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Can we please stop any talk of Reg retiring, he's in great form, may not be fashionable but a great reader of the play, intercept marks, takes on the gorillas, calm etc. Doesn't show any sign of getting past it.
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He won't take over from Reg. They're completely different players. Maibaum will have that Job. Aliir will need to play second fiddle to Melican. Hopefully with a full preseason under his belt he will make his own position as a floating defender. ATM he doesn't have the accountability to go one on one.Comment
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Grundy has Proven me wrong. After 2014 I thought that he had about two seasons left. Maybe because I viewed him and Ted as being two years apart, but he is still proving to be our Leo Barry of the back half. He never gets injured and when he was off the ground for ten minutes last week we really struggled. He's got a couple of seasons still in him I think. Hopefully Maibum will be ready to replace him by then.Comment
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I think Grundy will be hard to replace.
It won't be easy for Maiburn or Melican to have to play on the biggest and strongest forward every week.
It might be good to draft a key position defender earlier than usual so we have a few defenders developing.Comment
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For me, with our list currently, we could do well in picking up an established key defender in the next year or 2.
Just don't see anyone growing in to Grundy's frame in that time.The difference between insanity and genius is measured only in success.Comment
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That's true, but there are loads of people with good character, and you wouldn't play all of them as a KPD. I think the point that S.S.B was trying to make was that despite his story, he needs to have the football ability to break into the side. Without the ability, it doesn't matter how good a bloke he is.
But if he's a good footy player, we'd obviously rather have someone of his character than someone of equal ability with more questionable character.Comment
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Absolutely Grundy is churning along very nicely at the moment - but the end can come quickly as well for some when it does come. Look at the end for Teddy. Some of his best football was in his last few years, but when he finally hit the proverbial 'wall', the end was pretty quick. Wouldn't surprise me to see the same with Grundy as well, though his form currently is right up there with the best of his career.
What a player he has been for us though over such an extended period of time. If there is one thing the Swans are good at, its finding quality key position defenders, or at least turning players into them."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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Reg is a massively underrated player but I think he could tail off next year.
A lot will depend on the development of Maibaum next year and if he is ready for senior footy and also AJs progress. If they are both good then we have Melican, AJ, Maibaum and Aliir as our KPDs plus Sammy at a pinch. More than enough given the usual durability of our dour defenders.
For that reason I can't see us going for a KPD at the draft this year. You can usually pick a decent one via the trade period or free agency fairly cheaply and I'd expect us to go down that route if we feel we have a deficiency on KPD stocks at the end of 2018Comment
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Need KPF and outside run this draft/trade period, the former you need high draft picks for or pick them up as F/S or academy players.Comment
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I was strongly against drafting him. I thought it was a big mistake. He had a poor under 18 championships. His first year wasn't much better. But he turned things around in his 2nd season which continued on to last year where he got to play half a season at a good level. I can see from his background, which I didn't know about at his drafting, probably played a part in his development. He is a person who is used to dealing with adversity and seems well equipped to overcome whatever challenges he encounters in his career. And he loves the Swans. These are the main points that I got from the video. He's got the talent. He is likely to overcome his weaknesses to become a very good player and an important one for the Swans.
He's also the cousin of Milwaukee Bucks NBA player Thon Maker. Just guessing, but would think that Aliir would be driven to show that the can be a successful professional athlete as well.Comment
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I think Reg has been rated highly in the past few years, although he was underrated for a fair few years. Every year he seems to start like it's the year he's going to tail off, but then gets back to his best. At his age you know it's going to happen soon, but it's hard to predict the year. It helps that as far as I can recall Reg hasn't had any major injury. He looks hard to replace now, but just like Ted, LRT, Craig Bolton, Leo Barry and Paul Roos, we will find a replacement when the time comes.
There are a fair number of KPPs in this year's draft. They are always hard to rate, but some quality player will be available at our first round pick. We actually don't need a KPF with the signing of Reid, but we do lack depth in that area. It's hard to say if Maibaum or Pink will make the jump to become AFL level players. It's often not evident with KPPs in their 1st season. Alex Johnson is another big unknown going into next season.
At this time last year I was very excited by the quality of the draft and we did well by picking up Hayward and Florent. The draft went deep and we also got a very good group of rookie selections. I don't get that feeling this year. It will be a challenging draft for Beatson and Co.Comment
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