NEAFL discussion thread

[ugg]

Round 17 was a bye
9 for Cameron in Round 18, takes him to 57, 19 behind the leader Clayton
10 for Cameron in Round 19, takes him to 67, 13 behind new leader Payne.
10 for Cameron in Round 20, takes him to 77, but Payne scores 9 and that means he can't be caught with one round to go on 89.
10 for Cameron in Round 21, takes him to 87, Payne finishes on 95.

Darcy finishes 2nd!

[liz]

Some finish to the season from Darcy. After his frustrating (for him, I'm sure) AFL debut, he certainly didn't go back to the NEAFL and sulk.

[YvonneH]

Congratulatons Darcy Cameron. Only 8 points behind the winner.

[Ludwig]

If we didn't waste everyone's time by playing Darcy Cameron just 47% of the game v. Suns on July 21st and played him instead in the NEAFL, there's a good chance he would have the votes to win the MVP.

I feel we really screwed up handling a few of our young players, with Darcy being one of those players. He should have been playing games early in the season and by now he probably would have gotten up to speed with the pace of AFL.

As I've said before, we messed up with Dawson and Aliir by not playing them in the second half of last year. Maybe the cobwebs would have cleared by now. And we're doing the same thing with O'Riordan this year.

[ugg]

Similar story with Jordan Dawson last year who trailed the winner by 5 at the end, and he missed one game due to being AFL emergency.

[giant]

If we didn't waste everyone's time by playing Darcy Cameron just 47% of the game v. Suns on July 21st and played him instead in the NEAFL, there's a good chance he would have the votes to win the MVP.

I feel we really screwed up handling a few of our young players, with Darcy being one of those players. He should have been playing games early in the season and by now he probably would have gotten up to speed with the pace of AFL.

As I've said before, we messed up with Dawson and Aliir by not playing them in the second half of last year. Maybe the cobwebs would have cleared by now. And we're doing the same thing with O'Riordan this year.

Are you suggesting Darcy would have preferred to win the NEAFL MVP to making his AFL debut?

[rickmat]

I agree, Ludwig, Cameron, Dawson and COR are part of the future of the Swans and last year was a wasted one for Dawson and I hope 2018 isn't for Cameron and COR

[707]

Expect to see Dawson & COR firmly in the seniors next year. Cameron seems too good to be in the NEAFL but not sure how we use him at senior level.

[Ludwig]

Are you suggesting Darcy would have preferred to win the NEAFL MVP to making his AFL debut?

I don't think he wanted to have a 1st AFL game where the coaches preferred to play him on the bench most of the game. It's not exactly something he can brag about or gain confidence from, especially as he was dropped the very next week never to play another senior match. What purpose did it serve?

[dejavoodoo44]

If you go on dream team points, you could say that Cameron was a bit unlucky to finish second. In 17 games, he scored 2434 points. Which is a huge average of 143 per game. The next best was Michael Manteit from Southport, who had 1887 from 18 games. The MVP winner, Mathew Payne, scored 1873 from 18.

[Blood Fever]

I don't think he wanted to have a 1st AFL game where the coaches preferred to play him on the bench most of the game. It's not exactly something he can brag about or gain confidence from, especially as he was dropped the very next week never to play another senior match. What purpose did it serve?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sinclair has been excellent for us and gets around the ground pretty well picking up disposals and clearances. We couldn't afford having two ruckmen playing but thought we should try and reward Cameron in some way against Gold Coast. We had a shocker but that selection didn't cost us the game and the club was trying to encourage him. Very easy after the event.

[liz]

Similar story with Jordan Dawson last year who trailed the winner by 5 at the end, and he missed one game due to being AFL emergency.

He also got injured and missed a couple of weeks two thirds of the way through the season. Indeed, I suspect it was that injury that came just at the wrong time that might have stopped him forcing his way into the senior team towards the end of last year. It came at a time when his form was unstoppable but took a little bit of momentum away from his season. He then took another week, on his return, to get back into the swing of things and the senior team was settled and in great form.

I also think Dawson might have suffered from barely participating in any of the team drills during most of his pre-seasons. I don't know what ailed him in the 2017 pre-season but every time I popped along to watch training he was just doing solo running. And then his 2018 pre-season (and half his regular season) was wiped out by his quad injury. He's hoping he enters the 2019 pre-season fit and firing so can really learn about the team structures, get his confidence up, and establish himself in the best 22 before the season proper gets underway.

[Ralph Dawg]

Congratulations to Darcy - he was just a colossus in the NEAFL this year. I remember the first game this year where he struggled against Smith and the Big O but he has pretty much won his contest in every NEAFL game I have watched this year since. I agree with Ludwig - he has been mismanaged this year. He should've been given more AFL time this year, playing predominately ruck and allowing Sinclair to push forward (anyone notice how good a set shot Sinclair is?). Now if Sinclair cops an injury, we might have to bring in an inexperienced ruck, playing his second game, potentially in a prelim or a grand final! Its not like his form didn't warrant more opportunities, especially when you look at who has been given multiple runs, despite poor form. Here's a thought bubble for our final v GWS. Play him in the ruck, push Sinclair forward. This would allow McCartain to be our third tall, could even force Himmelberg to play some time down back and also place a load of pressure on an injured Lobb, who would have to ruck against Cameron and Sinclair.

[bloodspirit]

2018 Reserves Best votes - Sydney Swans RWO Wiki,The Reserves Team Best Votes 2018

Who the hell is Jack Blair and why did he only feature once, against the Suns?

[ugg]

He was the ruckman that filled in when Cameron was selected to play seniors. When I looked him up, the few articles suggested he was a mature aged former rugby player that is playing in the AFL Sydney comp with UNSW-ES Bulldogs

They were approximately eleventy zillion ruck contests that day and he was up against a Gold Coast Academy player, and he won the majority of them.