2024 List Management

[imuninformedtwo]

I don't see that Parker will get substantially more midfield opportunity at North next year than he would at Sydney. The midfield is the one section of the ground where they are overflowing with young (and youngish talent), and even if some of those players aren't yet at their peak, North aren't going to play Parker in the guts at the expense of getting more games into the likes of McKercher, Powell, Sheezel and the like. If he does leave us for North I suspect he'll find himself in a position similar to Adams here at the Swans. Promised more midfield time but really spending time at half-forward. Or out of the side.

I think Parker is a player with more strings to his bow than Adams because he does have genuine mid-sized forward craft. So he might find himself with a more secure position in North's forward line than Adams did in Sydney's. But I also suspect Parker will be able to establish himself as a permanent fixture in our forward line too. Just not our midfield.

I love Luke. He’s a legend of the club, I’d kill to see him play 300 games for us, his leadership during our down years and COVID should never go underestimated and I think my views on him staying or going would be greatly changed by the weekend. That is, for all that, if he walked after a flag, I’d bow down and give thanks and wish him all the best and ultimately be cool with it.

But I’d also not deviate from our list strategy to keep him. He has one year left, but wants another two after that I suspect. And Norf are in a position to offer it to him. I don’t disagree with you on where he might find himself there. But nor do I think we should be throwing a contract extension at him.

By 2026, we want Sheldrick and Cleary (along with Mills coming back next year) permanently part of our midfield rotation. And whilst there is clearly room for him in a revamped forward line for us, he seems to understandably want a security of tenure we can’t offer right now.

I’ll be desperately sad to see him go, but it looks like it’s going to happen and we will use the $700K in cap space to front load a bit of spending across other contracts.

[KSAS]

I think from a club perspective they would love for Parker to stay next year as there will be a forward/mid roll for him, but not in a position to extend beyond that as their 1sr priority will be to have enough cap space to re-sign Chad.

Parker will be 33yo at start of 2026 season, so club will see him as a year by year proposition from here on.

Parker will weigh up whether to hang around to have at least 1 more crack at a flag versus 2 year security at North. He probably won't have that same offer from North dangling come end of next season.

I do hope Chad is prepared to leave a bit on the table as did the other 2024 re-signees, who all rejected bigger offers & help keep list intact.

If Parker does decide to stay, it will be interesting where it leaves Adams with 2 years remaining on his contract, as he'll have harder work to compete for spot with Clearly, Sheldrick & Co Warney also pressing claims.

Form & injury will also play a big part, particularly after another disappointing GF result. I'll be surprised if we continue with the 3 tall forwards setup.

[SwanSand]

There are many players we need to start thinking of moving on in 2024 or 2025
in 2024 - Parker, Ladhams, Konstanty, Hanily, Hamling, Francis
in 2025 - Rampe, Lloyd, Fox maybe the likes of Arnold, Buller, etc if they cannot break into the 23
we need -
A grade forward
A grade defender
A grade intercept defender
A grade Bull midfielder
we have the kicking halfback, outside midfielders and gun small and medium forwards.
unFortunately none of the above in their best years are coming to us without us losing A grade talent.
we need to find the diamonds in the rough like Jesse Hogan and prepare to trade innovatively.

[imuninformedtwo]

There are many players we need to start thinking of moving on in 2024 or 2025
in 2024 - Parker, Ladhams, Konstanty, Hanily, Hamling, Francis
in 2025 - Rampe, Lloyd, Fox maybe the likes of Arnold, Buller, etc if they cannot break into the 23
we need -
A grade forward
A grade defender
A grade intercept defender
A grade Bull midfielder
we have the kicking halfback, outside midfielders and gun small and medium forwards.
unFortunately none of the above in their best years are coming to us without us losing A grade talent.
we need to find the diamonds in the rough like Jesse Hogan and prepare to trade innovatively.

Agree with much of this. Though we do already have an A grade bull midfielder. His name is Callum Mills.

