Swans' Pre-season 2019

[Mr Magoo]

Cant see how you can play all of Buddy, Reid, Menzel, Hayward, McCartin and Blakey along with a resting ruck like Sinclair up forward.

With Menzel still coming back from injury , would still need to play Blakey somewhere else and maybe McCartin goes back to NEAFL. Certainly a good problem to have anyway.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Anyone get a glimpse of the match sim today ? Interested to hear any observations / standouts


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[O'Reilly Boy]

After reading the article suggesting that Menzel and Franklin are purportedly in the frame for Round 1, and then looking at the photos from the match sim, I was thinking that the real problem with neither player having a preseason is not just to do with their own preparation, but is that they are not practising with the rest of the team.

The Swans have been given such a hard time in terms of having a midfield that is unable to hit up a target, and having no plan other than going long to Franklin, not lowering their eyes and looking for another target, for being Buddy-centric etc, but surely the problem is that they simply haven't been able to practice with him.

I mean, I know that they are professional, and do all the whiteboard work etc, but there is simply no substitute for practising together, surely. And it must be so disruptive to work for eight weeks learning to put the ball on Sam Reid or McCartin's chest, and then, on game day, have a completely different body, set of running patterns, and skills out on the park.

I wonder whether, then, the team should be approaching round 1 on the assumption that the forward structure will be the one with which they have been working for a couple of months, rather than having Franklin or Menzel, no matter how fit they are, parachuted in.

Perhaps this thinking is banal and obvious, but it seems to me that we do not often read about this aspect of the game in the commentaries around stars coming back after injury. We sometimes hear about them having to earn their place by performing well at NEAFL/VFL level, but the question of synergy with team-mates rarely gets a mention. I mean, surely Cunningham and Florent, as our first selected wing men, need to spend a few hours simply kicking for and to the targets we want them to hit, so that in game conditions they don't have to think about it, don't have to recalibrate and second guess.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Great forwards provide great opportunities to pass the ball to advantage to keep possession driving forward

Champion forwards make it count thereafter

If u give the ball to bud something magical happens more often then not

I can’t say the same for many of our other forwards on a consistent basis

I suspect that buddy not training so much in 2018 was a small % factor in hindering the success for the team

I don’t think we are buddy centric

I think our problem is that the alternatives Last season were not as good as bud on one leg

When bud has more targets around him and minimal injury impact well it could be “special”

[Blood Fever]

Great forwards provide great opportunities to pass the ball to advantage to keep possession driving forward

Champion forwards make it count thereafter

If u give the ball to bud something magical happens more often then not

I can’t say the same for many of our other forwards on a consistent basis

I suspect that buddy not training so much in 2018 was a small % factor in hindering the success for the team

I don’t think we are buddy centric

I think our problem is that the alternatives Last season were not as good as bud on one leg

When bud has more targets around him and minimal injury impact well it could be “special”

Agree with benefit of more targets. This especially true when Buddy has possession further up the ground. He is a magnificent field kick and hits targets brilliantly and with great penetration if necessary. Just hope injury is not starting to get the better of him.

[Captain]

I can only see McCartin getting a game this year due to injuries. Even then he will be competing with Blakey.

Buddy, Reid and Menzel would be our first 3 picked but all have had significant issues with injuries so it's likely the above two will still see some game time.

[The Big Cat]

He's also still very young, it'll take him a few seasons. He's only a couple of months younger than McCartin.

Older?

[bloodspirit]

I actually see McCartin as a midfielder, not a forward: at 192cm he is too small to be tall in the forward line.

Once he gets his fitness and endurance up, he should go into the middle. He has good footy smarts and hands.

Blakey will get games because they need to get games into him.

He will be very hard for defenders to stop; tall, quick, great hands, very much in the Roughhead mould.

