2017 pre-season training thread

[RogueSwan]

Call me Mr.Negative but still worried about lack of depth :-(

If you don't want to feel so down you
should go back and read some of the posts from this time last year. A lot I those bemoaned or lack of depth and look where we ended up.

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[chuckie]

Horse said that he consider playing Reid in the grand final "If the situation was a bit different we might have played him, but the reality was there were a chunk of other [players] with question marks that we had to be mindful of."
Does this mean he didn't have the confidence in our depth when it came to the selection of our GF team or just wasn't game enough to make some tough calls.

[dimelb]

Call me Mr.Negative but still worried about lack of depth :-(

Any area in particular? I imagine that "across the board" would be a bit much even for Mr Negative!

[mattybloods]

If you don't want to feel so down you
should go back and read some of the posts from this time last year. A lot I those bemoaned or lack of depth and look where we ended up.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I agree. I was more worried about our lack of depth last year than this year

[royboy42]

Horse said that he consider playing Reid in the grand final "If the situation was a bit different we might have played him, but the reality was there were a chunk of other [players] with question marks that we had to be mindful of."
Does this mean he didn't have the confidence in our depth when it came to the selection of our GF team or just wasn't game enough to make some tough calls.

It became obvious early in the GF that McVeigh and Mills were not fit enough to be out there. We now know that Parker was already crook.
So he had at least 3 who could possibly go down and not complete the game.
More than enough risk already, so adding Reid who hadn't been on board all season would have looked unacceptable.
I think he was already too "game'.

[707]

Just watching some of the other preseason games, most other sides have one, two or three youngsters really shining and already looking senior players. From our one hit out so far I don't think anyone really showed they were of the standard, you have to watch these games without red & white glasses on and realistically appraise what's being shown. Guys like Cunningham, Foote, Robinson etc aren't at this stage the required standard comparing them to even first year players from many other sides.

I'm hoping that games 2 & 3 unearth some new talent or we have depth problems compared to other contenders.

[RogueSwan]

Just watching some of the other preseason games, most other sides have one, two or three youngsters really shining and already looking senior players. From our one hit out so far I don't think anyone really showed they were of the standard, you have to watch these games without red & white glasses on and realistically appraise what's being shown. Guys like Cunningham, Foote, Robinson etc aren't at this stage the required standard comparing them to even first year players from many other sides.

I'm hoping that games 2 & 3 unearth some new talent or we have depth problems compared to other contenders.

The trouble with these practice matches is that we know they all don't go 100% (except Hanners, I don't think he knows how to take it easy) and some may be given specific tasks to accomplish that don't give them the chance to "shine".

[aardvark]

Just watching some of the other preseason games, most other sides have one, two or three youngsters really shining and already looking senior players. From our one hit out so far I don't think anyone really showed they were of the standard, you have to watch these games without red & white glasses on and realistically appraise what's being shown. Guys like Cunningham, Foote, Robinson etc aren't at this stage the required standard comparing them to even first year players from many other sides.

I'm hoping that games 2 & 3 unearth some new talent or we have depth problems compared to other contenders.

This could be the year we slide. Fringe players not stepping up, injury list, Macca on his last legs and the newbies not ready yet. It could be a case of too much to be done by too few and those few are still a bit beat up from the last couple of years. As you can tell my expectations for this year aren't high. If Mills, Heeney and Jones step up we are a chance.

[rojo]

If only we could get our forward structures right. Having Buddy, KT and Reid up there with Papley, (when he is fit again) Rohan (when he is fit) and maybe Kizza and Hewett and Heeney rotating there, we have the players for a match winning forward line. Despite that we usually scrap and scrape for our goals, depending on the midfield to run in and too often for my liking looking totally dysfunctional. Here's hoping this year it may be different.

It has always puzzled me that our mids are expected to carry such a heavy load when we have all these 'stars' in the forward line. I know that lines are blurred these days and our game plan is good enough to get us to finals but we get there with burn out! I agree that this year we will need another Papley/Aliir type emergence or two to keep us up there with the best teams.

.

[bloodspirit]

Horse said that he consider playing Reid in the grand final "If the situation was a bit different we might have played him, but the reality was there were a chunk of other [players] with question marks that we had to be mindful of."
Does this mean he didn't have the confidence in our depth when it came to the selection of our GF team or just wasn't game enough to make some tough calls.

It sounds to me like Horse (and the rest of the selection committee) did make some tough calls, including the decision to leave Sam Reid out and pick others to play even though their preparation/fitness was less than ideal (e.g. Mills, Macca, Parker) and there were other 'fringe' players that could have been chosen in their place. One of the factors that bore on this decision was that some of the other best 22 players had injury/form related question marks and Horse did not think it smart to pick yet another player with question marks over their injury/form. It was more appropriate, in the his/the selection committee's view, to select a known quantity (Xavier Richards) over some one who offered more potential upside (Sam Reid) but who they could not be certain would reach the level required because he had not played for so long. Given that X did not make much of a contribution, with the benefit of hindsight you might roll the dice on Sam Reid instead. But that could have backfired too - for example if Reid had seriously reinjured himself by playing at maximum intensity too soon.