It's easy to forget just what a complete, two-way running, in-tight, ball winning boss he was in 2021 and 2022. He has elite hands. I get his fitness meant he was never going back in there this year. But I hope like hell - along with some time for Sheldrick, fingers crossed on injury - we can get him back in there next year. It'd help make Chad and Errol even more damaging, and he might set them some standards on accountability too.

[Blood Fever]

Agree with much of this. Though we do already have an A grade bull midfielder. His name is Callum Mills.

It's easy to forget just what a complete, two-way running, in-tight, ball winning boss he was in 2021 and 2022. He has elite hands. I get his fitness meant he was never going back in there this year. But I hope like hell - along with some time for Sheldrick, fingers crossed on injury - we can get him back in there next year. It'd help make Chad and Errol even more damaging, and he might set them some standards on accountability too.

Agree. Straight back into the coalface.

[dejavoodoo44]

Assuming that Footy Wire is correct, these are the players whose contracts finish this year. Arnold (rookie), Hanily (r), Francis, Konstanty, Magor (r), McAndrew (r), Mitchell, and Vickery. Also, the retired Sam Reid has come off the rookie list.

My opinions on the likelihood of those players being retained are. Arnold looked pretty good playing in defence late last season, but unfortunately spent much of this year injured. So, with both Snell and Edwards playing well as defenders in the VFL, I think he's more likely to be unluckily delisted.

After being picked up in the midseason draft, Hanily gradually improved. Kicked a few goals and has some nice skills, so he's probably worth retaining as a rookie.

Francis often looked BOG when he played in the VFL and I expect him to win our VFL player of the year. Personally, I'd quite like to see him retained as a competent depth player. However, he never quite seems to excel at AFL level, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him delisted. It might depend on the perception of how ready Snell and Edwards are to step up to the AFL?

Konstanty is a bit hard to judge, as he's spent much of his two seasons recovering from injury. When he has played, some of his defensive pressure has been really good. However, I'm not quite so impressed with his attacking prowess, as he does seem to often miss the sort of shots, that a quality small forward like Papley, could probably kick blindfolded. Cal Twomey has said a few times, that there's some interest from Victorian clubs in trading for him. If that's the case, I'd be willing to consider their offers.

In regards to McAndrew, my preference would be to keep him, while making a bit of list room by trading out Ladhams. While Ladhams is the better forward, McAndrew wins more taps and when I've been keeping a record in the VFL games, we do win more clearances when McAndrew is rucking. He's also better at tackling opposition mids than Ladhams and obviously does a lot less stupid @@@@. Though it wouldn't totally surprise me to see him delisted, as he still seems to struggle a bit with things like reading the play and positioning.

Mitchell I'd probably keep. He does an awful lot of running down the wing, he goes hard at the ball and can lay a strong tackle. His disposal can be a bit hit or miss, but since he played a couple of AFL games this season, I think that it's more likely that he'll be given another year or two.

Unfortunately, I think Vickery is more likely to be a delist. While he improved this season and played a few good games, I'm not sure that there's anything that says he'll turn into a quality AFL player? While I could have easily missed some of the defensive work that he's been doing, I don't really recall being impressed by him shutting down an opposition small forward. So I'd be a bit surprised if he kept his place.

[Nico]

Ludwig has said for a couple of years we should try McLean at CHB. What i see as a problem is our unwillingness to have versatility in our list. Players seem to be pigeon holed into a position. Structure and role players are important but you need a fair degree of flexibility.
Campbell is a real example of this. He's either a HBF or sub. What we know about him is he is prepared to put his body on the line. Maybe he can help with our midfield clearance woes. By the way, he was rated the best midfielder in his draft year and 17 other clubs would have taken him.
Matt Roberts is a big improver but has essentially been a backline sweeper. Is he a hard nosed footballer? Why not try him in the guts?

[dejavoodoo44]

Whoops, forgot Magor. Probably worth keeping on the rookie list, as he uses the ball well coming out of defence and is pretty good at making himself an option for his fellow defenders. However, I'm not entirely convinced by his defensive skills.

