2018 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[Ralph Dawg]

With our recent struggles, I have been thinking about what our team could look like next year. I think leg speed will continue to be important in 2019, with efficient transition from defence to attack being paramount as well. Depending on the rule changes, there may be more of emphasis on being able to win the one on one battles more, with less scope for flooding and having spare men back in defence. With this in mind, our team may look something like this:
B: Smith Melican Rampe
HB: Stoddart Aliir Lloyd
C: Heeney Mills florent
HF: Ronke Reid Hayward
F: Blakey Franklin Papley
Foll: Sinclair Parker Kennedy
Int from: Hewett, Cunningham, Jones, McCartain, O'riordan, Dawson, Ling, Hanners, Jack,
Of course this is not taking into account team changes at the end of the year and injuries but I think the team above has a bit more grunt and mobility, especially through the midfield. Playing Melican and Aliir will allow Rampe to play a more quarter back role in defence, with Stoddart providing sensible run out of HB (unlike Jones!). Mills will help at the contest. Our forward line with Reid back, a fully fit Buddy, height and mobility in Blakey and McCartain and a fleet of fast small forwards would prove a handful. No room for Sam - Sinclair is more mobile and versatile and has done a great job this year.

[Industrial Fan]

Kennedy and Darling playing for West Coast is chalk and cheese.

Reid brings that same stability to our structure especially with Tippett our to Pasture.

We can’t let Buddy roam up he ground without another respected target up front.

His reinjury along with the demise of Hanners has crippled this year imo.

When Mills went down it wasn’t an obvious issue as we had coverage in the back half but wouldn’t we love to have him availble to throw in the middle now.

[stevoswan]

Fringe players have no trade value. You might get pick 50 for towers. Pick 70 for foote. Big deal.

And we shouldn't be writing off another season. Many said that last year. How long do you think our premiership window will be open?. If we don't have a crack this year it could be 10 to 20 years of doldrums coming up.

I see your point and it is frustrating that the Buddy years are diminishing and may not yield the results we expected but it's hard to see, this year at least, that we have much left on the list to 'have a crack' with. I hold high hopes for next year though.....

[KSAS]

Tom Brown on Triple M (Melb) this morning reporting that Melbourne were interested in Dan Hannebery up to 3 weeks ago but have since gone cold, whilst intimating the Swans may've thought about it. Dunno the validity of this, because it then makes signing a long term contract worthless (in Dan's case up to the end of 2021). Has to work both ways you'd think?

Tom also reported GC are seeking long term commitment from Steven May by season's end. If he doesn't they will put him up for trade now to maximum his value rather than wait till next year when he becomes a free agent. Collingwood & Hawthorn are apparently already into chasing May, just wondering if we will be as well now?

[mcs]

Tom Brown on Triple M (Melb) this morning reporting that Melbourne were interested in Dan Hannebery up to 3 weeks ago but have since gone cold, whilst intimating the Swans may've thought about it. Dunno the validity of this, because it then makes signing a long term contract worthless (in Dan's case up to the end of 2021). Has to work both ways you'd think?

Tom also reported GC are seeking long term commitment from Steven May by season's end. If he doesn't they will put him up for trade now to maximum his value rather than wait till next year when he becomes a free agent. Collingwood & Hawthorn are apparently already into chasing May, just wondering if we will be as well now?

I hope we are chasing May - fits the profile of the sort of player we could really use. Decent amount of experience but still plenty of run in the legs.

Who knows with Hanners - I'd be suprised why clubs would be after him, given his body doesn't seem right and form was awful. But who knows.

[liz]

I hope we are chasing May - fits the profile of the sort of player we could really use. Decent amount of experience but still plenty of run in the legs.

Who knows with Hanners - I'd be suprised why clubs would be after him, given his body doesn't seem right and form was awful. But who knows.

While May would be a fine addition to any list, I find the ongoing raiding of the lists of Brisbane and the Suns distasteful. The Brisbane flow seems to be been stemmed for now but clubs are still trying to pick the eyes out of the Suns' list. Is it any wonder that the club is struggling to establish itself on field?

I'd love the Swans to target someone like Brodie, as he'd be a good replacement in time for Kennedy. And midway through the season there was a suggestion he was unhappy at being stuck in the NEAFL. But now he's found his way into the senior team and is playing good football there. Hopefully, for the sake of the Suns and the broader health of the competition, he's now happy at Gold Coast.

With Hanners, I imagine there are clubs with plenty of salary cap room who think they might be able to obtain Hannebery on the cheap (ie for a low trade value) with a hope that he can get over his injuries and become a very good player again. That line of thought only makes sense if there is a perception that the Swans have salary cap pressure and so are less able to hang onto him in the same hope that he recovers.


