Expectations for 2021 season

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Maybe Rowy cheated on his daughter or something. Seems to be an odd grudge there.

If you’re asking who’s ahead in the midfield out of JPK, Parker, Mills and Rowbottom then obviously the one to go is Mills as he’s a specialist HB general and Rowbottom is a more natural mid than Mills at this stage. At no point should all three of JPK, Parker and Mills be at the centre square together. That’s so one dimensional and teams will feed off the predictability.


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[Aprilbr]

Rowbottom is definitely in our best side and one of our best young players.

[TheBloods]

Hope we get as many games as possible into McDonald, Campbell and Gulden. All ooze quality and should be integral to our success over the next 10+ years.

I'd expect both Gulden and Campbell to debut round 1 and they should play for the majority of the season. Maybe McDonald will be held back a week or two but his very presence did so much to sort out our structure on the weekend. He too should play as many matches as possible this year.

Most here also see Rowbottom as an exciting young talent deservedly becoming an integral part of the team. To the one poster repeating ad nauseum their dislike for him - we get it. You're welcome to expressing an opinion but banging on about it on here doesn't do anything to boost the level of discourse on RWO.

Did not “bang on” about it. Said he was one of a handful who i dont see a place for in our best team. Could’ve left it at that

[MightyBloods]

Did not “bang on” about it. Said he was one of a handful who i dont see a place for in our best team. Could’ve left it at that

Thank God you are not on the Swans selection panel.

[dejavoodoo44]

Pre-season predictions don't mean anything. See the predictions for the 2003 season for an example (many tipped Sydney for the spoon, we ended up in a Preliminary Final).

Nearly half of the captains have tipped Collingwood to make the finals (8 out of 17). That is quite optimistic, considering how badly Collingwood butchered their list management last year. IMO Collingwood are more likely to finish bottom four than top eight.

Yes, the eight votes for Collingwood seemed strange to me. Maybe the captains marked them up because Eddie has quit?

[chalbilto]

Maybe Rowy cheated on his daughter or something. Seems to be an odd grudge there.

If you’re asking who’s ahead in the midfield out of JPK, Parker, Mills and Rowbottom then obviously the one to go is Mills as he’s a specialist HB general and Rowbottom is a more natural mid than Mills at this stage. At no point should all three of JPK, Parker and Mills be at the centre square together. That’s so one dimensional and teams will feed off the predictability.



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After watching the trial with GWS I came away with the same opinion. As Parker showed he can be very dangerous up forward and Kennedy should also spend more time up forward.

[SwanSand]

Just my OPINION. I dont see a place for Rowbottom right now. Who is he ahead of in the midfield ? Certainly not Joey, Parker or Mills. Hewett's the tagger. We need Blakey and Florents leg speed. Seventh place goes to .. ?? Unless you are planning on going with an EIGHT man midfield , theres only one spot in the side left for an inside mid. Two young mids RB and Warner. I dont give a rats ass what Rowbottom did last year. We are now in March 2021. Warner looks the form mid of the two atm. Rowbottom had a good game on Sunday but as what ? Barely touched it at the stoppages, failed to win it out of the centre, only made an impact in the forward 50 and collecting loose ball in general play. Maybe he gets a half forward spot, but whose he dislodging from the forward group ?? I'd like to see him in the VFL work on his midfield craft. Reading taps, winning clearances and most of all accumulating. these are things he needs to.

I guess the team will continue to vary depending on if tagging is needed or not, how well the opposition matches our team, how much speed we need in the midfield, and who is fit.

Good that we have players who can do different things and can come in and play well and we can continue to debate about who should come in. For all we know watching them in 2 preseason games ..... who knows what the game plan for each individual match is and which personnel the coaches are going to use.

Excited to see what comes next in hopefully this journey of upward trajectory. In the meantime let’s use positives rather than negatives or expletives.

[Thunder Shaker]

Yes, the eight votes for Collingwood seemed strange to me. Maybe the captains marked them up because Eddie has quit?

The gentlemen polled were club captains, not club statisticians. I guess several of them chose Collingwood for no other reason than their making the finals last year.

The clubs with the most votes making up last year's top eight, roughly in order. Last year's top four got the maximum 17 votes. 15 of the 17 captains chose all of last year's top six clubs.

However, nine of them did choose a side other than Collingwood. I guess some of them are expecting a Collingwood slide this year.