I think this is a really interesting suggestion. From the time he was drafted (as a forward) we considered the possibility that he might later play as a backman but I haven't really thought of him as a midfielder (nor seen him touted as one). However, he does have a really good tank and it also neutralises his weakness as a goalkicker. Would be very interesting to see if this is ever attempted, perhaps at NEAFL level initially. We are building some more depth with tall forwards: Franklin, Reid, Blakey, Amartey, Pink - not all of whom will necessarily make it nor be fit at the same time. However, Tom has plenty of talent and if he is stuck in the queue (especially if Menzel and/or Blakey go past him and Reid is fit) I would certainly look at alternative ways of giving him games.

[stellation]

Older?

Yep.

[wolftone57]

Does anyone know how Naismith is going? I haven't seen him in any of the training photos this year. He is going to be very important for us this year.

he's running and doing exercises. The medicos are taking it slowly with him and Tucker. He will be available to play by season's start but won't be quite fit enough to be a starter. Round 4-6.

[wolftone57]

Sorry but thats truly ancient history!

Cripps: Height: 195cm Weight: 93kg

Bontempelli: Height: 193cm Weight: 93kg

Fyfe: Height: 190cm Weight: 92kg

Collier-Dawkins: Height: 193cm Weight: 91kg

We are in the age of huge midfielders!

And they will only get bigger!

That does not mean anything. just because the mids are getting bigger does not mean the forwards all have to be over 196cm. I think Tony Modra, Plugger, Dunstall, Capper and Lynch would still be very good forwards today. Menzell is only 189cm and he outscores most of the players over 196cm. I think this reliance on huge forwards is an obsession that has in some ways led to lower scoring. I am going out on a limb but I reckon my uncle, Jack Owens would still be a great forward today and he was only 5'7". He kicked 100 goals in 1932 and topped the goal kicking twice more. This in a team that was perennially bottom. Although they managed to win the premiership a year before he retired, Glenelg 1934. Owens was a forward pocket.

Some players from other eras would fit nicely into teams today. Even though some of the forwards were not as tall they had certain abilities that make them unique. Plugger was a great mark and could outmark anyone. In fact all the players I have mentioned have that one thing in common. They were all great marks and were able to take, either the strongest or most spectacular, marks. They all lead really well to the ball and understood forward craft and had the ability to create their own space when there was none. Players like these, no matter how tall, are always going to be valuable.

[wolftone57]

Papely and Ronke are crumbing forwards, not midfielders; this says more about our coaching.

I don't see Adelaide putting Eddie Betts in the middle!

But we are aren't we. That is the point. Even without them, here are our mids: Kennedy 190, Clarke 184, Cunningham 182, Dawson 190, Florent 183, Foot 180, Bell 183, Hewett 188, Heeney 186, Jones 181, Ling 183, Mills 188. Even without Lloyd or Ronke we are not exactly giants in the mids. We seem to be bucking the trend somewhat. But if you have a look at those teams with huge mids, they generally only have one of them.

[caj23]

I think this is a really interesting suggestion. From the time he was drafted (as a forward) we considered the possibility that he might later play as a backman but I haven't really thought of him as a midfielder (nor seen him touted as one). However, he does have a really good tank and it also neutralises his weakness as a goalkicker. Would be very interesting to see if this is ever attempted, perhaps at NEAFL level initially. We are building some more depth with tall forwards: Franklin, Reid, Blakey, Amartey, Pink - not all of whom will necessarily make it nor be fit at the same time. However, Tom has plenty of talent and if he is stuck in the queue (especially if Menzel and/or Blakey go past him and Reid is fit) I would certainly look at alternative ways of giving him games.

There's no chance that he'll ever be used as a midfielder

He doesn't have the tank to be an AFL level midfielder at the moment, and I'm not sure he ever will, particularly as its likely he'll be aiming to bulk up with a view to playing key position

[Aprilbr]

I just listened to an interview with Longmire on Melbourne sports radio. He did not sound too confident that Buddy and Menzel would be right for Round One. He ruled Naismith out for the season start. He also voiced a view that Mills would play more in the midfield as many have hoped. He seemed very enthusiastic about the young talent on our list and its further development this year. He singled out McCartney in this discussion.

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[Auntie.Gerald]

Tom reminds me very much of the way Brian lake played at a young age similar body movement and mark etc

Will be fascinating to watch young Toms development and what our squad needs