TOPIC:

Feel like a broken record because I have a feeling I started this topic at the same time last year and the same things still come to mind.

Swans have actually gone backwards this year from a 10- 8 record to 8-10. Also if you look at the results more closely 6 of our 8 wins this year were against teams below us and only 1 win was achieved against a top 5 side (Subiaco).

By contrast 2022 contained 4 wins against finals teams including a victory over premiers West Perth.

As far as the results of games were concerned, 11 of our 18 games were decided by 3 goals or less either way and there were only 2 games where we were belted (Peel and East Perth). So Swans were not awful by any means but still quite a fair way behind the genuine finals contenders.

37 players were used this year in the 18 games, only Tom Edwards and Jesse Turner played every game ( although Tom got injured yesterday) . The others who played in 11 or more games and were therefore the core of the team were Glass-Mccasker, Ireland, Kemp, Noble, O'Donohue, Pina, Palmer, Riley, Stephens, Watson, Blakely, Cipro, Clarke, Ehlers, Jones, Mclachlan, Notte and Reidy

Injury interrupted seasons for Collins, Fisher, Bright, Spackman, Erceg and Ottoviano.

Lynch was a mid season recruit who did very well and will hopefully become a key player in 2024. Young guys who came into the squad at various stages and who can expect more opportunities next year include Humphries ( who is very impressive IMO), Cartwright, Chipper, Hardeman( although he may be drafted), Tester and Hewitt. The upcoming finals series for the reserves will be a great experience for these guys and the club can see how they perform under finals pressure.

McClaughlan was a good pick up and I'm glad he is staying around next year as he is a real leader.
Disappointing seasons for Germs, who just seemed to be on the outer for some reason and Cameron who ended the season in the ressies.

So there you have it. It appears as though there will be a bit of an exodus, particularly from the Victorian players so there may need to be some recruitment particularly in the forward line. I think our priority though should be to promote some of the talented younger guys in the reserves who have got the club into the finals this year. Not just for 1 or 2 games but extended periods so they have an opportunity to prove their worth.  

The main work that needs to be done during the off season is foot and hand skills to reduce the number of turnovers under pressure. Also chuck the game plan in the bin and start again by encouraging the players to take the game on more and attack rather than the boring defensive rubbish which is not winning them enough games anyway.
Theres my rant, would be interested in any other assessments

 

As I posted yesterday another disappointing season done, one of far too many over the last 30 years or so.
38 players played League footy by my count you may have missed Luke Taylor who made his debut yesterday.
7 first year players got their debut, a couple of others named an emergency a number of times.
Will be a keen observer in how the Development side fare over the finals as there should be plenty of opportunities for some of them to make their mark on League footy next year if they do the work and improve their games in areas needed.
We have to look at our strength and conditioning as going in to the season with 8 of our best 25 injured is not good enough and we were on the back foot from the get go in these reduced 18 games seasons of present where you have to make every post a winner in every game!
Our foot skills (and hand ball and decision making) continue to let us down at key moments and key times of games and must be eradicated and improved otherwise we will continue to let games slip like we did 6 times this season alone!
Clarke, Turner, McLachlan, Edwards, Watson, Riley, Pina, O'Donoghue, Cipro, Kemp all had good years for the most part, the likes of Blakely, Ireland, Noble, Glass-McCasker, Stephens, Jones, Palmer, Reidy, Notte all had their moments whilst Humphries, Ehlers & Lynch really impressed at times and need to build on that for next year.
The likes of Chipper, Bain, Hewett, Tester, Cartwright, Taylor, Germs now need to also build on their start to becoming League regulars with more opportunity next season.
Unfortunately long injury layoffs made it hard to rate the seasons of Erceg, Fisher, Collins, Ottaviano, Bright, Spackman, Cameron (although he was used incorrectly imho) whilst Anderson's body never allowed him to ever get back unfortunately!
We need a strong vocal leader on the park with a ruthless streak to direct this squad at the key moments, something we have lacked imho since Josh Roberts retired.
The time is now for our club to get serious about building a consistently top side as we have floundered for far too long in the bottom half of the comp!
 