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Swans keen to prove doubters wrong after rivals' snub

[i'm-uninformed2]

I don't have super high expectations, and whether we finish 9th or 12th or 14th doesn't really matter THAT much, even though I expect we'll win more games than last year. The real goal and expectation is we'll start pitching for the top 8 in 2022, and have a solid consistent crack at it from 2023 onwards.

So as long as:

* we continue to see real progress from the likes of Rowbottom, Stephens, McInerney, Wicks, Blakey and those who made progress last year
* Gulden, Campbell and McDonald all play 10-12 games, and Gould and Ling make their way into the side for stretches
* Longmire does more of what he did last year, and tries to have us playing a quicker, more direct game style that uses our speed and foot skills
* our midfield mix continues to get more dynamic, and McCartin settles down back.

Then, that's cool with me. We still have some list holes to fill down the spine, and our young players have to build up AFL standard fitness and awareness. But we're on the right track.

Oh, and I'd love Buddy to get back on the park, not so much because it'd boost our chances. Obviously it does. But I'd love to see him close in on 1000 goals. A player of his stature deserves it.

[SwanSand]

Do the new rules of ‘Man on the Mark’, low rotations, increased game time and expected increased speed of the game result in teams such as Geelong, and west coast eagles slide given their age bracket?

And does it mean that there will be more soft tissue injuries for the fast paced teams like Richmond and St. kilda ?

The emphasis would be on kick into corridor. What about the teams that rely a lot on hand balls like bulldogs?

And where do we think we sit with this given our very young team. I reckon we would be there abouts for the first 3 quarters and struggle a lot in the fourth given our very young team unless we find the battle hardened players who can play longer minutes. Maybe players like Jake Lloyd, Rampe, Ryan Clarke, George Hewett would be important for that reason alone.

[Thunder Shaker]

Do the new rules of ‘Man on the Mark’, low rotations, increased game time and expected increased speed of the game result in teams such as Geelong, and west coast eagles slide given their age bracket?

And does it mean that there will be more soft tissue injuries for the fast paced teams like Richmond and St. kilda ?

The emphasis would be on kick into corridor. What about the teams that rely a lot on hand balls like bulldogs?

And where do we think we sit with this given our very young team. I reckon we would be there abouts for the first 3 quarters and struggle a lot in the fourth given our very young team unless we find the battle hardened players who can play longer minutes. Maybe players like Jake Lloyd, Rampe, Ryan Clarke, George Hewett would be important for that reason alone.

The lowered cap on interchanges will expose clubs that don't manage their players properly. Running players into exhaustion over the first three quarters is poor player management. A smarter approach would be to rest one or two players on the bench for the whole of the first quarter and then bring them on a bit later to keep them fresh. However, if a club is having to do that, their conditioning approach may need work.

[The Runner]

Thoughts across a few players:

Blakey: could be a break out year for him. He is starting to look like he's getting used to the physicality of the level. He has all the makings of a star player - the past two games he seems to be not trying to over create with the footy, and finding it more. The new rules really benefit him.

Campbell: there's a reason Hawthorn were prepared to give up pick 5 for him. I think he'll be our best first year player since McCartin. Should be top 5 in rising star voting, and a contributor in our backline. His elite kicking on the SCG will see some really exciting moments during the year. But expect fluctuations in output

McCartin: genuinely think he'll push himself in to conversation of being an AA defender

McDonald: his year will really depend on whether Buddy and Reid play a lot. If he can be our 3rd tall and get the 3rd defender, it should be a great year. If he gets thrust in to the #1 target role due to injuries, it will be a tough year.

Parker: if he gets to spend more time to forward, then we're progressing well. If he has to carry a big load on ball, it's a concern on a few fronts.

Kennedy: will be a contributor still, but I think he needs to add a string to his bow to prolong beyond this year. He's a good overhead mark and kick for goal, so, hopefully he can get forward a bit

Wicks: has the makings of becoming the competitions next Luke Breust. If his game last week was an indicator, should be a good year of progress for him

I know it's a highly unpopular opinion, but I really think one, maybe two of Lloyd, Hewett and Cunningham could slide down the pecking order this year. Probably the latter two.
Hewett is being pushed in to a new role. And Cunningham and Lloyd aren't natural defenders. Both more wingers who have made a home down back.
I'm really bullish on Matt Ling. The club clearly rate him highly, he's shown some glimpses, and he looks really fit and strong after the pre season.
If Campbell is a lock, we just don't have the space in the back half for that many small defenders. If this is going to be "the year" for Ling, he'll have to dethrone one of the incumbents.

