2024 Pre Season

[stevoswan]

I'm sure Bedford on BF won't mind me re-posting his obsevation "8 of our boys spotted at an oval in Hampton training very hard this week, including Blakey, MacLean and Papley"

Nice that players are not letting up on their break.

I like this a lot. It seems that the lads have acknowledged that they were not fit enough and conditioned enough last season and are set to atone in 2024.

Also, I agree 100% with the following assessment of our 'wishlist':

"The dream for Swans fans would be for Sam Reid to stay fit for the whole season. So important has Reid been to Sydney's structure that the Swans picked him for the 2022 Grand Final, which John Longmire later conceded was a mistake due to the injury he carried into the game. That match remains the most recent Reid has played at AFL level after his 2023 was ruined by yet another injury but he's back on the rookie list for 2024. When fit, the versatile tall can be a matchwinner. Getting him on the park will be the main challenge."

All I want for Christmas is... every club's 2024 wishlist

[liz]

I like this a lot. It seems that the lads have acknowledged that they were not fit enough and conditioned enough last season and are set to atone in 2024.

Except that we don't know if this behaviour (ie training over the Christmas break) is any different to past seasons. My guess is that it's not. Though that's totally a guess.

We also don't know, for sure, that they "were not fit enough and conditioned enough last season". Certainly there was an issue running out games, but there are other possible explanations.

[Mountain Man]

I have posted a couple of times that key position players tend to play the most minutes in a game - often 100% time on ground.

The run of injuries to our KPD (in particular) meant that our midfield played much longer periods, and I am of the view that led to a cumulative workload that was a major reason for the fade outs late in the season.

[liz]

I have posted a couple of times that key position players tend to play the most minutes in a game - often 100% time on ground.

The run of injuries to our KPD (in particular) meant that our midfield played much longer periods, and I am of the view that led to a cumulative workload that was a major reason for the fade outs late in the season.

That's certainly plausible. The club would have detailed, granular GPS and other data that would provide them with some clues.

It's also possible that we had more than an ideal number of players carrying niggles in the second half of the season, possibly as a result of having to work harder early on because of KP injuries. That might have meant other players were having to work even harder early on in games, contributing to late game fade outs.

While our eyes told us that there was an issue with late game fade outs, it never quite made sense to me that a club with a good track record of running out games well would suddenly get an off-season programme so wrong that the conditioning across the squad wasn't adequate.

[stevoswan]

Weirdly, in regard to the above comments, most of our last quarter fade outs were earlier in the season, where a lot of us on here were questioning our pre season fitness program. Also, our early season injuries had us questioning our off season conditioning.

In actuality, it was in the second half of the season or even the last quarter of the season that we appeared to be fitter, running out games better and allowing us to win more games to subsequently make the finals.

[i'm-uninformed2]

It wasn’t just running out games. You only had to watch the team in early games to see it lacked that capacity for surge or power running that was a feature of our game in 2022.

Now, it could have been a function of a few things, or combination of a lot of little things adding up. You only need a few blokes to have an injury interrupted pre season (which apparently a few like Papley did and carried through the early rounds), the compound effect of players getting injured during games forcing others to carry an extra load, a bit going wrong in the pre season training program, and it’s hard to both do buckets of surge running during games and then finish games off.

The two examples for me were Paps, as mentioned above, and Heeney. Paps had a season of two halves and he noticeably hit form once over the rib issue he had, and Isaac at his best runs as hard and long as anyone, but seemed inhibited last year.

[Blood Fever]

Dalrymple off to the Saints to head up recruiting. We might have to extend The Godfather.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Dalrymple's record is mixed, to be honest.

It's skewed to a degree by the challenges of the COVID years, and the access to Academy talent we've had. You'd call the 2018 draft a success, '19 a bust offset by the exceptional upside of Chad, finding Hayden McLean a total gem, and you'd give Sheldrick a tick. Otherwise, meh or to be determined.

One thing that's a downside from his time - and I know the way the rookie list is used has changed a lot - but we traditionally were a club that found a bucket of talent via that method. From Nick Smith to Heath Grundy to Ramps. I know McLean wasn't technically a rookie, but I can't think of another great find outside the main draft during his time. Or am I having a brain fade?

Then again, that's all life of a recruiter.

[stevoswan]

Apparently Dalrymple was with us for six years.....wow, that went quick.

[Blood Fever]

Beatson was more high profile during that time but you're right about how quick it seems.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Dalrymple off to the Saints to head up recruiting. We might have to extend The Godfather.

Same job title so it doesn't look like he's leaving for promotion, maybe just shifting home?

[i'm-uninformed2]

Dalrymple's record is mixed, to be honest.

