2019 ladder prediction for the swans

[KTigers]

Hard to tell without a fixture
My predictions:

• Florent will make a big improvement and Ronke will become the next Amon Buchanan
  [

If Ronke can have the year Buchanan did in 2005 (played all 26 games, and had 19 touches and a goal in the GF)
it'll be a pretty fair effort.

[aardvark]

Reid will be injury free........just in time for his 50th Birthday.

[Bloods05]

If Ronke can have the year Buchanan did in 2005 (played all 26 games, and had 19 touches and a goal in the GF)
it'll be a pretty fair effort.

The winning goal, no less.

[Doctor J.]

2019 is the flag we pinch. No one will expect it. We will fall into a top 4 spot, and play an away final and a home prelim before pinching the flag from under the nose of a much more fancied Victorian opponent, and everyone will call it a fluke,

At the end of the season with the cap space cleared from the loss of Hanners and Rohan the year before, and retirements of McVeigh, Grundy and Jack, we will be armed with a massive hole in our salary cap and pinch the best available free agent or two of them and you watch the Victorian cartel squeal.

No I am not drunk!!!

[Markwebbos]

That’s one possibility. I foresee 2019 as a down year before Swans bounce back into contention in 2020.

[ScottH]

Where is O'Riordan at?

I thought he was good in his senior appearances and would take a HB role freeing up Mills/Jones, but the coaches seem to disagree. He's 24 next year.

- - - Updated - - -

It is possible the improvement from last year will come from within - Reid, Melican, Dawson, O'Riordan....

There were alot of under 22's carrying a big load last year.

COR looked good in his few performances in 2018 and he had a cracking game under intense pressure in the NEAFL GF, so I would hope he plays a few more games this year.
Hard to see who he forces out of the current backline though. Maybe Grundy.

[liz]

COR looked good in his few performances in 2018 and he had a cracking game under intense pressure in the NEAFL GF, so I would hope he plays a few more games this year.
Hard to see who he forces out of the current backline though. Maybe Grundy.

He's the stand out candidate, IMO, to release Jones or Mills from defence, something the club has said they are looking to do. He's a bit of a hybrid of the two. Based on what he's shown at NEAFL level, he's not as good an intercept mark as Mills but better than Jones. He's not as quick as Jones but quicker than Mills. And I reckon he has the potential to be better in one-on-one-defensive contests than either - certainly than Jones.

But, of course, he needs to be able to translate his NEAFL form into senior AFL football first, and it will take games and experience before than can be expected to happen.

[dimelb]

I watched when he played in the Firsts and thought his pace, handballs and kicks were pretty good - especially when compared with one or two I won't mention. I think his immediate need is time with the top boys.

[RogueSwan]

I watched when he played in the Firsts and thought his pace, handballs and kicks were pretty good - especially when compared with one or two I won't mention. I think his immediate need is time with the top boys.

Yep, what dim said ^

[barry]

I am loathe to enter this predictions, because you only have a 1 in 18 chance of getting it right.

On the negative.
Our pillars Buddy, Grundy are a year older. Is Reid ever going to come right. Loss of Hannerbury. No big names coming in. AJ no longer a long shot.

On the positive.
Improvement expected from younger players. Reid could put in a full year.

I would say 6th to 10th. So much relies on Reid to be honest. But after the end to this year, I think we will be 9th.

[KSAS]

According to Champion Data Anaylst David Hoynes, the Swans are set to dive in 2019. He ranks our list as only 13th in the competition even with Menzel and our midfield even lower, which is seen as our biggest weakness. No faith with the likes of Heeney, Mills & Jones to spend more time through there will improve things and stating Nick Blakey is not the type of midfielder we desperately need.

This will be the type of predictions we'll see of our club building up into the 2019 season, which makes me confortable as we always seem to "surprise" whenever our demise is predicted. We'll be relying on making the re-cycled players whom we traded in into better players, which we haven't done for a while and has served us well in the past.

The full article here:

AFL ladder predictions 2019: Essendon, Sydney Swans, Port Adelaide

[Markwebbos]

I share Daniel Hoyne’s concerns

[Ludwig]

Robert Walls picked West Coast for the wooden spoon last year. He's still getting paid for giving his expert opinion by various media outlets. It's fine to take a stab at next year's ladder, but it's just guesswork.

The fact that we were forced to abandon recruiting players from other clubs after we got Franklin in 2013, and how that has impacted the Swans' development, has been one of the most discussed topics on RWO. We all know, that for better or worse, we've gone to the draft the past 5 years to rebuild the list on the run. By sheer weight of numbers, the Swans will go only as well as these young players develop.

Isaac Heeney at 22 yo is the 23rd oldest player on the list. That will be roughly the median player age after the draft is finished. The Swans should be at their peak when Heeney is entering his peak years. I would guess that's still 2 or 3 years off. We can only hope, with some expectation, that most of the players drafted over the past 5 or 6 years will continue to improve and carry the team to a new era of success. We also recruited 3 players in the trade period that might have a big impact, or no impact at all, in the next few years. There are reasons to support both sides of that argument.

The Swans are young talented team, but unproven talent. It's too difficult to predict how things will go with their development, but if they can, for the most part, play consistent footy at their best level, we should go okay. It's understandable that we would be rated to fall next year. We are depending on a lot of players that have yet to establish themselves as genuine AFL players. Fair enough that pundits want to be shown what we can do before committing to backing the Swans.

I don't mind going into the season with a lot of hope and just as much uncertainty. It feels like 2011. Something is cooking in kitchen, it smells good, but it's still a long way till the meal is ready to be served

[dimelb]

Hoyne points out that we were smashed through the midfield in the first six matches in 2017, and that's a sign of weakness in our team. I looked in vain for mention of the injuries we were battling at the time, and there was certainly no mention of the run of wins as the injured returned. Nor is there any mention of the fact that we beat West Coast twice in this year's season.

I think his crystal ball ought to go in for servicing.

[rickmat]

I am bouyed what the Swans will do in 2019 and feel we will be in the 4 which will surprise the so called pundits. Champion Data is just that, based on stats , not always on reality. I am comfortable with what stock we do have, both experienced and young talent, we have Melican, Mills Naysmith and Reid returning, plus what gems Kinnear picks in the draft. We also have depth witb O'Riordan, Cameron, Dawson as well as hopefully our number 1 2017 draft pick Ling. We have picked up 3 players in the delisted list. So I am looking forward to what we can achieve in 2019