None of us really has much idea of the state of the Swans' cap but you'd think the retirement of Tippett relieves some pressure. Unless there is a high priced recruit that the Swans are chasing that means they would like to clear some cap space, I desperately hope the Swans hold onto Hanners. He's been a wonderful player for many years and, age wise, should be in his prime for another two or three seasons. He's not the first player to struggle for a while with a persistent injury but the fact it seems to be a soft tissue problem (rather than a joint issue, that could be degenerative) gives me plenty of hope that rest and a gradual rebuilding of his fitness will do the trick.

He has been such a core part of our pretty successful club, almost from the first moment he walked in the door. And it's not only his onfield contributions. If you listen to the short interviews with young players, published on the club website from time to time, they almost all name Hannebery as someone who has given generously of his time and energy to help them develop.

[Ludwig]

I don't know why the Swans would have salary cap problems while clubs with known salary cap problems, like Richmond and Collingwood, seem to have plenty of cash to throw at Tom Lynch.

Shaun Higgins is just one example of a quality player who had many a season ruined by injury and has come back to become one of the best players in the game. Hanners should not be able to get over his injury concerns and return to his usual high quality football, based on the information made available to the public. If a good deal is on the table to trade Hanners, I think we might do well to trade him. For me, the right trade would enable us to get Blakey plus another top 10 pick in this year's draft.

It makes me sick the way the Melbourne media gurus, especially David King, think Victorian clubs have the right to raid the northern clubs of their best players. It's as if every Victorian player finding himself outside of Victoria is duty bound to leave their club and get back to Melbourne asap.

[mcs]

While May would be a fine addition to any list, I find the ongoing raiding of the lists of Brisbane and the Suns distasteful. The Brisbane flow seems to be been stemmed for now but clubs are still trying to pick the eyes out of the Suns' list. Is it any wonder that the club is struggling to establish itself on field?

I'd love the Swans to target someone like Brodie, as he'd be a good replacement in time for Kennedy. And midway through the season there was a suggestion he was unhappy at being stuck in the NEAFL. But now he's found his way into the senior team and is playing good football there. Hopefully, for the sake of the Suns and the broader health of the competition, he's now happy at Gold Coast.

With Hanners, I imagine there are clubs with plenty of salary cap room who think they might be able to obtain Hannebery on the cheap (ie for a low trade value) with a hope that he can get over his injuries and become a very good player again. That line of thought only makes sense if there is a perception that the Swans have salary cap pressure and so are less able to hang onto him in the same hope that he recovers.


None of us really has much idea of the state of the Swans' cap but you'd think the retirement of Tippett relieves some pressure. Unless there is a high priced recruit that the Swans are chasing that means they would like to clear some cap space, I desperately hope the Swans hold onto Hanners. He's been a wonderful player for many years and, age wise, should be in his prime for another two or three seasons. He's not the first player to struggle for a while with a persistent injury but the fact it seems to be a soft tissue problem (rather than a joint issue, that could be degenerative) gives me plenty of hope that rest and a gradual rebuilding of his fitness will do the trick.

He has been such a core part of our pretty successful club, almost from the first moment he walked in the door. And it's not only his onfield contributions. If you listen to the short interviews with young players, published on the club website from time to time, they almost all name Hannebery as someone who has given generously of his time and energy to help them develop.

I agree re: the Gold Coast/Brisbane issue Liz, but more suggested him on the basis of what we may need as a team and what may be available. There are broader issues being created by free agency that are clear to see, but not necessarily easy to address in an era of greater player power. At the end of the day though, as much as good sentiment is nice, footy teams in general are out there to win Premierships (carlton aside it seems), and whether its distasteful or not is likely to fall a long way down the list of considerations.

I don't think we will trade Hanners unless we really do feel he is cooked - he should have plenty left in his legs if they can get whatever is ailing him right. The biggest challenge in the case we can get his body right is finding the appropriate role for him as he goes into his twilight years - being a gut busting midfielder is unlikely to be a role he will play to the end of his career, but I don't see other obvious roles for him in the team.

[liz]

Shaun Higgins is just one example of a quality player who had many a season ruined by injury and has come back to become one of the best players in the game. Hanners should not be able to get over his injury concerns and return to his usual high quality football, based on the information made available to the public. If a good deal is on the table to trade Hanners, I think we might do well to trade him. For me, the right trade would enable us to get Blakey plus another top 10 pick in this year's draft.

That paragraph doesn't make any sense to me, especially the bolded part. What information has been made available to the public that suggests Hannebery won't get back to something close to his best.

