2024 Pre Season

[Captain]

Weirdly, Parker being injured might be a good thing. Will give us a chance to see how Sheldrick, Roberts, Jordan etc go.

My team for Round 1 would be:

McLean McDonald Hayward
Papley Reid Jordan
McInerney Warner Gulden
Blakey Rampe Florent
Cunningham McCartin Fox
Grundy Henney Adams
Campbell Sheldrick Lloyd Rowbottom
Sub: Roberts

[i'm-uninformed2]

Agree and with Adam’s to come in I think we can cover while he is out


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Yep. Suspect the other likely outcome is it'll confirm Isaac will spend plenty of time on ball (which is good).

[Roadrunner]

Yep. Suspect the other likely outcome is it'll confirm Isaac will spend plenty of time on ball (which is good).

Yes, Isaac is very good everywhere, but I still think his best value is up forward- he is so hard to match up on for a start. His marking is elite and though his kicking for goal can be erratic, I’m confident that this year he will be more consistent. We have a lot of depth now in our midfield and of course he and Paps should run there as needed, but we need potency in our forward line and as long as he’s over his injury Heeney can be a match winner for us.

[giant]

Unfortunate - broken arm.

Injury Update: Parker injured in match simulation

Happened right in front of us with literally minutes to go - typical no holds barred Parker contest, but noticed he walked away holding his arm. Sigh.

Big loss, but thank goodness for Gus and "Swifty" Adams.

[707]

Solves the "problem" of who was going out when Adams comes in. At least upper body injuries mean a player can continue to get training into the legs so shouldn't lose conditioning.

Melican was apparently very good last week so expect he'll come in as the second KPD which everyone has pointed out as a weak area.

Will be interesting to see our team on Thursday, first look at Adams in a new look CB set up, does Melican come in, can Sheldrick now force his way into the 23, will Heeney play mostly forward. Brisbane a very good test

[i'm-uninformed2]

Yes, Isaac is very good everywhere, but I still think his best value is up forward- he is so hard to match up on for a start. His marking is elite and though his kicking for goal can be erratic, I’m confident that this year he will be more consistent. We have a lot of depth now in our midfield and of course he and Paps should run there as needed, but we need potency in our forward line and as long as he’s over his injury Heeney can be a match winner for us.

I've given up trying to settle on Isaac's best position, having sent myself round in circles for too long on it. Why I do at the moment favour some extended midfield time is a) bar Errol and maybe Blakey, he's probably our best at nailing the kick that keeps killing us - the one from forward of centre to the forwards and b) absent Mills and Parker, he's a genuine hard body. We saw the stellar job he did last year in the mid season game matched with Cripps. It wasn't all tagging either.

[707]

Delisted Magpie Will Kelly has joined Sydney VFL. The Swans have also secured Hugo Birks, who booted 44 goals from 14 games for Drouin last year in the Gippsland league.

Do we have a VFL thread for this season?

[giant]

I've given up trying to settle on Isaac's best position, having sent myself round in circles for too long on it. Why I do at the moment favour some extended midfield time is a) bar Errol and maybe Blakey, he's probably our best at nailing the kick that keeps killing us - the one from forward of centre to the forwards and b) absent Mills and Parker, he's a genuine hard body. We saw the stellar job he did last year in the mid season game matched with Cripps. It wasn't all tagging either.

You've answered your own question I suspect - on the basis of his efforts last week and the absence of Mills and Parker, I believe he'll definitely be playing midfield for the foreseeable future.

[troyjones2525]

Happened right in front of us with literally minutes to go - typical no holds barred Parker contest, but noticed he walked away holding his arm. Sigh.

Big loss, but thank goodness for Gus and "Swifty" Adams.

Yeah I thought when watching on TV that he looked uncomfortable, and then I saw him running off the ground with his left arm hanging straight, in the bottom corner of a shot in play and thought it didn't look good. I was hoping it might have been a bit of a stinger in the shoulder or something like that, but obviously it was more serious.

Typically, the commentary were oblivious...lol.

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[Auntie.Gerald]

Parker and Mills being out is a significant blow

If (Pies) Maynard and Degoey were out at the same time for an extended period I would prefer to play them then !

[Dow]

You've answered your own question I suspect - on the basis of his efforts last week and the absence of Mills and Parker, I believe he'll definitely be playing midfield for the foreseeable future.

I hope not, He is ok as a midfielder but I believe his true value lies in playing as a high half forward he can play as a extra number around the ball, then get back and be a genuine scoring threat. There is very few players that play this kind of role as good as Heeney and provides us with a point of difference.

[crackedactor 01]

Droiun league to the VFL is a big jump. I guess they wanted to have another Hugo in the team since they lost one last year.

[giant]

Parker and Mills being out is a significant blow

If (Pies) Maynard and Degoey were out at the same time for an extended period I would prefer to play them then !

I was thinking of a like for like for the Pies and that's exactly the two I came up with. It's even a little more than that coz I suspect Parks and Mills contribute more to the onfield (and especially centre bounce) leadership than the two Pies.

[dejavoodoo44]

Thursday's match against Brisbane has been delayed for three hours, due to the expected daytime temperatures of close to 40°C at Blacktown. It will now start at 7.10 pm AEDT, instead of 4.10 pm. Which seems very sensible, and is also good news for all those who have to work Thursday afternoon, but not Thursday night: like me.

[707]

Fox show First Crack last night did two hours looking at every teams prospects for this season, left me in No Man's Land somewhat, but here's what King and Montagna said about the Swans

Montagna: “For me, the toughest team to assess to try and work out where to put is Sydney. They were 2-8 against top-eight teams last year, they’ve got some young talent, we know about that, Gulden and Chad Warner and Nick Blakey’s an absolute star … For me, it’s going to rest on their four All-Australians. (Heeney, Papley, Grundy, Rampe?)

King: “They’ve been given the best list free kick of all time with Brodie Grundy. At 29 years of age, low kilometres on the clock, he’s a dual All-Australian, dual best-and-fairest … I can see them really bouncing, really bouncing. They get three or four players that they’re going to play – Brodie’s definitely going to play and James Jordon is chronically underrated, I think he’ll play a lot of minutes in this midfield … I’m excited about where they can go.”

We of course know our 2023 season was severely hampered by injuries to talls, hopefully 2024 is kinder to us.