The Swans and their flag hopes

[Partridge]

How can it even happen witht he fantastic culture the media seem to inject into every sentence about the swans.

Or maybe they are just like every other club in truth

Yep, and maybe they just aren't that good.

 

[ziad]

Well, in the case of Buddy, there are the marketing needs of a club trying to prosper as one of only two AFL teams in the most competitive sports market in Australia. Carlton aren't up against 3 other entrenched codes.

Tippett less so, but then again he didn't cost as much.

Buddy - great marketing with the Sydney press all over every sleazy or perceived move he makes.

 

[Partridge]

In 2006 we were 1-3 after Round 4.

And off the top of my head, we were 2-2 after Round 4 of 1996 and 2005.

Notice a pattern there?

Yep. The nearest they were to the present was 8 years ago. And you're relying on some of the same players. That's not a good pattern.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

5th in our B & F last year.

Research is beneficial!

Yes and why am I betting that most of the votes were early and it has shown has been poor since mid ish last year

 

[Roddy]

Write them off at your peril I'd say, will come good again at some stage soon.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

But how many times have you actually been contenders? 2005 and 2006, then again in 2012. It's not like they've been ruling at the top of the ladder for that time.

Last year the signs were pretty clear. They did well to pummel poor opposition, but were probably the weakest top 4 side in memory - played 7 games against the other top 3 sides, with a resulting record of 0 wins, 1 draw (with Fremantle), and 6 losses. Including repeated beltings by Hawthorn and Geelong.

Haven't the time to check the historical record, but I would suggest the only time we've been seen as genuine contenders was in 06. Because we won in 05.

For the last decade and a bit, we've been about extracting the last drop out of our playing group; finding the hidden abiltities in other clubs' cast-offs.

We flew under the radar, and loved it. And it made it all the more sweet whenever we snatched the big prize and no-one saw it coming.

Once our game plan from 2012 became the focus du jour, we were always running on borrowed time.

The moment we won in 2012, I said our game plan was going to be the #1 focus of every single opposition AFL coach, and we would have to outsmart them.

Not convinced we've done that.

But getting our prized cattle on the paddock all on the same day wouldn't hurt.

 

[Tedeski]

Doesn't matter if Sydney are shizen in the wet when they played probably the worst wet weather team of the last 5 or so years.

We're putrid in the rain.

The facts are there for all to see. 66 forward 50 entries to 48 & we only scored 6 goals, 2 of them to Laidler, a defender.
We smashed North in this stat but sucked at doing anything about it. It would have been of massive concern had we only managed 40 inside 50s.
As badly as we have played in all those losses, it is the last 10 minutes of the last Qs where we have collapsed in a heap.

We don't want to be anywhere near the finals with those efforts. So we are in games until very late but it seems we work too hard for a lack of result early in games only to tire in those last 10 minutes.

We need to forget finals & just get back to closing games out on a high note as we have been known to. The club are giving some well loved & respected players time & opportunities they have earned, to turn their form around. Remember players like O'Keefe are the heart & soul of our club & recent successful period. It is imperative that we handle things correctly in these situations. As a supporter that has seen p'ships in 2005 & 2012, I am more than willing to let the club give these guys every chance to dig their way back to good form.

We have had no excuses over the last 4 weeks. We should easily have won all those games but haven't been good enough for the whole 4 Qs.

I am now looking forward positively as to how our great club will introduce some new blood into our team & that they will hopefully become the next Malceski, Hanners, Parker or Smith. By years end whether we play finals or not, we will have discovered a player who will be a permanent fixture in our starting 18.

I nominate Shane Biggs or Brandon Jack as those most likely to fit this role!

Remember this!
There will only really be one happy team at year's end. It's unlikely that it will be us this time aroundbut geez 2012 gives us Swans happy thoughts.

On a more serious note though, I honestly think that Carlton can battle their way back from their own miserable start and win some 14 or 15 games....................................................... in the next 5 years!

 

[J_Moore]

The Swans are GORN! They are up the 'Franklin' river without a paddle and will miss the 8!

You'll be right about the Swans falling over one day. Might be this year. But it's not hard to be right eventually when you make the exact same prediction every season

 

[worthy]

It's not depth. People say that because it's an easy way to continue the narrative from the off season.

