Expectations for 2021 season

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Hewee back into the mids will make a hell of a difference. He does not need 30-35 to hurt opposition. He is such a good user, creative and elusive.

I also thing That the Kennedy/Parker partnership has to be broken up as it is too predictable. With Hewett the third it is even more predictable.

Hewee?

[Ralph Dawg]

So many people are mentioning getting the injured players back and keeping them on the park. This is imperative. As for Heeney's best position, I now believe it is forward. I think he could do a Modra for many year more than Modra did. Unless, like Modra, he gets the bug to just surf his life away lol. I also believe Mills mush come into the mids. He was really good the couple of times he went in there last season. Replace him in the backs with Gould. Hewee back into the mids will make a hell of a difference. He does not need 30-35 to hurt opposition. He is such a good user, creative and elusive.

I also thing That the Kennedy/Parker partnership has to be broken up as it is too predictable. With Hewett the third it is even more predictable. So I would like to see the mids split like this as the first two groupings;

Kennedy, Rowbottom, Hewett
Mills, Parker, Florent
Alternatively these players if they are playing pinch hit in there as well; Taylor, Papley, Clarke, Ronke, Warner, Campbell, Dawson, Blakey & Gulden.

The outside mids; Stephens, Dawson, Harry, Bell, Blakey, McInerney

I agree with all of this. For us to do improve, our midfield needs to find an extra gear. I doubt it will come from Kennedy and Parker - their contributions are already at their respective peaks.

We need midfielders who can run all day and compete. Get back into defense to help propel us out of the backline, move through the middle swiftly, then get forward to help keep the ball in our F50 and generate repeat inside 50s. Hard tackling and overwhelming the opposition by swarming them. Modern footy, like it or not, is all about pressure. We have gone from a team that thrived on the pressure to one that more often than not, cracks under the pressure of our opposition, who now run and tackle harder than we do.

I feel if our young midfielders don't continue to make significant strides, we won't improve our ladder position significantly in 2021. Love to see one of our young mids have a breakout season - maybe Ollie Florent?

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Love to see one of our young mids have a breakout season - maybe Ollie Florent?

Ollie was a bit of a whipping boy on RWO last season, he looked to be in sparkling form early on, then the possessions seemed to dry up.
It wasn't till the Saints game (against Hill) that I noticed that he was often being given more defensive roles.
I suspect these may well enhance his development and perhaps, as you suggest lead, to just such a breakout season.

[Swisha]

Finals

If and only if we have a good year with injuries anything but finals would be a fail.

[MattW]

If and only if we have a good year with injuries anything but finals would be a fail.

I pretty much agree. It's time to move. The ruck situation, Lance's fitness, and the youth of our three top ten picks are the main things holding us back.

[The Runner]

I pretty much agree. It's time to move. The ruck situation, Lance's fitness, and the youth of our three top ten picks are the main things holding us back.

Ultimately, we don't have enough players in 100-175 games played, which is generally the sweet spot. It will come in the next 2-3 years, but it may not be next year, and we need to be ok with that.

[TheBloods]

14th - 18th, for one simple reason: where's the elite talent? Buddy Franklin is 34, will never play a full season again. Rampe now on the wrong side of 30. And Parker is left to do it all himself in the middle with Kennedy getting on a bit. Who else is going to stand up?

Papley is an AA worthy small fwd, but if you are relying on a small fwd like that then it speaks volumes about the quality in the forward line. Lloyd is already at his peak in terms of numbers. Statistically speaking he is our best player by a mile, but kidding ourselves if we consider him elite. Mills? Unlikely, playing as a mid-sized defender, even if he is very good at it. Heeney who has never EVER shown any consistency. Why should we expect it now? His best is beyond elite - it's awesome. His worst is ordinary, and rears it's head too much.

Toilers like Hewett, Cunningham, Reid and Fox are tough and work hard but will never be elite. Young players like Ollie and Will have played more ordinary games than impressive ones, never a good sign.

So I ask where is the game-turning, match-winning, dominant-force talent going to come from? Dawson? Rowbottom? McCartin? What makes us so sure they won't just be rising stars like Heeney and Mills and Hewett who never go on to fulfill their potential?

Too many unknowns. It's never a good thing. Unless we have a miracle season where everything goes right, and the majority of the list improves on what they have shown so far, very unlikely, then we won't be going anywhere in 2021.

[Thunder Shaker]

14th - 18th, for one simple reason: where's the elite talent? Buddy Franklin is 34, will never play a full season again. Rampe now on the wrong side of 30. And Parker is left to do it all himself in the middle with Kennedy getting on a bit. Who else is going to stand up?

