Nick Smith contract extension

[churry]

Another re-signing, great news! Smooch re-signed for 2 more years.

Swans lock small defender in for two years - sydneyswans.com.au

Who's next? ????

[ScottH]

good news, but how long will he be 'underrated'????
Premiership player. All Australian.

[mcs]

Great to see him resign for another couple of years - although I do fear he might seek new pastures next time around (I'm guessing by then he will be a unrestricted free agent?). Not that one could complain if he did - he's given great service to the club so far

[707]

Great news, adds another two years. Is there a list of when players are signed until?

2022 Buddy
2021 Parker & Hanners
etc

Mods, could we have such a list as a sticky?

[RogueSwan]

Great news, adds another two years. Is there a list of when players are signed until?

2022 Buddy
2021 Parker & Hanners
etc

Mods, could we have such a list as a sticky?

http://www.redandwhiteonline.com/wiki/index.php/2015

[liz]

Great to see him resign for another couple of years - although I do fear he might seek new pastures next time around (I'm guessing by then he will be a unrestricted free agent?). Not that one could complain if he did - he's given great service to the club so far

I don't see why he should necessarily be seeking new pastures in two years time if he is not now (and the article says he didn't talk to any club other than the Swans). Of course, things can change but that is the case for any player. I think he would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year had he not re-signed. He's been with the club for more than eight seasons and I doubt he'd be in the top 25% paid players at the club, given defenders tend to be short changed, and given how many high profile mids and forwards we have signed on decent coin.

[magic.merkin]

I expect him to be like Mal looking for his last pay day in 2 years with the larger cap. Hopefully with us!

[Industrial Fan]

Better news (imo) than the Parker contract.

Critical player to our success.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Better news (imo) than the Parker contract.

Critical player to our success.

Have to disagree. Smiths role is more specialised but I can't see him getting any better and he wasn't at his best last year. Parker is a future captain, game breaker, potential brownlow medallist.

[mcs]

I don't see why he should necessarily be seeking new pastures in two years time if he is not now (and the article says he didn't talk to any club other than the Swans). Of course, things can change but that is the case for any player. I think he would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year had he not re-signed. He's been with the club for more than eight seasons and I doubt he'd be in the top 25% paid players at the club, given defenders tend to be short changed, and given how many high profile mids and forwards we have signed on decent coin.

I don't think he will either - but he will be at that age that, dependent upon the Swans overall fortunes and future path, that he may be targeted by some clubs looking to top up in search of experienced players to round out a list in search of a Premiership - who may be willing to throw over the top $$$$ at him.

[Mug Punter]

Great news, we really seem to have sewn up the vas majority of our squad now.

By my reckoning the major re-signing targets for this year are Heeney, Tippett and Mitchell, three pretty big targets. Heeney should be a reasonably easy re-sign but you'd have to be thinking that we'd be struggling to re-sign both Tippett and Mitchell on the coin they are on at the moment.

This is pure hunch (I did get Jetta right last year and was one of the first to call it) but I'd be thinking Mitchell is most at risk of bring traded. For the three following reasons

(1) He is on good coin and would supply the required cap space to keep Tippo
(2) If Mills is as good as we think then he may be easier to let go than we think
(3) We'd get decency trade currency for him (First rounder minimum) which may be handy

I think it is crazy for us to think that Buddy's additional $500K a year this year won't start to bite either

[Ludwig]

Great news, we really seem to have sewn up the vas majority of our squad now.

By my reckoning the major re-signing targets for this year are Heeney, Tippett and Mitchell, three pretty big targets. Heeney should be a reasonably easy re-sign but you'd have to be thinking that we'd be struggling to re-sign both Tippett and Mitchell on the coin they are on at the moment.

This is pure hunch (I did get Jetta right last year and was one of the first to call it) but I'd be thinking Mitchell is most at risk of bring traded. For the three following reasons

(1) He is on good coin and would supply the required cap space to keep Tippo
(2) If Mills is as good as we think then he may be easier to let go than we think
(3) We'd get decency trade currency for him (First rounder minimum) which may be handy

I think it is crazy for us to think that Buddy's additional $500K a year this year won't start to bite either

It's very early in the game to be calling trade period action, but nonetheless, you probably have hit the 2 most likely in Tippett and Mitchell.

Barring injury, Mitchell is bound to have a very good year and will be in much demand. His future may depend on how many of our emerging young midfielders step up and are ready to play high level senior footy. It may come down to how we rate the future prospects of players like Hewett and Robinson. The midfield squeeze that forced Bird out of the club is not going away anytime soon.

