2013: The defining year for the Swans and a lot more

[Ampersand]

They should have relocated those existing clubs interstate as they did South Melbourne instead of establishing new clubs. We should have something like the Western Sydney Bulldogs, the Gold Coast Saints, the Darwin Demons, the Hobart Kangaroos or whatever. I even think a New Zealand based team would have been more beneficial to the code long term than the Gold Coast location.

[caj23]

Pretty sure Aliir would have gone through to the rookie draft if we had left him.

I guess we were just so desperate for a ruckman we felt we couldn't risk losing Nankervis but see your point, we probably would have got him at 44. I rate Brown, that hurts reading that he went so late...

Don't rate Brown at all, he is the slowest player in the league by a long way, I doubt he will be on a list in 2 - 3 years. He makes Nankervis look like Jetta!!

[dimelb]

Don't rate Brown at all, he is the slowest player in the league by a long way, I doubt he will be on a list in 2 - 3 years. He makes Nankervis look like Jetta!!

Are we thinking about the same Brown? The one who regularly marks on a lead, kicks more goals than behinds and generally knows where to be?

[WauchopeAnalyst]

If we are talking about Ben Brown from the Kangaroos, you are deluded about his pace. Lynden Dunn and TMac couldnt catch him. Teddy and Reg wouldn't touch him.

[KTigers]

Sheahan is right. Just for simple reason that with a 12 team comp I will no longer be embarrassed by my world game loving friends when they make jokes about the AFL's ridiculously uneven draw. Seriously though, there is just isn't enough money or talent to go around to support 18 teams. Has anyone noticed just how many completely meaningless games are played each week.

Mike Sheahan stated recently 6 teams need to bite the dust in Melbourne , which for a Victorian Journo of fifty years was pretty remarkable of him.
12 teams , play each other twice.
Won't happen, but he was bold to come out with it.

[WauchopeAnalyst]

14 is the magic number. Less teams but a few more games/ rounds. 26 rounds with 2 byes, going all teams a break. 28 rounds including byes.

8 interstates teams, Geelong.

Tasmania, GWS and Gold Coast each get merged with a Melbourne club.

Possible Merging/ gone club: St Kilda, Kangaroos, Melbourne, Bulldogs, Carlton.

Just one Melbourne club gone. But which one....

The powerhouses clubs still remain.

1st bye, Junior championships u16 and 18 games.

2nd bye, Senior Championships games.

Both championships with DIV1: Vic metro, Vic country, SA, WA. DIV 2: NSW, QLD, NT and TAS

Each championships gives 4 games. Fri night, Sat Day, Sat night and Sunday.

Byes around Rds 9-10 and Rds 19-20 or thereabouts.

182 games in new fixture compared to 198 games but with better footy or better lists for each club.

Much more travelling for Melbourne clubs but Eddie wants a "Level playing field" Touche!


Pretty easy..... ha ha ha????????????

[Zlatorog]

It looks good to me!

[Mug Punter]

14 is the magic number. Less teams but a few more games/ rounds. 26 rounds with 2 byes, going all teams a break. 28 rounds including byes.

8 interstates teams, Geelong.

Tasmania, GWS and Gold Coast each get merged with a Melbourne club.

Possible Merging/ gone club: St Kilda, Kangaroos, Melbourne, Bulldogs, Carlton.

Just one Melbourne club gone. But which one....

The powerhouses clubs still remain.

1st bye, Junior championships u16 and 18 games.

2nd bye, Senior Championships games.

Both championships with DIV1: Vic metro, Vic country, SA, WA. DIV 2: NSW, QLD, NT and TAS

Each championships gives 4 games. Fri night, Sat Day, Sat night and Sunday.

Byes around Rds 9-10 and Rds 19-20 or thereabouts.

182 games in new fixture compared to 198 games but with better footy or better lists for each club.

Much more travelling for Melbourne clubs but Eddie wants a "Level playing field" Touche!


Pretty easy..... ha ha ha??????

Will never happen but I'd love to see that model.

A few minor comments being the pedant I am, I'd have the Championship a having 4 divisions with promotion and relegation each year. I'd also have the Championships being during the first week.

I'd also have a rule that any players unavailable for the championships are automatically unavailable for the next club match. Everyone except the clubs and their chairmen want Origin footy back.

I'd have Bulldogs to GWS merge with the Bulldogs and move to Canberra as I do not believe GWS is viable in Sydney long term (just my opinion) and move St Kilda to the Gold Coast. I'd merge Melbourne and Carlton to form the Melbourne Blues. I don't think Tassie can sustain a standalone side so I'd merge the Tigers and North Melbourne. That would leave the Scum, Hawks and Bombers as stand alone clubs in Melbourne

[caj23]

If we are talking about Ben Brown from the Kangaroos, you are deluded about his pace. Lynden Dunn and TMac couldnt catch him. Teddy and Reg wouldn't touch him.