BH do you reckon Mclachlan might be a candidate for the captaincy or at least to share it with Erceg? My understanding is that he was the captain of the Geelong VFL team for a period of time.

 

Good wrap up. Another disappointing year that seems to blend from one to the next.
I cant help think the whole club needs a clean out. It seems to me League Footy has dropped well out of being a focus which somewhat explains why the club has been in a downward spiral since 2010.
1 premiership in the last 33 years and finals missed in many of those years too.
Swans have too many staff and volunteers that want to focus on social issues rather than winning games of footy.
I fear mens league footy is no longer their priority which is sad as that was what built the club.
We face complete lack of relevance shortly.
With Junior and Country zones shrinking the pool of talent will diminish further. It already is.
Futures Games in the last two years is like watching boys vs men.
Swans are at the cross roads and without massive change - we face a long dark future with longterm supporters dropping off quickly..Its sad

mikeh wrote:

BH do you reckon Mclachlan might be a candidate for the captaincy or at least to share it with Erceg? My understanding is that he was the captain of the Geelong VFL team for a period of time.



 

Possibly Mike as he has been a good recruit, but would think Jesse Turner would be favourite to take over if he wants the role as he has been Captaining the side for most of this season already.

These days lads, football clubs have 'mission statements', partly to do with good governance, which is fine. Naturally, these should differ depending on the nature of the club or community organisation. SD's should simply read:

'to promote the code of Australian rules within its district
win the league premiership in the WAFL competition'

One does not need social programmes to promote football. Try schooll visits. I had a brief peep at Hawthorn's web site the other day, it had a team for everybody, or so I thought; there was no team for my dear old nanna. Should I kick up a fuss on behalf of my nan?

Good win in the ressies.

Swans formed in 1932 and joined the WANFL in 1934..
88 years has delivered 8 Premierships .
6 of those flags won by two sides.
Hayden Bunton Jnr+ John Todd.
​​1990+2010 where done againt a superior Claremont opponent.Who we manage to beat on those days. 
So historically there nothing unusual about the way Swans are going..
As mentioned above ,where not seeing those stand-up teenagers. From 15 years ago.When we had 15 players in the AFL.
Think our current squad plays close to there potential. With a mix of fitness and skills training,next pre season.We can maby win two or three more games.And make the top 5.
Defence is stable and solid.Improvement need to come from the onballers and fwds.
Plenty of good talent already ,AFL delisted. Would love a couple of ex Afl boys in our side next year.Some young talent who will want to be redrafted. Not cooked players.
This may help retain players if we make finals.Competitive in so many matches ,but just not able to get over the line.
Andrew Krakourer MKii please.

The President of Swans, Peter Hodyl did an interview last week where he expressed his disappointment in Swans season. As it was a long article the summary of what he said was as follows
1.  Losing 5 games by a combined 18 points in the first 7 rounds was a killer
2.  Never able to get close to their best 22 on the park at any stage of the season. Crucial players out for massive chunks of the season
3. Players kept trying and turned it around somewhat late in the season
4. Target is still to finish consistently in the top 3 and challenge for premierships. Feels they are still on track for this with a bit more luck with 1 and 2 above
5. Already looking at recruitment options for 2024
6. Swans reserves being in finals is a huge positive

Hodyl is a premiership captain and knows what it takes to get to the summit but I wonder if he is maybe just putting on the rose coloured glasses here?  There are some reasons why Swans went backwards this year but even if the luck had gone more our way, they still didn't seem to be in the same class as the teams who made the finals.  

Close games, whilst I would not deny 'luck' as an element, bad football is more the reason, as SD posters have mentioned above. Subi 82; WP 80? I remember watching the Subi midfield kick the ball with their insteps when all they had to do was kick straight to MacFaull on the lead. Now, I suspect, that, at the time the Subi players were trying to make some point to the club's board.