Papley is an AA worthy small fwd, but if you are relying on a small fwd like that then it speaks volumes about the quality in the forward line. Lloyd is already at his peak in terms of numbers. Statistically speaking he is our best player by a mile, but kidding ourselves if we consider him elite. Mills? Unlikely, playing as a mid-sized defender, even if he is very good at it. Heeney who has never EVER shown any consistency. Why should we expect it now? His best is beyond elite - it's awesome. His worst is ordinary, and rears it's head too much.

Toilers like Hewett, Cunningham, Reid and Fox are tough and work hard but will never be elite. Young players like Ollie and Will have played more ordinary games than impressive ones, never a good sign.

So I ask where is the game-turning, match-winning, dominant-force talent going to come from? Dawson? Rowbottom? McCartin? What makes us so sure they won't just be rising stars like Heeney and Mills and Hewett who never go on to fulfill their potential?

Too many unknowns. It's never a good thing. Unless we have a miracle season where everything goes right, and the majority of the list improves on what they have shown so far, very unlikely, then we won't be going anywhere in 2021.

Pick 3, Campbell and Gulden would go some way to addressing the lack of elite talent. If Franklin can get a few games next year, we're not finishing last or close to it.

Another factor that will influence our finishing position next year is we'll get the easy fixture of a bottom side. A possible fixture would have only one doubled game against one of this year's top 6, two doubled games against the sides finishing 7th to 12th (including GWS) and two doubled games against this year's other bottom six sides. Imagine how many wins we would get if we had two games against Hawthorn, GWS and North.

I think we'll improve a little next year, perhaps 12th.

[Nico]

Lookin' good.

[Ludwig]

Too many unknowns. It's never a good thing. Unless we have a miracle season where everything goes right, and the majority of the list improves on what they have shown so far, very unlikely, then we won't be going anywhere in 2021.

I agree.

The final 2021 ladder positions should be announced before Christmas. With Covid 19 ruining 2020 why do we have to go through the anxiety of playing out the 2021 season? Every game could be a nail-biter. There might even be a few heart attacks among the fans. Do we really need that?

Any of those 3 great kids we picked up in the draft could get injured and ruin any hope we have for the future. We should just move on to the 2021 draft. If we finish bottom 4 again, we could be looking at another great draft. I can hardly wait for Christmas next year when the 2022 final ladder will be announced.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Do you wax satirical or prophetical Ludwig?

The media, and RWO attention, devoted to the off season is reaching surreal levels - surely it won't overtake the season itself.

[i'm-uninformed2]

My guess is Buddy-dependent. Fit: 9-12. Injured: 12-15.

But I kind of don't care either. I want us to win, and so does the club, as they know it develops good habits.

But what I really want to see if all the kids who jumped up a bit this year - Rowbottom, McCartin, Stephens, Blakey, McInerney, even Wicks - continue to make strides. I want to see Ling and Gould and the new draftees crack a reasonable number of games and do in 2021 what that prior group did in 2020. And I want to see us continue to develop the quicker game style we implemented this year, as out foot skills and pace now allow for it.

If we do that, the win-loss register only matters so much and will take care of itself anyway. And it'll show we're well and truly on track for finals in 2022 and beyond.

[Auntie.Gerald]

My major concern is our midfield still not dominant at all - our stats along way down the bottom.

Second concern is a lack of potency from our vacline attack. Strategically the top teams tend to manage our backline attack fairly easily. We don't have game breakers that challenge the opposition set ups enough.

Upside is fierce competition now for spots in our best 22 which can provide tougher training and better game day results.

[TheBloods]

My major concern is our midfield still not dominant at all - our stats along way down the bottom.

Second concern is a lack of potency from our vacline attack. Strategically the top teams tend to manage our backline attack fairly easily. We don't have game breakers that challenge the opposition set ups enough.

Upside is fierce competition now for spots in our best 22 which can provide tougher training and better game day results.

Parker fought bravely this year but needs help. Too many kids around him who are either inconsistent or of the size where they will get chewed up and spat out in the trenches. The two co-skippers are carrying the midfield at this stage. The same story as every previous year.

[Ludwig]

Second concern is a lack of potency from our vacline attack. Strategically the top teams tend to manage our backline attack fairly easily. We don't have game breakers that challenge the opposition set ups enough.

I don't have the stats or any links to this; it's just based on memory, so could easily be inaccurate. I thought that I heard broadcast commentators say several times during the season that the Swans were the number 1 club for scoring from backline rebound.

One stat I do have is that the Swans were 4th in average metres gained, after Richmond, Port and Brisbane. That's an indication that we are moving the ball well, but are ineffective converting it into scores on the board.

We didn't have much of a forward line this season. If we can keep our best forwards fit and playing, our results next season could be markedly improved.