I guess we'll see if I'm right or not

10 Disposals, 0 goals against Ted/Reg earlier this year suggest they held him pretty well (I was at the game he was completely ineffective).

8 Disposals and 2 goals in last years prelim against us wasn't bad given how badly they got flogged, but I would suggest our boys still had the better of him.

Granted he is a big unit, but he is as slow as Nankervis and has the turning circle of titanic, he's not the type of forward that will trouble our defence

[WauchopeAnalyst]

Yep, the big fellas can run at a fair pace in straight lines but as soon as they have to turn they need a pilot and some tugs to turn them and then slow to get going again.????????????????

[caj23]

Yep, the big fellas can run at a fair pace in straight lines but as soon as they have to turn they need a pilot and some tugs to turn them and then slow to get going again.????????

I checked his stats after posting and he has actually had a pretty good year for the Roos, however I still don't think we missed out on anything by not drafting him, particularly when we already have Tippett who performs a similar role

- - - Updated - - -

Yep, the big fellas can run at a fair pace in straight lines but as soon as they have to turn they need a pilot and some tugs to turn them and then slow to get going again.????????????????

I checked his stats after posting and he has actually had a pretty good year for the Roos, however I still don't think we missed out on anything by not drafting him, particularly when we already have Tippett who performs a similar role

[dimelb]

I think the real choice in considering a player like Brown is not so much whether he would be an alternative for Tippett, but rather for Nanny. Toby hasn't yet had as much top level experience as Brown and may take longer to hit his straps at that level, so the jury is still out.

[AnnieH]

So much happened in 2013 that I think we will be talking about this year for a very long time. It's too difficult to say how much will be good and how much bad.

It started with the loss of Alex Johnson with an ACL injury.

A couple of months later there was the Indigenous Round incident with Adam Goodes, which has carried on till now and likely to go beyond.

Then, of course, there is the signing of Buddy Franklin and everything that comes with that, from the loss of Mummy and a few other players, and setting in motion several punitive measures by the AFL that might bite hard for many years to come.

With the benefit of hindsight, a few less evident matters are becoming clearer.

Despite having acquired Tippett in the previous year and Mike Pyke having a banner year in 2013, the club went into a mini panic with the loss of Mummy that may also have long lasting repercussions. Part of this is a result of 2013 looking to be an excellent draft year, with very few duds popping up even as we look into picks in the 40s and few genuine stars are sure to come out of this draft.

Before the ND began we already committed 2 spots to ruckmen with questionable credentials. Tom Derickx was a panic move and really unnecessary. The other was the American Pat Mitchell. They turned out to be poor choices, but mistakes are made and so be it. Why we signed Tom for another 2 years is beyond me.

But the real focus is on the 2013 National Draft. It would seem that we wanted Zak Jones and I can see why we liked him. He's a real competitor and has a lot of talent as well. It must have been hard to judge who would be available at pick 32, but with Hewett available, he had to be taken. I would suspect that we would have liked a KPD at that spot, and perhaps had our eye on McStay, who was snatched up by Brisbane at pick 25.

It's that next pick #35 when we took Toby Nankervis that baffles me. Here we have a ruckman who has years of development ahead of him. There are only 8 picks to be taken before our next pick at #44, and only one club, the WB, who might be interested in a ruckman. And there is still Ben Brown available, who eventually went to NM at pick 47. Aliir was not even rated as a rookie prospect, so would have easily been available at our first rookie slot, which we passed on for lack of space. He should have been taken at that selection instead of signing Pat Mitchell.

Between picks 35 and 44 we see the following key defenders get drafted:
Alex Pearce, who is looking good at Freo after 10 games.
Cameron Giles, who was picked by Carlton, but has not played due to injury, but is a good prospect nonetheless.
Jake Kolodjashnij, who has pushed Jared Rivers out of the Geelong backline and played well against us on Saturday.
Tom Barrass, who also played well against us in the Eagles game.

I was hoping we would take Kolodjashnij at the time, but we took Nankervis instead. As it turned out the WB took mature ager Mathew Fuller, so both Nankervis and Brown would have almost certainly been available at pick 44 anyway.

Given that we already knew that AJ had surgery complications, it would have been nice to have picked up one of those KPDs in the 2013 draft, especially given that we won't have the opportunity to get any this year due to the need to use most of our draft picks on Mills and the trade restrictions and salary cap reduction.

Perhaps if we had won the 2014 GF the club management would have been hailed as geniuses. But history is what it is and now we seem to be in a malaise and left wondering where it went all went wrong. Something wasn't right about how we played that 2nd half at Geelong, but I don't know what it is. We haven't looked right all year.

That's a very long bow you've drawn there.
Do you arms hurt?

[Ludwig]

That's a very long bow you've drawn there.
Do you arms hurt?

What I really meant to say was "I'm sick and tired of the Swans losing."

[AnnieH]

We all are.
But it's just footy.
(OMG. I can't believe I said that.)