[bloodspirit]

Just watching some of the other preseason games, most other sides have one, two or three youngsters really shining and already looking senior players. From our one hit out so far I don't think anyone really showed they were of the standard, you have to watch these games without red & white glasses on and realistically appraise what's being shown. Guys like Cunningham, Foote, Robinson etc aren't at this stage the required standard comparing them to even first year players from many other sides.

I'm hoping that games 2 & 3 unearth some new talent or we have depth problems compared to other contenders.

It's true I am generally an optimist, but I am more optimistic than you, 707. First, the Swans never shine in pre-season matches. Every year we talk about this. Every year people cry doom and gloom. More often than not we come up roses (or pretty sweet smelling anyway). Perhaps it's a factor that because we have played finals so regularly some of our lustre is taken off by our relatively shorter pre-seasons.

Second, I am in the camp that believes the contribution of your best 6-8 players is more significant to your results than the contributions of your bottom 6-8 players. I know others hold the opposite view.

Also, I think the bulk of our improvement will come from the mid-tier of our best 22 this year - not the newbies and not the established, senior players. I think it's players like Jones, Aliir, Marsh, Heeney, Hewett, Naismith are the players whose improvement will make the greatest difference to our team. Another potentially significant source of improvement will be the changes we can make to our structure with the return of Reid and the emergence of Naismith as a primo ruck. I think Reid won't be used in defence, barring injuries, except here and there in games where it might be required. If Naismith maintains fitness and form and does the majority of the rucking having a forward line based around Tippett, Buddy and Reid is a potentially big improvement (although, yes, the challenge does remain to get them all to gel together and with the midfield).

Finally, on an unrelated point, the rumour is that Papley has a season-ending injury with the compartment syndrome in his leg(s). Terrible news if true - we will miss his pressure and goal scoring. I hope someone directly asks one of the coaches about this at their next presser. Only good thing about this would be the opportunity to try and uncover other talent in that position: Rose, BJ, Hayward, Florent, Leonardis etc.

[Ludwig]

First a note on 707's depth concerns. I was with the majority who felt we didn't have the depth to make the top 4 last year, but the likes of Mills, Papley and the emergence of Aliir were big surprises. I think we enter this season with more depth than I've ever seen. I believe we have more than 30 players quite capable of playing good AFL footy and the depth is spread across the field.

If only we could get our forward structures right. Having Buddy, KT and Reid up there with Papley, (when he is fit again) Rohan (when he is fit) and maybe Kizza and Hewett and Heeney rotating there, we have the players for a match winning forward line. Despite that we usually scrap and scrape for our goals, depending on the midfield to run in and too often for my liking looking totally dysfunctional. Here's hoping this year it may be different.

It has always puzzled me that our mids are expected to carry such a heavy load when we have all these 'stars' in the forward line. I know that lines are blurred these days and our game plan is good enough to get us to finals but we get there with burn out! I agree that this year we will need another Papley/Aliir type emergence or two to keep us up there with the best teams.

.

We managed quite well last year despite only getting 1? seasons out of our regular starting trio and also missing Rohan for a good chunk of the year as well. Felt we missed Tippett and Reid taking those contested marks when coming out of defence.

We start this season in a lot better shape as far as our tall forwards are concerned. It's hard to find replacements for those guys. Hopefully the Papley injury allows him to return early in the season. But we have a lot if depth as to who can play forward now without having a true Eddie Betts type small forward, except for Papley and Sam Fisher, who I have high hopes for. Florent is a good chance to get some time as a small forward this year. He's a very fit player, so can fill that role until Papley returns.

What happens up forward starts in the back line. We enter the season with some more pace and options for moving the ball quickly on transition, which translates to creating better scoring opportunities involving more players.

[Mountain Man]

IMHO, it's pretty clear that K. Jack will fill the small forward role.

Which means at least 2 mid replacements - Jack and Mitchell

[56-14]

I think I'm a loner here in relation to Heeney's role this season.

Fully agree that he has to spend a lot of time in the mid-field.

However, IMO, if we are to cause an upset come finals time, Heeney creating havoc on the forward line will be paramount.

[mattybloods]

I think I'm a loner here in relation to Heeney's role this season.

Fully agree that he has to spend a lot of time in the mid-field.

However, IMO, if we are to cause an upset come finals time, Heeney creating havoc on the forward line will be paramount.

I think if everyone was fit Heeney would be midfield but now with Rohan and Papley out he's more important for our forward line