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It should also be noted that Nick would have moved to Sydney with his father when he was roughly 6 and by draft time would have spent 12 years in Sydney so he may have no affinity with wanting to live in Melbourne and would probably see Sydney as his home so the chances are that he would lean more to wanting to stay at home. Weather that be with Sydney or GWS.
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Interestingly/surprisingly, despite our 'stealth rebuild' that is so strikingly evident in this week's team selection, the Swans have only have turned over only three more players since 2013 than the teams that have turned over the fewest but 17 less than Carlton: according to this article Time to send an SOS? 27 Blues in limbo - AFL.com.au. What's more we're one of only three teams not to have turned over 10+ players in a single year during this period. Another tick for our list management guys I think and probably really for the whole club. Thinking ahead so we don't have to do anything too drastic and maintaining our success.All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)
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Interesting points from Kinnear Beatson (our own KB!) about our list: No rebuild at Sydney: Beatson. One comment that caught my eye was this:
?There?s been a gradual change in the list with the retirement of some players?it?s too early to say who will go this year, but there most likely will be others that will retire.?
Players (plural) who will "most likely... retire". Macca is the obvious candidate. But who else? I hope this is not a hint about Reg and I would have thought Kizza would go round again. But maybe not? We don't have any other senior citizens do we? Smooch and Joey are not that old. And nor are any of the others. Maybe he just means who will be delisted. There's a few candidates there: BJ, Tyrone, Talia and, possibly, AJ, if he can't get back to form. It's a pity Towers has no trade value. I'm thinking we'll have the least turnover for the last few years this time around.
I figure we just grab the best talent we can get via draft or trade. We don't seem to have a lot of particular needs except more highly talented players. We mostly need our talent to develop and get experience. We have mids and backs, big and small. What I think we most could use are some KPF prospects. At the moment there is only Pink and Dawson as KPFs outside the best 22. Despite the fact he kicked 6 against the witches hats on the weekend (at least he kicked straight: 6.0), the last pick of the rookie draft is an unlikely place to find a decent KPF and Dawson is only 190 cm. Fortunately Nick Blakey is on the horizon. Even so a bit more depth would be good. Also, I think we could afford to grab another project ruckman (maybe Liam Maze?). And maybe another inside mid a la Sam Powell-Pepper in last year's draft?All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)Comment
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Is it just me or is it odd that Hayward has extended his contract by only one year when he still has nearly two full seasons to go on his current contract? Hayward signs on - sydneyswans.com.au It would make more sense if it were a longer extension. Also, does this mean we have prioritised re-signing Hayward over Florent or that Hayward was more willing to re-sign than Florent or neither or both?All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)Comment
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AFL 360 (Wed 12 Apr 2017) - YouTube
Interview with Darcy Fogarty and Jayden Stephenson,the 2 boys touted to go No.1 in the 2017 Draft, at 18.40. Either would fit very nicely into our group. Wooden spoon not looking so bad now.Comment
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Oh yeah!
If this is the season Hawthorn finally succumb to gravity and finish low on the table, they will have given say pick 4 & 22 plus later pick shenanigans for O'Meara - nice, nice, nice :-)
A bit like Collingwood who thought they were giving GWS two picks around 13/14 for Treloar but instead they turned into picks 7 & 8 - ouch!Comment
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"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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Awesome timing for the club before he played Snrs
Hayward is a seriously impressive skinny 18yr old and a player who will be here for many years I hope"be tough, only when it gets tough"
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The standard contract for new draftees is two years but it's not that unusual for clubs to offer some draftees longer initial contracts, typically three years but sometimes longer. I think Mills and Heeney were both originally signed for three (and, of course, Mills has just signed on for an additional five after his initial three year contract expires).Comment
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Hayward is seriously impressive for a skinny 18yo, not surprised with the contract extension. Just means he can concentrate on his footy during year 2 and not be distracted by contract talks. Hayward is obviously very settled in Sydney.
Florent is also impressive, again a skinny 18yo but just does some special things that you know he's going to be a very good draftee. We all know the story behind his drafting, hopefully he is also feeling settled in Sydney.
Both these players probably wouldn't be playing seniors at this stage if we had more depth and if we didn't have a long injury list. They will get tired as the season progresses and will have games off once we get senior players back.
Despite the game day gloom cast by many, our list is quite exciting, we may just be in a building year.Comment
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The ages of senior players, by birth date:
McVeigh April 1985
Grundy June 1986
Franklin Jan 1987
Tippett May 1987
Jack June 1987
Kennedy June 1988
Smith June 1988
Laidler August 1989
Sinclair September 1989Comment
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Of those 9 senior-aged players, the 2 youngest (Laidler and Sinclair) are already probably not in our best 22.
There are probably replacements already on the list for the backline. For Grundy in particular we seem to have recruited well in Maibaum, Melican and Talia (with Alex Johnson with an unknown potential upside; McVeigh's role will fall to maybe Newman and Rampe normally offers some similar stability.
There is no current small similar to Smith, but a few smalls that are being used in the 1sts at the moment and hopefully will cover both Jack as small forward and develop as a lockdown backman.
Life without FranKlin, Tippett and Kennedy - hopefully not for a few years yet!!!Comment
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