Pre-season 2020

[andreww1]

Is that the podcast with guru Connolly? If so, surprised he has joined the jumping to conclusions brigade after one practice match.

I’m not confident either. We finished 15th with just 8 wins last season and we haven’t added any A graders this year. Apart from a few new small forwards and some incremental improvement from young players, which every club gets, I really can’t see why this season will be significantly different to last.
Maybe Horse has got some great new strategy that will give us a boost but I really can’t see where significant improvements will come from.
Hope I’m wrong.
Sydney used to be a destination club because players knew they would be playing finals. That is no longer the case.


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[Blood Fever]

I’m not confident either. We finished 15th with just 8 wins last season and we haven’t added any A graders this year. Apart from a few new small forwards and some incremental improvement from young players, which every club gets, I really can’t see why this season will be significantly different to last.
Maybe Horse has got some great new strategy that will give us a boost but I really can’t see where significant improvements will come from.
Hope I’m wrong.
Sydney used to be a destination club because players knew they would be playing finals. That is no longer the case.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Club banking on continued improvement from Florent, Dawson, Blakey, Hayward etc. Heeney needs a big year as well. List still developing. We shall see. Some patience required, a virtue we supporters haven't had to practise for many a year.

[aardvark]

My prediction is 15th - 18th this year. The Golden era is over. I supported the Swans through the 60's 70's and 80's so i'm used to what we are about to witness this season.

[KSAS]

Despite our poor showing last Saturday I'm still hopeful we can improve on last season and get to see plenty of highlights. Top 8 seems unlikely with our midfield weekness but we'll be in the mix with lots of other midrange teams, as I predict a very even season. Hopefully our young talent will take that next step and Buddy has a injury free year.

[stevoswan]

I’m not confident either. We finished 15th with just 8 wins last season and we haven’t added any A graders this year. Apart from a few new small forwards and some incremental improvement from young players, which every club gets, I really can’t see why this season will be significantly different to last.
Maybe Horse has got some great new strategy that will give us a boost but I really can’t see where significant improvements will come from.
Hope I’m wrong.
Sydney used to be a destination club because players knew they would be playing finals. That is no longer the case.

The club does seem to be relying on all the 'young talent' they have picked up in recent years to naturally improve and carry the club forward to success. The 'young talent' doesn't seem to be developing as quick as we'd like or indeed may not even be up to the task. Time will tell.

I'm beginning to worry if we have the right coaches developing this talent......someone mentioned recently that our coaches do not have much experience at the top levels of coaching and this seems to be accurate. We recruit our assistant coaches almost based on loyalty to retiring club legends. This may look good on the surface as it keeps loved players within the club and gives us a 'warm and fuzzy' feeling......but are they actually up to the task of bringing out the best in our players, young and old and are they coming up with truly effective game plans that will compete and succeed against other teams game plans?

At this point (and I know it's just one practice match to judge by so far).....it appears NOT. We could be in for a long season.....or will the real 'Bloods culture' make up for our shortfalls? The way in which our team lied down on the weekend has me questioning how committed to this famed 'culture' our current squad is....and if prospective players from other clubs even believe in it......because no one is requesting to come to our club anymore it seems.

The only thing which has me feeling any confidence that last weekends result was an anomaly is that, while GWS had six of their best not playing (a point which the media hammered), we also had at least six of our best also not playing. Those additions would make more of a difference to us than it would make to them, due to their elite depth, ie: their bottom six are FAR better than our bottom six. With both sides at full strength, the margin would be no where near what it was last weekend.

But I still think it could be a long season.....most signs at this point are far from positive.

[Markwebbos]

Are the stats from the game available anywhere? I watched the 1st half and our makeshift forward line got comprehensively beaten by their defence, who were then able to move the ball with ease.

[barry]

Only ourselves to blame for midfield blues.
Traded away Mitchel, and failure to negotiate with GWS for a extra draft pick a few months ago. Plenty of others, but these are symptomatic of ideology driven trading and retention over practical realities.

Considering the academy picks we've had, we would be on par with other clubs.

[Syd76]

I agree with all the sentiments noted above regarding that it looks like the Swans will struggle this year. But this was a practice game after all. Players were managed and were held back at times.