The fact is most of our supposedly great players are playing like crap. After four games I'd say the following are playing to their own standard: Kennedy, McGlynn, Parker, Smith and....uh.....that's pretty much it. Rampe is going okay maybe? In the games he's played, Laidler has been a fairly effective defender I guess. The following aren't anywhere near their best for whatever reason:

Jack - The rumour is he's playing with broken ribs, so he probably has an excuse.
McVeigh - Just terrible so far this year. Turn over merchant whose on field leadership has really been lacking.
O'Keefe - Finished. Can barely seem to chase. Used to be very strong bodied in a contest but gets bumped off it easily now.
Hannebery - Doesn't look interested.
Richards - Still a good defender, but definitely taken a step down. Hard to tell how much is due to the rest of the team sucking or his own personal form.
Grundy - As above, but didn't start as high as Teddy.
Jetta - Doesn't break the lines anywhere near as much as he used. Starting to look like a one season wonder.
Shaw - Coming off a knee reco and is no where near his best.
Franklin - Down on form and our hilariously poor forward structure is completely wasting his talents.
LRT - Can't play up forward any more. Needs to play as a defender or nothing.
Mitchell - Has regressed massively from his outstanding form in the second half of last year.

They aren't depth players. The narrative about the Swans going into this year was that our best 22 was one of the best in the league but we'd struggle with depth. But all those guys are in our best 22 (except maybe LRT and Mitchell).

The game against Freo on Saturday is going to be the most vital non-finals game we've played in years. You can't recover from 1-4 and expect to challenge for the flag. Even to get to top 4 from here we can probably only drop 3 more games.

I think it has to be a fitness issue with many of those players, particularly the mids in that list, have they had interupted preseasons? Are they carrying injuries? Are they managing existing injuries?
A player like O'Keefe doesn't go backwards that quickly, Jack has a suspected injury, which goes a long way to explaining his early season form, clubs are extremely reluctant to disclose any injuries, or management of injuries for obvious reasons.
You only have to look at Dane Swan, clearly injured an ankle or groin in the first game, the club said nothing, and Swan struggled for the next couple of games.
Don't get me wrong though, I don't hope Sydney get through this and start playing great footy, i'm just not foolish enough to write them off after 4 games.

 

[HBF]

The way they are playing they'll be battling just to play finals let alone win the flag.
Saw most of the North game on Sunday and they were terrible.
Won't get any easier this week against Freo.

 

[Slax]

Swans should be far more worried about be in the finals race. Lose this week, then likely to be heading into the bye 3-6.

Top 4 is already pretty much shot and without a top 4 finish you won't win the flag

 

[Tedeski]

Yes and why am I betting that most of the votes were early and it has shown has been poor since mid ish last year

You tell me. You know more than I do about our club.

When you want to know something about your club, I know more than you so just give us a yell.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

You tell me. You know more than I do about our club.

When you want to know something about your club, I know more than you so just give us a yell.

Go on keep playing him. As an opposition supporter I am more than happy seeing a midfielder that can't run in the opposition. Honestly has he had ONE game in his last 7 that was good?

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Their one-paced midfield is what is hurting them.

One of the great myths in football is that Sydney have an "elite" midfield. What they have is a number of elite midfielders that do basically the same thing and they sacrifice this for outside run and creativity. An elite midfield has elements of both. A case where the collective is greater than the sum of it's parts.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

2012 grand final says hi

You say that like you think it will hurt me being a Hawthorn suporter. And you couldn't be further from the truth.

You see, the thing is that I am living in 2014 and am watching my club, amongst others and seeing teams that have evolved. Aside from mortgaging your club for a player that Hawthorn had an exit strategy for, what exactly has Sydney done to improve the way it plays football?

You are looking more and more like mid-table fodder every week.

Enjoy 2012 fella. I'll get on with living in the present, where my 4-0 Hawks take on the 4-0 Cats and your mob try to salvage something from their season.

 

[Tedeski]

Go on keep playing him. As an opposition supporter I am more than happy seeing a midfielder that can't run in the opposition. Honestly has he had ONE game in his last 7 that was good?

