2019 season review

[sprite]

Those celebrating our worst ever finish (with Reid playing all games which negates other injuries) really are sadists.

No Barry, we aren't celebrating our worst ever performance, which by the way it isn't. You seem to be ignoring the history where we have actually finished on the bottom of the ladder.

Most of us are analysing the root causes, identifying areas for improvement and the seeing positives that actually came out of the year.

[Thunder Shaker]

All of the Wins are against strugglers, except westcoast.

Essendon made the finals and Hawthorn finished ninth. We beat them both.

[Thunder Shaker]

Actually our percentage suggests we're better than our 15th place.

It is only the second time we've finished with a percentage below 100 since we finished last in 1994.

A high percentage with a low finish is often a sign of an inexperienced side that doesn't know how to win close games. When this has happened to us, it has often foreshadowed a finals appearance the following year.

Last five times we missed finals:
1995 - 12/16, 8-0-14, 100.7. Finished first after home and away season in 1996.
2000 - 10/16, 10-0-12, 101.6. Finished seventh after home and away season in 2001.
2002 - 11/16, 9-1-12, 107.4. Finished fourth after home and away season in 2003.
2009 - 12/16, 8-0-14, 93.1. Finished fifth after home and away season in 2010.
2019 - 15/18, 8-0-14, 97.7.

This season is most similar to 2009: four spots from the bottom, eight wins and a healthy percentage.

It's a little different this time. We had four retirements of very experienced players, and that loss of experience will be felt. To be fair, we already felt it most weeks with those four players putting together 15 games between them. Smith played no games, Grundy played 1, McVeigh played 6, Jack played 8. We're in transition to a new playing list - the dreaded "rebuild" - but we're not going to be spooning along the bottom for a decade like Carlton or Melbourne. We should return to the finals in a year or two. It's just a case of being competitive and winning, rather than competitive and losing as we were this year.

[graemed]

It's not pessimistic at all. The stats don't lie.
We finished 15th. More importantly we played like a 15th ranked team. That's a poor season. The second biggest drop behind Melbourne.

Anyone who thinks that's good is not doing the club any favours.

The nature is statistics is that they purport to state facts objectively. Such an attitude attributed to a footy team is neither doing the team or yourself justice. Supporting a team is about passion in spite of the facts, about being bullish when the naysayers are pointing out the obvious and about seeing the future through one-eyed, rose coloured lenses.

It’s true we finished in the bottom 4 but as has already been stated even that can be viewed positively, a top 5 draft pick, a better draw and a chance to look a lot of the youth on our list.
We were unable to win contested ball at stoppages and we consistently failed to stop scoring from their back half. One of the reasons we regularly lost possession at stoppages was because of the injuries to our fragile talls. This is an important phase of the modern game and to lose control of the hit outs so dramatically took its toll. However we saw late in the season the emergence of AA and Sam and their ability to neutralize the hitout advantage through their work around the ground was to me a really significant step forward. This especially evident in the final few matches when we accepted our lot and looked to other means of winning the ball.
It’s already been observed that our backs did very well and Rampe, Mills and Allir rightfully deserve a lot of he credit but I believe O’Riordan and McCartin please over very valuable as well.
Dawson, Hewitt and Rowbottom provided amazing highlights and augur well for next year. Blackey, Hayward (if he can get back his kicking mojo) and Papley ( hopefully he will stay) were great for us at times through the year. Sam stayed on the paddock and we did it mostly without Franklin.

Lots of reasons to be cheerful.

[barry]

Essendon made the finals and Hawthorn finished ninth. We beat them both.

Both strugglers.

[Bloods05]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics. It's an old one but it deserves another run from time to time.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Which 2019 win will u be watching in the off season ?

I might have to watch the west coast game again !!!!!!

[barry]

Bloods05 sounds like he will be enjoy watching our gallant win over the 9th placed team, over and over again.
Maybe the AFL will release a swans season 2019 highlights dvd reliving every great win over the competition s heavyweights. Moral premiers...robbed!

[Bloods05]

Bloods05 sounds like he will be enjoy watching our gallant win over the 9th placed team, over and over again.
Maybe the AFL will release a swans season 2019 highlights dvd reliving every great win over the competition s heavyweights. Moral premiers...robbed!

It does sound like that, doesn't it?

[bloodspirit]

They have started posting articles and videos with the players' individual season reviews on club website - here's COR's O'Riordan a happy traveller - sydneyswans.com.au.

[Beerman]

It's been a mixed year. Overall, I hoped for the swans to finish a bit higher - in the 10th to 12th range - but I do agree that we have developed some players who look likely to be good for the longer term.

My big concern is that there are some gaps which we don't seem any closer to filling, namely inside midfielders who can win contested ball and get clearances. JPK is declining, Mitchell has been gone for a couple of years, and although Parker does his best he is only one man. Of all these new recruits who RWO having been touting as our next midfield beasts (eg. Heeney, Mills), I'm not seeing much evidence that they will either be played more inside, or are up to it if they are.

I think the transition has come a bit quicker than the club anticipated. Clearly players like Grundy, McVeigh, Jack and Smith (to a lesser extent) were on their way out and perhaps not even locks for our best 22, but I don't think anyone anticipated we would be without all of them for so much of the year. Add to that Buddy being out (again), and I think we were caught a bit off guard.

Cons
- final ladder position
- list gaps
- inability to beat better sides
- better luck in close games would only have raised our ladder position to 10th to 12th

Pro:
- developed some players who clearly have a lot of talent
- did it (mostly) without the experienced players who will be gone next year
- have a high draft pick
- showed that we have enough to be

I think we're realistically still a couple of years away from competing for finals, and even that depends on astute drafting and trading this year and next. Of course, I told my dad in 2010 that he was crazy to think we might be competing for a flag in a couple of years.