In my opinion, what this game did show was:
1) Our depth isn't close to that of GWS. GWS have very smartly exploited their picks, and have set themselves up for a fantastic 5-10 years. Well done to them.
2) Our list management decisions two or three years ago perhaps were made with the fact that the premiership window was wide open for us. It was looking at the near term, hence letting go of quality players. It seems that we have backed the wrong horses so to speak (Mitchell and Nankervis spring to mind), and have been unlucky with certain recruits (eg Ling). We really could have looked at players like DeBoer who could have had a profound effect on our list (and not ones like Thurlow/Menzel). Anyway, no point crying over spilt milk. The club (and rightly so I might add) has faith in KB - who is as astute as they come. Perhaps the club acknowledged that Simon Dalrymple really complements KB so it has redressed any list management issues there. The effects of these list management decisions are always felt 2 to 3 years afterwards.
3) This was a practice game - we played and no matter how deep your list is, you will not be able to fit all of those quality GWS players within the 22. I agree with other comments that we should target some GWS fringe players who would almost be walk up starts in our team.
4) We exposed kids to a battle hardened team, for which they will be really better off. Prefer that this happened in the pre-season than in the regular season. I do not think that anyone will doubt that Stephens/Gould/Warner will not benefit from this spanking and make them realise that this is AFL, not SANFL or the Colts in the WAFL.
5) The most concerning aspect of the game on the weekend was the lack of effort. Talent you may not have in spades, but effort is one thing that you can control. It seems as if we really dropped away after the start of the second quarter. The kids need to be taught that putting in a shift is a non-negotiable. How good is our conditioning department?

As for whether we lack in the midfield or not, everyone is entitled to have an off day. George Hewett is really a very solid player, and anyone who doubts him really doesn't understand football. Our midfield is perhaps better judged after the first 5 to 10 rounds, though I acknowledge that it certainly will not be anywhere near as strong as GWS'.

Finally, we really have some very talented kids. Love McCartin, Rowbottom, the Lizard, Hayward, Mills etc. The new crop appears certainly to be right up there. The trick is getting some players around them to allow the first/second year players to shine. It would be great to see a diamond in the rough to pop up - hoping that messers Gould/E Taylor/Warner really make it.

[Rod_]

If you're referring to my post from during the game, I didn't mention any names and I was referring to Kirk.

Not at all - media and other sources queried if we should have extended his contract...

[Aaron]

Are the stats from the game available anywhere?

Only via the match centre of the AFL mobile APP

[TheBloods]

Pre season always throws up strange results. You can pick it apart from any angle, but I would go so far as to say they have zero bearing on the season whatsoever. How many preseason tournaments do people need to watch to realise that?

[stevoswan]

Not at all - media and other sources queried if we should have extended his contract...

Oh yeah, Jake Niall for one.

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Pre season always throws up strange results. You can pick it apart from any angle, but I would go so far as to say they have zero bearing on the season whatsoever. How many preseason tournaments do people need to watch to realise that?

True, we are notoriously and repeatedly bad in pre season games but we usually at least have a go.....that was not evident on Saturday. It was as if once they realised they had no chance, the cue went into the rack.....that is not the Bloods culture at work. Lets hope an attitude shift happens before round one.

[bloodspirit]

I agree with all the sentiments noted above regarding that it looks like the Swans will struggle this year. But this was a practice game after all. Players were managed and were held back at times.

In my opinion, what this game did show was:
1) Our depth isn't close to that of GWS. GWS have very smartly exploited their picks, and have set themselves up for a fantastic 5-10 years. Well done to them.
2) Our list management decisions two or three years ago perhaps were made with the fact that the premiership window was wide open for us. It was looking at the near term, hence letting go of quality players. It seems that we have backed the wrong horses so to speak (Mitchell and Nankervis spring to mind), and have been unlucky with certain recruits (eg Ling). We really could have looked at players like DeBoer who could have had a profound effect on our list (and not ones like Thurlow/Menzel). Anyway, no point crying over spilt milk. The club (and rightly so I might add) has faith in KB - who is as astute as they come. Perhaps the club acknowledged that Simon Dalrymple really complements KB so it has redressed any list management issues there. The effects of these list management decisions are always felt 2 to 3 years afterwards.
3) This was a practice game - we played and no matter how deep your list is, you will not be able to fit all of those quality GWS players within the 22. I agree with other comments that we should target some GWS fringe players who would almost be walk up starts in our team.
4) We exposed kids to a battle hardened team, for which they will be really better off. Prefer that this happened in the pre-season than in the regular season. I do not think that anyone will doubt that Stephens/Gould/Warner will not benefit from this spanking and make them realise that this is AFL, not SANFL or the Colts in the WAFL.
5) The most concerning aspect of the game on the weekend was the lack of effort. Talent you may not have in spades, but effort is one thing that you can control. It seems as if we really dropped away after the start of the second quarter. The kids need to be taught that putting in a shift is a non-negotiable. How good is our conditioning department?