And if this were the case (which I don't believe it is), why on earth would any other club offer a good deal for him. You imply a top 10 pick. Why would they give that up for a 27 year old player not capable of playing better than he has this year?

[Ludwig]

That paragraph doesn't make any sense to me, especially the bolded part. What information has been made available to the public that suggests Hannebery won't get back to something close to his best.

And if this were the case (which I don't believe it is), why on earth would any other club offer a good deal for him. You imply a top 10 pick. Why would they give that up for a 27 year old player not capable of playing better than he has this year?

Mistype. The word 'not' doesn't belong. Should read Hanners should be able to get over his injury concerns.

The system crashed just when I wrote this and didn't get a chance to proof check. Happens a lot lately.

[liz]

Mistype. The word 'not' doesn't belong. Should read Hanners should be able to get over his injury concerns.

The system crashed just when I wrote this and didn't get a chance to proof check. Happens a lot lately.

I did suspect it might be a typo. It was a clumsy sentence if not (use of the word "should" rather than "won't"), which isn't like you. But I decided to take it at face value, particularly since you seemed to be advocating trading him.

I've heard or read nothing to suggest his injuries aren't recoverable from (definitely an ugly sentence) but then I don't understand why the club would contemplate trading him out While ongoing list generation is important, we do have a relative narrow window over the next one, two, maybe three seasons while we have the services of Buddy still playing great football (most of the time) and Kennedy, who is starting to show the odd sign of wear and tear that is affecting his consistency but is still capable of some wonderful games and should be for the next couple of years. I see no point in trading out a player who has proven to be almost as important as those two in winning games. Indeed, even with all our other injury concerns standing, if we could inject a 2015/6 vintage Hannebery into our team this weekend, I'd almost be bullish about our prospects of winning (or at least challenging for) this year's premiership, so highly do I rate his best performances and the correlation between him playing near his best and the team winning.

Even if other clubs expect he can get back to his best, I still don't see anyone offering up a particularly good pick for him as some doubt will linger. And even if one did, the chances of the player picked ever becoming as good as Hannebery are reasonable low, and the chances of him providing as much in the next two to three years as we know a fit Hannebery can are close to zero.

The only reason I can see for the club to even contemplate it is if there are salary cap pressures. But I agree with your comment that there's no reason to think the club is particularly under cap pressure (not unless they have a high priced target they are pursuing).

[barry]

Mistype. The word 'not' doesn't belong. Should read Hanners should be able to get over his injury concerns.

The system crashed just when I wrote this and didn't get a chance to proof check. Happens a lot lately.

Haven't your crazy selection proposals don't enough damage already?

[AB Swannie]

Hanners is going nowhere and nor should he.

The bigger discussion should be surrounding Lloyd. July has been and gone and he still hasn’t signed. My gut tells me that he is gone to Gold Coast. As much as I’m a fan of his, if we could upgrade our first pick of 9 or 10 to Gold Coast’s 2 or 3 then that would be easier to take.

Sam Walsh/Izak Rankine + Nick Blakey = ????????????

[liz]

Hanners is going nowhere and nor should he.

The bigger discussion should be surrounding Lloyd. July has been and gone and he still hasn’t signed. My gut tells me that he is gone to Gold Coast. As much as I’m a fan of his, if we could upgrade our first pick of 9 or 10 to Gold Coast’s 2 or 3 then that would be easier to take.

Sam Walsh/Izak Rankine + Nick Blakey = ????????????

I agree that it looks like he might be on the move, though I'm far from convinced he's a good fit for Gold Coast (or them for him).

If he does move up there, though, surely they wouldn't be generous or stupid enough to give up a top three pick for him, even as an upgrade. They can't be that daft, surely? (Though they did give up pick two for Weller last year, so maybe...)

[troyjones2525]

Hanners is going nowhere and nor should he.

The bigger discussion should be surrounding Lloyd. July has been and gone and he still hasn’t signed. My gut tells me that he is gone to Gold Coast. As much as I’m a fan of his, if we could upgrade our first pick of 9 or 10 to Gold Coast’s 2 or 3 then that would be easier to take.

Sam Walsh/Izak Rankine + Nick Blakey = [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

That would be a brilliant result! I don't want to lose Lloyd, but if he decides he wants to take the money and run then so be it! He is a great accumulator now but usually does it with no attention on him from the opposition. I have my doubts he can perform at a really high level if the opposition puts some work into him. Basically I think he may be a downhill skier!

One of the top end midfielders at this draft would be far more valuable to us in the long run, but only if they take to the club/city considering they are from VIC or S.A. If we could get a talent like Rankine along with Blakey then we would be the envy of 17 other clubs on draft day!

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