2017 trading, drafting, list management

[Nico]

and Darcy Lang who played his best game of the year against us!

Geelong have the luxury of Dangerfield playing for $400k less than he's worth and Ablett is willing to play for them for a bag of crisps apparently.

Liz has articulated it well, other than Essendon and to a lesser extent Port, most other clubs trading players are nett neutral'ish. To coin a phrase used by Crows last year after missing out on Gibbs, we should have "organic growth" in our list which still has a large number of very talented younger players on an upward trend and plenty of players in their prime.

To improve our list, who available would we need/want? I think sitting tight, saving our $ and adding a couple at the draft may be the best ploy or helping other clubs this year and strengthening our hand in 2018 (not 2019 as I said in an earlier post after that very good bottle of Shiraz)!

Gazza has thickened up a bit of late. Clearly he enjoys a big of crisps.

[bungwahl]

But do we have a salary cap problem? Tippett's contract has been reduced. I think most of these commentators/managers just assume we have a problem. I would be surprised if Harley would tell Connors we had a salary cap problem. Maybe he assumes we have a problem because we won't pay what he is wanting for Watts is more to the point.

Typically when a player-manager references a club having a salary cap issue he means: "They're not willing to overpay for my client".

[Plugger1300]

Not sure Swans have to improve too much to be honest
After round 6 we were clearly the best team
Beat most major rivals home and away.

We get rid of the slow start and home finals and double chance comes into play.
Which is absolutely necessary for an Interstate team

The improvement that is needed will come from the new coaching staff. This will be the defining feature of the 2018 premiership win

[707]

Tricky time for us at the ND next year with pick 18 our best :-(

[Nico]

Gazza has thickened up a bit of late. Clearly he enjoys a big of crisps.

That should have read bag of crisps. I have been watching too much Allo Allo.

[Markwebbos]

I�m interested to see how the complete clear out of assistants plus promotion of Shaw from ressies shakes up the player pecking order. For example are R&W favourites AA and Dawson going to rise up the ranks and Cunningham, Foote etc going to fall.

[707]

I've never seen anything in Foote's game to indicate he's of or going to be AFL standard. Good NEAFL player but highly unlikely to cut it at the top level. How he stayed higher in the pecking order than Dawson is beyond me.

Dawson's string of BOGs should have been rewarded, just lucky we re-signed him before that or no doubt he would be getting traded to SA.

Surely AA & Dawson must be given opportunity as they have far more upside than some of our fringe players.

[S.S. Bleeder]

Forget Watts...9 years of ordinary footy and a salary demand of around 500k.

I hope we offload Tippett then basically keep our powder dry for next year...

Then go all out for Lynch...A Buddy type contract.

We would probably also need to let go one of our top level mids to free up enough space.

For over 20 years now the Swans have had a high profile power forward...Given our success over that time I can't see that strategy changing .

He would seamlessly take over the No.1 forward role, which would free up Buddy, and possibly help prolong his elite/high level output.

A bit fanciful perhaps but not out of the question. Apparently there are a few clubs already talking to him...I hope we're one of them.

If we get Blakey next year, won't he fit that role? Even after losing an elite mid I couldn't see us being able to afford Lynch.

[Ludwig]

I've never seen anything in Foote's game to indicate he's of or going to be AFL standard. Good NEAFL player but highly unlikely to cut it at the top level. How he stayed higher in the pecking order than Dawson is beyond me.

Dawson's string of BOGs should have been rewarded, just lucky we re-signed him before that or no doubt he would be getting traded to SA.

Surely AA & Dawson must be given opportunity as they have far more upside than some of our fringe players.

One of the positives of not getting Watts is that it opens a spot for Dawson at HF, or a least there's one less player to get past to find a spot in the side.

With the likelihood that we will try to get both Hayward and Florent as regulars in the seniors, the pressure will be on Towers and Cunningham to find a spot in the side.

It's a good exercise doing a projected senior side for next year. Some decent players will have to be omitted. When you actually put names on a page it's hard to see us wanting to bring in players via trade.

It's more important keeping our salary cap under control and making sure we re-sign Lloyd, Hewett and Aliir asap.

[Nico]

If we get Blakey next year, won't he fit that role? Even after losing an elite mid I couldn't see us being able to afford Lynch.

Might be a bit to expect from Blakey as an 18 year old. Couple of years later, yes. One of the problems with ongoing list management.

[Scottee]

I've never seen anything in Foote's game to indicate he's of or going to be AFL standard. Good NEAFL player but highly unlikely to cut it at the top level. How he stayed higher in the pecking order than Dawson is beyond me.

Dawson's string of BOGs should have been rewarded, just lucky we re-signed him before that or no doubt he would be getting traded to SA.

Surely AA & Dawson must be given opportunity as they have far more upside than some of our fringe players.

Having recently critically watched the ressies GF replay on Youtube (along with about 30,000 others), I am having second thoughts about Foote not making it. He was clearly in our best few in the hardest match of the year against senior talent > Thats usually a good sign.

[707]

Might be a bit to expect from Blakey as an 18 year old. Couple of years later, yes. One of the problems with ongoing list management.

Nick needs to choose us over Norf and Brisbane before we worry about that.

Geelong have bowed out of the Watts race, don't believe they can get the deal done with Melbourne. Port to the fore.