It's skewed to a degree by the challenges of the COVID years, and the access to Academy talent we've had. You'd call the 2018 draft a success, '19 a bust offset by the exceptional upside of Chad, finding Hayden McLean a total gem, and you'd give Sheldrick a tick. Otherwise, meh or to be determined.

One thing that's a downside from his time - and I know the way the rookie list is used has changed a lot - but we traditionally were a club that found a bucket of talent via that method. From Nick Smith to Heath Grundy to Ramps. I know McLean wasn't technically a rookie, but I can't think of another great find outside the main draft during his time. Or am I having a brain fade?

Then again, that's all life of a recruiter.

Lord, I’m a moron. Clearly out of conditioning in the off season. I forgot what may well be his finest selection in Logan! Was both obvious, but given our track record with high draft picks, a stellar success.

[dejavoodoo44]

It wasn’t just running out games. You only had to watch the team in early games to see it lacked that capacity for surge or power running that was a feature of our game in 2022.

Now, it could have been a function of a few things, or combination of a lot of little things adding up. You only need a few blokes to have an injury interrupted pre season (which apparently a few like Papley did and carried through the early rounds), the compound effect of players getting injured during games forcing others to carry an extra load, a bit going wrong in the pre season training program, and it’s hard to both do buckets of surge running during games and then finish games off.

The two examples for me were Paps, as mentioned above, and Heeney. Paps had a season of two halves and he noticeably hit form once over the rib issue he had, and Isaac at his best runs as hard and long as anyone, but seemed inhibited last year.

Yes, I do wonder how much difference there is between teams, when it comes to fitness levels. As you say, other onfield factors can contribute to the ability to run out games. For instance, with Collingwood's recent record of making late comebacks, it would appear that they might be fitter than many other teams. But I wonder how much of a role their game style plays in that? That is, they often move the ball faster and more smoothly than other sides. Which is more likely to tire their opposition, as it requires a fair bit of manic defensive scrambling, to try to counteract the ball being transferred efficiently around the ground.

Conversely, last season I don't think we won as much clean possession around the contests, as we had in the past. So, that probably meant that less ball was being dished out to our skilful outside players, and in turn, that decreased their ability to run the opposition ragged.

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows if there's that much difference between the fitness programs of the AFL clubs? Personally, I can think of reasons why there might be and why there might not be.

On the might not be side. I suspect the large majority of the people overseeing the fitness programs, are high achieving graduates of the Australian university system, where they studied much the same ideas in subjects like physiotherapy and medical science. Since graduating, they've probably used similar sources to keep up to date with new research and new technologies. So, maybe the approach is pretty similar from club to club? Also, I think the soft cap is there, to prevent the wealthier clubs from spending a lot more on fitness staff and gaining an advantage that way.

On the other hand, Brisbane have had hardly any injuries for the last four or five seasons: so maybe it's not just luck and they're doing something significantly different from the other clubs? And I think most people in the system would want to innovate to some extent, to give them a point of difference on their rivals. But how much innovation can you do, before it becomes a touch foolhardy? I mean, I'm sure that people at Essendon thought that Stephen Dank and Dean Lance were great innovators.

I suspect that one area in which there would be a difference, is in the uptake of new technology. Firstly, the wealthier clubs would be able to afford more of the latest gizmos. While being new, there's going to be a certain amount of experimentation involved, and after a while, it becomes clearer which investments are worth the money and which don't quite live up to the sales pitch. Therefore, buying the right equipment, either through good luck or good planning, could lead to healthier players. So, let's just hope that our new training facility, has plenty of examples of money well spent.

[Auntie.Gerald]

For me it is a web approach re success for recruitment and many are hard to judge just yet. I think there are 7 stand outs from 22 still on our list recruited last 5 years or and may turn the corner next 18months in their ability to be a true AFL player at the Swans.

Between trades, main draft, supplementary drafts, mid season drafts it is a juggling act to keep or spend draft currency to improve the list year after year.

I feel we are not far off a pretty healthy top4 contending list for the next two to three seasons. Yet equally you could argue 8 other clubs are right in the mix and some a serious force.

STRONG CHOICES SO FAR - 7 players?
Gulden
Logan
Chad
Patch
Brodie
McLean
McInerney

YET to be PROVEN week in week out but there are arguably 15 players on the fringe with upside and maybe some significant upside. That is good pressure on the list to peak perform:

JJ
Sheldrick
Konstanty
Snell
Green
Edwards
Vickery
Corey Warner
Cleary
Hamling
Arnold
Buller
Ladhams
Magor
Roberts

[giant]

Apparently Dalrymple was with us for six years.....wow, that went quick.

I know right, go figger.

I'm with IU2 on his assessment of the Dalrymple Years - even with the asterisk of Covid, his efforts have been ambiguous at best. Still, it's hard to find these people, will be a good first up test for our new Head of Football.