It's a big year for Tippo. He hasn't put a good full season together since we handed out all that coin for him. So many 'ifs' in our forward setup. If both Sinclair and Naismith have good seasons we might be ready to let Tippo go. He will be 30 next year. I would be looking to trade for one of Brisbane's young KPPs. It's considered a real weakness for the Lions this year, mainly due to lack of experience, but they have a around a dozen KPPs under 25 and most look to be very decent prospects, if not potential outright stars. They all can't play in the side and a couple are bound to be unhappy and will be looking to make a move. We have our our own emerging group of young KPPs in XR, Aliir and Davis (hopefully Melican as well), so we might be in good shape as well in this area.

I'm just adding a few things that come to mind to your thoughts on the matter. It's something to keep an eye on, and I'm sure we all will. Not making any calls at this point, but I am looking forward to the year to see how some of these potential player movements pan out.

[Mug Punter]

It's very early in the game to be calling trade period action, but nonetheless, you probably have hit the 2 most likely in Tippett and Mitchell.

Barring injury, Mitchell is bound to have a very good year and will be in much demand. His future may depend on how many of our emerging young midfielders step up and are ready to play high level senior footy. It may come down to how we rate the future prospects of players like Hewett and Robinson. The midfield squeeze that forced Bird out of the club is not going away anytime soon.

It's a big year for Tippo. He hasn't put a good full season together since we handed out all that coin for him. So many 'ifs' in our forward setup. If both Sinclair and Naismith have good seasons we might be ready to let Tippo go. He will be 30 next year. I would be looking to trade for one of Brisbane's young KPPs. It's considered a real weakness for the Lions this year, mainly due to lack of experience, but they have a around a dozen KPPs under 25 and most look to be very decent prospects, if not potential outright stars. They all can't play in the side and a couple are bound to be unhappy and will be looking to make a move. We have our our own emerging group of young KPPs in XR, Aliir and Davis (hopefully Melican as well), so we might be in good shape as well in this area.

I'm just adding a few things that come to mind to your thoughts on the matter. It's something to keep an eye on, and I'm sure we all will. Not making any calls at this point, but I am looking forward to the year to see how some of these potential player movements pan out.

Spot on analysis as usual Ludwig and, indeed, rather early for me to be starting a trade thread before our first trial. It was simply so I can repost on a "you heard it here first" basis

It will be an interesting year for our squad development to be sure. I do think that this is the year that the Buddy contract will start to bite but at least we are in control of how we manage that.

The midfield is clearly a crowded one and a lot will be determined I think on the development of Hewett and Robinson - I have a feeling Robbo and BJ may have breakout seasons this year. If Mills and Heeney slot into the midfield we'll have Hanners, JPK, Parker, Mills, Heeney and Robbo locked in as the core of our midfield for the next four season (I've not included Jack as I'm not convinced he has much shelf life beyond this season). It could well be decided that Mitchell is surplus to requirements as much as I rate him.

Tippett's position is interesting. As an unrestricted free agent we won't get anything for him but I believe he is quite settled in Sydney. What we are prepared to pay will largely depend on the progress of Naismith and Sinclair. I would think we'd be keen to keep him at unders on what he is on now but I'd expect a club like the Lions would be extremely keen to sign him to add some experience and leadership and they'd be able to blow us out of the water financially. So, I think ultimately this will be driven by what drives Kurt career wise, a flag or more cash in the bank.

The defence will also have key impact indirectly on our activity. If Talia and one of X, AA or Abe really step up then we might be well enough stocked for the post-Ted era but I still suspect we might try and bundle up any trade bait (i.e. Mitchell) with a really strong young KPD so Brisbane again could be a trading partner based on your analysis of their stocks.

Overall you'd have to say our list is looking a lot stronger than it was this time last year. The fact that we have not let any young players go from the main list and given them another year to develop is a big part of this and I would expect our reserves to have a much better season this year

[Auntie.Gerald]

its certainly a year of genuine opportunity for the emerging lot

A lot of senior players have moved on last two seasons and the likes of Heeney, Lloyd, BJ, Towers, HarryC, Jones etc etc started to get their opportunity to become full time residents of the snr 22

Thats 6 players just coming to mind, who will be ready to rock for 2016

i can not wait for the season to begin !!!

[Ludwig]

Tippett's position is interesting. As an unrestricted free agent we won't get anything for him but I believe he is quite settled in Sydney.

Tippett won't be a free agent until after the 2020 season, if he lasts that long. But it's hard to say how much clubs would give up for a 30 yo if we can't come to contract terms. I think Tippo is the kind of player that does well on the last year of a contract.