[Jimitron5000]

Tyring to be positive about where we are at is a little challenging at the moment. However, we aren't too far off. A fit and healthy Callum Mills will ease a lot of midfield issues and I have high hopes for Angus Sheldrick too.
In the forward line, I expect improvement from McDonald and Amartey. Not so sure about McLean, but he is useful as a second ruck. Ideally we would lose one of those three for someone like, gulp, Jake Stringer. Someone who can bring consistent forward pressure too would be nice.
We desperately need a good intercept defender too. Paddy McCartin really was very good for us and solidified our defence. I don't know that we have anyone who can do that role, except maybe Aaron Francis. He seems to be a better defender when he doesn't have to defend.

[imuninformedtwo]

I’d definitely keep Mitchell. He’s done enough to say at worst, depth and I look players with workrate who keep improving. I’d also keep McAndrew. I get his round the ground stuff needs to improve, but he is still raw in relative terms and worth another year. Hanily shows enough to give another year.

The rest: gone. Unfortunately for Arnold injuries have cruelled his chances of an impression. Vickery - vanilla and non-descript. (How badly were we screwed by Weddle insisting he would not leave Victoria. Just blatant draft interference). Neither Magor or Kostanty grab me. And I’ve made my view clear Francis lacks the athletic profile for AFL footy.

Ladhams is the one that has me conflicted. If Grundy went down, ouch, and I also think Mensa can play in between the brain fades. But I get he wants to play senior footy and we may be able to get a future pick for him when we have academy kids coming.

[Ludwig]

I can't see much to change from the GF side, despite the performance. Mills in for Parker si the one that stands out. Otherwise, we really don't need to improve our list, giving consideration to what we have in the reserves. We didn't get many chances to test out our VGL players due to our short injury list.

It doesn't pay to add too many new recruits when we have Sheldrick and Cleary looking like near certain AFL quality players. Mitchell and Warner are also good prospects who could be more than decent AFL players if given a run.

Patrick Snell looks a near certain starter next year, if I'm the selector. Will Edwards is not far behind, but needs to demonstrate more nous in how he plays the position, but the skill set is there. Arnold has played well after returning from injury and I don't see a need to push him out just yet.

I would probably keep Magor and Konstanty for lack of pressure to move them on. I don't see us doing better exchanging them for late picks.

I don't see use needing to cut more than 5 players. The ones I would move on are Francis, Wick, Parker, Adams and Ladhams (for a pick in the forties, otherwise McAndrew) I know all are under contract except Francis, but I think someone will take the others if we are not asking for anything back. Vickery would be my first delist of the younger players.

I heard on Gettable that Finn McGinness of Hawthorn may be up for trade. I would give one of our 1st rounders for him as he's the kind of player I would be looking for in the draft anyway.

I would be looking to go taller in the back line and shorter in the forward line next year, so 3 talls back and 2 forward. Also thinking of playing Campbell as a small forwardnext year in lieu of one of our tall trio.

I don't know what we do about about our midfield next year, except that I would like to see Sheldrick play as an on baller and find some more games for Cleary.

[MattW]

I think we'll keep Arnold. I noticed some footage during the season of he coaching the the defenders in the VFL team at halftime. Confirmed by this article, with quotes from Truslove: https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/...ruslove%20said.

He finished the year playing five consecutive games, improving his stats each game: https://vfl.aflmstats.com/player/Harrison_Arnold.

We clearly need tall defenders and as demonstrated earlier in this thread, have plenty of other delistings.

[The Big Cat]

Jon Ralph reporting OTC that WA clubs believe that Chad Warner is definitively going home at the end of next year. Not about money but wants to go home and his girlfriend is from Perth and wants to go home too.

[MattW]

Jon Ralph reporting OTC that WA clubs believe that Chad Warner is definitively going home at the end of next year. Not about money but wants to go home and his girlfriend is from Perth and wants to go home too.

Quotes here: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/sta...c478a9c2f159ca.

Man, if true, I'd be really surprised.

[lwjoyner]

I read something this morning think it was on afl site that Paul Roos says we should trade some players doesnt mention names. But what about Lloyd,cunningham (even though both contracted) Ladhams . to start with