 12-14 clubs. We really do need for some of the ressies to really push up which they are not doing currently. Ludwig pointed out some that look capable and may become real quality in future years.
The fact is we are effectively out of the FA market this year so need to look to next year to bring in one or two key players we think we are missing in this current + 2015 draftees squad. We are fortunate that our midfield is still relatively young and we are adding to it this year again.Comment
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They can all retire and we can then trade in some great talent...Comment
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