As for whether we lack in the midfield or not, everyone is entitled to have an off day. George Hewett is really a very solid player, and anyone who doubts him really doesn't understand football. Our midfield is perhaps better judged after the first 5 to 10 rounds, though I acknowledge that it certainly will not be anywhere near as strong as GWS'.

Finally, we really have some very talented kids. Love McCartin, Rowbottom, the Lizard, Hayward, Mills etc. The new crop appears certainly to be right up there. The trick is getting some players around them to allow the first/second year players to shine. It would be great to see a diamond in the rough to pop up - hoping that messers Gould/E Taylor/Warner really make it.

Good, considered post. And I entirely agree.

[TheBloods]

Oh yeah, Jake Niall for one.

- - - Updated - - -



True, we are notoriously and repeatedly bad in pre season games but we usually at least have a go.....that was not evident on Saturday. It was as if once they realised they had no chance, the cue went into the rack.....that is not the Bloods culture at work. Lets hope an attitude shift happens before round one.

The fact we didn't have a go is one of the big positives I took out of the game. It's pretty common for commitment to not be there in a preseason match. I would be a lot more alarmed if we had cracked in and lost by 45 points than if we treated it like the preseason game that it is and lost by 90.

[barracuda]

I agree with all the sentiments noted above regarding that it looks like the Swans will struggle this year. But this was a practice game after all. Players were managed and were held back at times.

In my opinion, what this game did show was:
1) Our depth isn't close to that of GWS. GWS have very smartly exploited their picks, and have set themselves up for a fantastic 5-10 years. Well done to them.
2) Our list management decisions two or three years ago perhaps were made with the fact that the premiership window was wide open for us. It was looking at the near term, hence letting go of quality players. It seems that we have backed the wrong horses so to speak (Mitchell and Nankervis spring to mind), and have been unlucky with certain recruits (eg Ling). We really could have looked at players like DeBoer who could have had a profound effect on our list (and not ones like Thurlow/Menzel). Anyway, no point crying over spilt milk. The club (and rightly so I might add) has faith in KB - who is as astute as they come. Perhaps the club acknowledged that Simon Dalrymple really complements KB so it has redressed any list management issues there. The effects of these list management decisions are always felt 2 to 3 years afterwards.
3) This was a practice game - we played and no matter how deep your list is, you will not be able to fit all of those quality GWS players within the 22. I agree with other comments that we should target some GWS fringe players who would almost be walk up starts in our team.
4) We exposed kids to a battle hardened team, for which they will be really better off. Prefer that this happened in the pre-season than in the regular season. I do not think that anyone will doubt that Stephens/Gould/Warner will not benefit from this spanking and make them realise that this is AFL, not SANFL or the Colts in the WAFL.
5) The most concerning aspect of the game on the weekend was the lack of effort. Talent you may not have in spades, but effort is one thing that you can control. It seems as if we really dropped away after the start of the second quarter. The kids need to be taught that putting in a shift is a non-negotiable. How good is our conditioning department?

As for whether we lack in the midfield or not, everyone is entitled to have an off day. George Hewett is really a very solid player, and anyone who doubts him really doesn't understand football. Our midfield is perhaps better judged after the first 5 to 10 rounds, though I acknowledge that it certainly will not be anywhere near as strong as GWS'.

Finally, we really have some very talented kids. Love McCartin, Rowbottom, the Lizard, Hayward, Mills etc. The new crop appears certainly to be right up there. The trick is getting some players around them to allow the first/second year players to shine. It would be great to see a diamond in the rough to pop up - hoping that messers Gould/E Taylor/Warner really make it.

I agree with your comments, however I note that GWS is firmly in the premiership window. They have an experienced team with plenty of depth. The swans are in a different stage with a young team, with plenty of talent, but lacking the game and physical experience. They will need to patiently develop the side given the trading system does not enable them to easily trade in A grade experienced players. Players like Grey, Lewis, Brand are ok, but none are A grade.