Pre-season 2020

[MattW]

Bloody great to see Buddy in the leadership group. (Spoiler: with Mills and the same co-captains.)

Leadership group locked in

[wolftone57]

Bloody great to see Buddy in the leadership group. (Spoiler: with Mills and the same co-captains.)

Leadership group locked in

Yes very good. He is officially in it now.

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[liz]

So Papley and Heeney have been dumped.

[707]

So Papley and Heeney have been dumped.

The group was reduced from 8 to 5 according to the article so there had to be "casualties".

Given the players vote on the leadership group, there are some interesting conclusions to be drawn. Can't believe that this is the first year Buddy has got sufficient votes, I've always thought he maybe didn't want to do it in the past but is now comfortable with it. Papley was a surprise inclusion last year but given his off season "dramas" may have not been seen amongst the top 5 or may have declined to be put forward.

The biggest conclusion I can draw is that Mills will definitely be a midfielder this year!

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Given the players vote on the leadership group, there are some interesting conclusions to be drawn. Can't believe that this is the first year Buddy has got sufficient votes, I've always thought he maybe didn't want to do it in the past but is now comfortable with it.

You comment that some interesting conclusions could be drawn, but then don't seem to explore them.
Why is it that you "can't believe" that Buddy didn't get sufficient votes in previous years?
It's at least a possibility that the players have a different perspective on Buddy than you?
Maybe they rated other senior players leadership higher, and the recent retirements left a smaller field of candidates?

[bloodspirit]

So Papley and Heeney have been dumped.

Yeah, that's the big news, along with Buddy's elevation (which comes as an exciting surprise). In Papley's case it seems explicable by his wavering commitment to the club. In Heeney's case however it is hard not to interpret it as a judgement of his leadership. I imagine that must be pretty disappointing. Maybe it will drive him to aim higher this year.

Conversely, well done Mills to retain his place despite being a year younger and less experienced than Heeney! Not sure that it tells us much about whether Mills plays midfield this year but I'd certainly like to see us give him a proper go there.

I wonder if the announcement of the leadership group and the re-signing of KB will be the last of the significant news for the Swans for 2019? Incidentally, has the leadership group been announced any earlier than usual?

[longmile]

The biggest conclusion I can draw is that Mills will definitely be a midfielder this year!

I am a bit more sceptical. What leads you to this definite conclusion?

[bloodspirit]

Horse said this morning that we will play Mills in the midfield when we find someone to replace him in his lockdown small defender role. He also said that it is underestimated how elite Mills is at the role and how important the role is to the team. To hear him talk, the ruck and the lockdown small defender role are the most important on the field.

[707]

I am a bit more sceptical. What leads you to this definite conclusion?

Hope, just hope eternal :-)

[Markwebbos]

Horse said this morning that we will play Mills in the midfield when we find someone to replace him in his lockdown small defender role. He also said that it is underestimated how elite Mills is at the role and how important the role is to the team. To hear him talk, the ruck and the lockdown small defender role are the most important on the field.

What you fail to understand is that having Mills play that Nick Smith role is key to us winning more clearances.

[Markwebbos]

In Heeney's case however it is hard not to interpret it as a judgement of his leadership. I imagine that must be pretty disappointing. Maybe it will drive him to aim higher this year.

We don't know why the leadership group was cut from 8 to 5. Heeney may have been one of the "peripheral" leaders, or he may not have done a great job, or they may feel he needs to focus on his football first and get that right. He did have an injury-affected, underwhelming season.

[bloodspirit]

What you fail to understand is that having Mills play that Nick Smith role is key to us winning more clearances.

Not sure if you are being ironic or not. If not, please spell out how because it is not obvious to me.

We don't know why the leadership group was cut from 8 to 5. Heeney may have been one of the "peripheral" leaders, or he may not have done a great job, or they may feel he needs to focus on his football first and get that right. He did have an injury-affected, underwhelming season.

True we don't know why they reduced the size of leadership group (save that some of the leaders retired) but the fact that Heeney was not retained in the leadership (despite the retirement of others) is not so encouraging, especially when Mills, a year his junior, was retained. Horse addressed this a little bit in his chat with fans at the open training session this morning but his comments were so opaque that I couldn't make anything out of them.

[bloodspirit]

Incidentally, who is gone from the leadership group? - four went out and Buddy came in.

I think Smooch, Papley and Heeney went out. Was Reg the fourth? Was he in the group? Pretty sure Macca and Kizza were not.

[liz]

McVeigh was in last year’s group.

[caj23]

Horse said this morning that we will play Mills in the midfield when we find someone to replace him in his lockdown small defender role. He also said that it is underestimated how elite Mills is at the role and how important the role is to the team. To hear him talk, the ruck and the lockdown small defender role are the most important on the field.

Lockdown medium defender should be the easiest position to fill, certainly not something that is the key to the success of the team

As for Mills, he certainly finished off the season very well, but Longmire's suggestion that he is an elite defender is way off the mark