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grundy a big yes McKay a big NO too slow . Dogs have already started talks with suns re pick 4 hpefully Kinnear is in there early as well , consider o'sullivan is better for us a mybe sanders is we get 4 and keep 11. get it done kinnear stuff dogfs us northern clubs should be helping each otjher.
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And premiership player Lewis Jetta.
I think it's relevant that only about half of the players on the combined list were ones that the club actively traded out, or let go out of indifference. Membrey, Dawson, Jetta were players I believe (or know in the case of Dawson) would much prefer to have kept. Maybe Nankervis too. Ok, so that's a bit less than half.
Mumford and maybe Aliir were direct consequences of a salary cap squeeze. In Aliir's case it was also linked to our desperate need for a ruckman (Hickey) and the need to create salary cap space to accommodate him.
The other way of looking at things is that we've lost, or let go, all these quality players and yet have remained competitive over that decade. Competitive in more years than not, including getting to three grand finals and qualifying for the finals in all but a couple of seasons. We've achieved that through minimal use of trading in players to replace those we've lost. That suggests that the club has done pretty well to keep identifying talent through the draft, and developing it when it arrives.
And that has been achieved without making good use of our first round picks. Ling is gone. Stephens looks gone. Towers hung around for a bit but wasn't a difference maker. Sheldrick and Konstanty are still "wait and see" but neither has contributed to our decade of competitiveness. Though maybe there's a game or two this year we might have lost without Sheldrick's contribution.
Only McDonald has established himself in the team, but while he is developing as well as we should expect, he's not yet been a matchwinner or difference maker in any game of importance.
Of course, we need to thank whoever for our academy, which has mitigated our otherwise ordinary record in identifying and developing talent at the pointy end of the draft.
Of the team that took to the field on Friday, a remarkable 9 came via the rookie list - Lloyd, Cunningham, Rampe, Papley, Wicks, Fox, McLean, Amartey and Melican. And they are not all bit part / role players. Two are past All Australians, another has made the All Australian squad, and at least two of them were in our best handful of players on Friday.
Even looking at the list of quality that we've let go to other clubs, most were late (3rd round or beyond) national draft picks or also came via the rookie draft.
I think I've just talked myself into wanting the club to trade away our pick 11 this year (and not to use it to trade up to Gold Coast's pick). Let's stock up on late draft players!
Edit: Just realised I forgot Florent in my musings on early picks. He's been a solid contributor, though seems destined to remain in that second tier of player who rarely pops up as a matchwinner.Comment
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It is also a fun topic to chat about in this forum
AFL success is dependant on a “web” of pathways to get players to our club
The academy as been crucial
Finding value later in the draft crucial
Being lucky early in the draft crucial
Cat A and B
Mid season
Post national draft …..drafts
Trading - I mean Bud and Baz and Plugger were massive. So to Kennedy etc for peanuts
I suspect we are in a cycle where we will benefit tremendously from a few key roles that are every important for our team to function at the highest level
Our previous cycle was stack our youth and a few little value trades as well as shedding sadly some very good players"be tough, only when it gets tough"
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Membrey, Nank, Newman, were all given reasonable chances but never came on as good as they did when they left, were all behind others.
Hewett off a Back Injury wasnt getting offered a 3yr deal but would have been better for us if he was allowed to chase his own ball
Darcy is the reason we shouldn't draft Interstate ruckmen, too slow a burn and risk losing them for cheap to clubs that can play them more
Mumford was 2nd fiddle to a low paid Canadian and offered a mint from a club with endless cap
Mitchell was behind others and offered a mint, at the time everyone wanted Hannas
Alir was moved out as a need for others and was only seen as surplus cos we played him as a ruck out of position
Everyone knows we tried hard for Dawson
The best 2 trades we have done in the last 8yrs have been offloading Hannas and Jones to the Saints.Comment
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Liz, all great points and thanks for reminding us- the shower can be so stimulating!
Of course, the club has done well over the years and we’ve been competitive and enjoyed a degree of success and played some fantastic games. As supporters we’re forever grateful and love our Swannies.
However, it is time we strive for more. Three teams in recent memory were multi flag winners: Brisbane, the Dawks and Richmond. Was there a common thread? They each had more than competent defenders capable of causing turnovers and initiating attacks; an elite midfield capable of dominating clearances and stoppages; and multi- pronged attacks scoring 100 + points on a regular basis.
It takes a lot of planning and a degree of luck with injuries to key players to assemble such teams. But it can be done, as shown by the above 3. So this is what we need to aim for. Let’s stop pussyfooting around and get Grundy and any others we need. Our defense needs bolstering and our midfield is good but not yet elite. Our forwards are still works in progress in Logan, Joel and even McLean. Wilbur has had a good year but needs to be more consistent. Paps needs to improve his conversion rate as does Isaac , who was below his best for most of the year though playing injured. Without Buddy, we don’t have a match winner up front, on a consistent basis. So it is simply unreasonable for us to expect to challenge, though we will remain competitive in most games. Is this enough? Not for me, any longer. As South Melbourne, we weren’t competitive for 40 odd years though we had some amazing players like Skilts. When we moved to Sydney we were fodder until the Tommy Hafey/ Edelsten era when were great and should have won a flag or two. We certainly had the talent with Diesel, Healy, Capper and Co. and we smashed teams.
Now let’s aim to replicate that era- beat teams like the Fairypups, Blues and Pies by 30+ points!!Comment
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Not fair to say Nankervis was given chances and didn't take them. For whatever reason (too short, too slow) the Swans didn't see him as a first ruck, rather wanting to use him as a forward/second ruck. Even at AFL Canberra/NEAFL level whenever Naismith and himself were in the same side it was Naismith who received the majority of minutes as the first ruck. And as the forward/second ruck he was perenially stuck behind Tippett. From what I recall we did offer Nank another contract but when Richmond came with an offer that included playing the majority of time in the ruck it was a no brainer for him.I can't say I've watched him regularly since then, but the ruck stats do show that while he isn't an elite ruckman he is in the upper half of the AFL ruckmen in terms of hitouts won and hitouts by advantage (By contrast both Hickey and Ladhams are both very poor)Comment
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I think if Nank didnt have his premiership medals it wouldnt be considered too much of a loss.
He is very serviceable without being outstandingComment
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Without doubt we lost some players who went on to become very good elsewhere Ugg. All for reasons that were valid at the time, as our management ain’t stupid but tended to look at the needs of players sometimes to our own detriment. This is all well and good but now this needs to be more in the club’s favour. Given that we only want players who want to be here, we need to renew contracts not in their last year but in the one preceding. If a player doesn’t sign then he is traded as we want the maximum value, which we can’t get if their contract runs down as it did with Dawso. The others we lost may not have been in the same situation but we should have been tougher before letting them go all the same.
In any case, we need to be tough from here on. Soft days are over!!Comment
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Apart from us, the Suns and the Giants ( who both received incredible draft picks etc which were to an extent understandable) all the other clubs are vultures and have no compunction in raiding the Suns and Giants in particular. Just to name 2:
the Dees with May and Richmond with Lynch. We’ve only taken castoffs since Buddy and Tippett but this needs to change now, starting with Grundy.Comment
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Hindsight is wonderful of course, but if we had done what you suggested, we would not have lost both Dawson and Hewett as would have signed Dawson (at a much lower price given it was before his best year for us) and then been happy to let Hewett go, or we would have said goodbye to him, and signed Hewett.
I think that after the Dawson debacle, the club is trying to sign players earlier, though it was a little bit of a nervous wait re McClean given it took much longer than what Beatson said it would.Comment
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