[dejavoodoo44]

Do the new rules of ‘Man on the Mark’, low rotations, increased game time and expected increased speed of the game result in teams such as Geelong, and west coast eagles slide given their age bracket?

And does it mean that there will be more soft tissue injuries for the fast paced teams like Richmond and St. kilda ?

The emphasis would be on kick into corridor. What about the teams that rely a lot on hand balls like bulldogs?

And where do we think we sit with this given our very young team. I reckon we would be there abouts for the first 3 quarters and struggle a lot in the fourth given our very young team unless we find the battle hardened players who can play longer minutes. Maybe players like Jake Lloyd, Rampe, Ryan Clarke, George Hewett would be important for that reason alone.

I think we should be okay, given some of our recruiting emphasis of the last few years has been on outside run. According to last year's tracker figures, Stephens and McInerney are already elite runners. Bell and Clarke also; though some would quibble about their disposal.

And while I haven't seen any tracker data for Gulden, a main feature of his game is his ability to get to contest after contest. We saw a snippet of this in the GWS game on the weekend, when he ran unmarked into the goal square, while Wicks was lining up a shot on goal. Gulden had actually started off that scoring movement, by winning a contested ball in our back pocket.

Wicks is probably close to elite, as well. When playing mainly as a small forward in the NEAFL, he regularly topped the tackle count. And when injuries forced him and Bell to play as inside mids, they both battled tirelessly against much more mature bodies.

[mcs]

Did not “bang on” about it. Said he was one of a handful who i dont see a place for in our best team. Could’ve left it at that

Lol you've been banging on about it ad nauseum for months.... I also note you didn't seek to dispel my supposition that you now consider Rowbottom to not even be AFL standard...... truly astounding.

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The lowered cap on interchanges will expose clubs that don't manage their players properly. Running players into exhaustion over the first three quarters is poor player management. A smarter approach would be to rest one or two players on the bench for the whole of the first quarter and then bring them on a bit later to keep them fresh. However, if a club is having to do that, their conditioning approach may need work.

It will be interesting to see how teams react to it. I actually think some teams may choose to play an additional midfielder compared to what we consider to be 'standard', where they have enough midfielders with good enough skills to be able to play long minutes on the park resting in the forward line rather than coming off - going to be interesting.

[mcs]

Just my OPINION. I dont see a place for Rowbottom right now. Who is he ahead of in the midfield ? Certainly not Joey, Parker or Mills. Hewett's the tagger. We need Blakey and Florents leg speed. Seventh place goes to .. ?? Unless you are planning on going with an EIGHT man midfield , theres only one spot in the side left for an inside mid. Two young mids RB and Warner. I dont give a rats ass what Rowbottom did last year. We are now in March 2021. Warner looks the form mid of the two atm. Rowbottom had a good game on Sunday but as what ? Barely touched it at the stoppages, failed to win it out of the centre, only made an impact in the forward 50 and collecting loose ball in general play. Maybe he gets a half forward spot, but whose he dislodging from the forward group ?? I'd like to see him in the VFL work on his midfield craft. Reading taps, winning clearances and most of all accumulating. these are things he needs to work on. Warner looked better in these areas which you need to be good in if you are to be an inside midfielder. With your response you make it seem like it is an outrageous assertion that a 3rd year player has things to work on and with competition for spots tightening it is best that these things are worked on in the VFL.

Wicks behind Papley and Gulden, doesnt have their class. Liked what I saw of young Errol, that snap around the body to hit Papley on the chest was textbook Errol. Saw him do that a lot when he played for the ES bulldogs. Cant see a world where Wicks is picked over Gulden.

So on one hand your arguing against Rowbottom on the basis of form and performance, yet on the other your arguing Wicks won't make it solely on your abstract concept of 'class'.... you can't have your cake and eat it too.

I have no doubt about the quality of Gulden, and the moment you highlight shows that. But Wicks had a far greater influence on the game on the weekend, is in the better current form and statistically clearly had the superior match. Long run you are likely to be right, but if your going to make an argument somehow Rowbottom won't make it on form, then a similar argument that Wicks will be in the 22 on the same basis must also hold. Or is form only important when you don't have some random abstract concept to justify your pointed dislike of one player in particular?

And as I've said elsewhere that it would not surprise me at all if teams take in an additional midfielder compared to what is seen as 'standard' currently. We are in fact relatively well placed to do so if we want to - given Mills versatility to play down back, Parker to play up front, Hewett's ability to play in other positions as well. Would not surprise me at all.