It doesn't matter mate. You worry too much.
The club will take care of that.
My job is to support & to enjoy any success we've had or will have.
When it's time for Rhino to call it quits, it will happen. i've seen it happen to Paul Kelly (my favourite of all time),
Bolton, Mattner & Maxfield mid year, MOL, Leo Barry, Plugger etc, etc.
It happen. Apart from Jason Ball, none of those players finished on a high note

ROK will be given another chance this week & he deserves it if those youngsters around him are doing no better.
You don't gift senior AFL games to anyone for the sake of it.
Someone must jump up & grab the opportunity presented by playing regular quality footy in the seconds, week after week & they must follow the team rules in the twos week after week.
The rest will take care of itself with good people in place.
We were in a similar hole in 2009 when Barry Hall was causing chaos at the club & there seemed to be divisions amongst the group.
We missed finals but were back the next year.
I have faith.

 

[Partridge]

You don't have a forward line consisting of Franklin, Tippett and Reid and simply miss the finals.

They will click at some point. As some others have mentioned, they won the flag after being 2-2 and lost a GF by a point after starting 1-3!

Why not? Why do they have to guarantee success?

 

[worthy]

I am now looking forward positively as to how our great club will introduce some new blood into our team & that they will hopefully become the next Malceski, Hanners, Parker or Smith. By years end whether we play finals or not, we will have discovered a player who will be a permanent fixture in our starting 18.

I nominate Shane Biggs or Brandon Jack as those most likely to fit this role!

This is one of the highlights of any year for me, watching a young player develop into a good/great player, i'm really enjoying Brad Hill's progression this year , as i'm sure the Doggies are with Macrae.

 

[Partridge]

Go on keep playing him. As an opposition supporter I am more than happy seeing a midfielder that can't run in the opposition. Honestly has he had ONE game in his last 7 that was good?

That's exactly their problem, or at least a big chunk of it. How can you expect a 33 year old midfielder to magically wind the clock back. Brisbane found out the hard way in 2005 that the end can come pretty quickly and pretty brutally. With Goodes even older, there's no rule that they're going to have a glorious last season.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

That's exactly their problem, or at least a big chunk of it. How can you expect a 33 year old midfielder to magically wind the clock back. Brisbane found out the hard way in 2005 that the end can come pretty quickly and pretty brutally. With Goodes even older, there's no rule that they're going to have a glorious last season.

Just think if they rightfully PUNTED O'Keefe we would see them still having Mumford. Thankfully they gave up their best ruck, and their depth to get Franklin and to keep O'Keefe who hasn't been good in a year.

 

[Number37]

It is the whole team that has been poor. If the team finds some form and still get flogged then it is time to start worrying.

Another thing, look at the ladder and the form of every team this year and it looks like the bottom half of the eight is wide open for any team.

 

[Number37]

Just think if they rightfully PUNTED O'Keefe we would see them still having Mumford. Thankfully they gave up their best ruck, and their depth to get Franklin and to keep O'Keefe who hasn't been good in a year.

The club was NEVER going to offer Mumford the same as GWS, just like when we originally got him from Geelong, there was no way the Cats were going to match our deal.

 

[Bloods]

You say that like you think it will hurt me being a Hawthorn suporter. And you couldn't be further from the truth.

You see, the thing is that I am living in 2014 and am watching my club, amongst others and seeing teams that have evolved. Aside from mortgaging your club for a player that Hawthorn had an exit strategy for, what exactly has Sydney done to improve the way it plays football?

You are looking more and more like mid-table fodder every week.

Enjoy 2012 fella. I'll get on with living in the present, where my 4-0 Hawks take on the 4-0 Cats and your mob try to salvage something from their season.

You've directed that at a Geelong supporter.

But how many times have you actually been contenders? 2005 and 2006, then again in 2012. It's not like they've been ruling at the top of the ladder for that time.

We've made another two prelims in that time. Brisbane blew us away in the last quarter in 2003 (we trailed by 3 points at the last change) and obviously Fremantle knocked us off comfortably last year. I can't ever remember a time where we were the 'team to beat' but it's a pretty handy record regardless.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

The club was NEVER going to offer Mumford the same as GWS, just like when we originally got him from Geelong, there was no way the Cats were going to match our deal.

You would have a better chance rather than paying O'Keefe half a million to jog like my grandma around the ground!

 

[ClashGurnseyRage]

The swans have lost themselves, with these mercenary "hot-shots" using their club and leeching off their culture and COLA in order to enjoy "big city lifestyle" with big $$$, whilst their team mates (and depth) are traded off to make room.

These 'hotshots' contributed nothing to the building of the club's culture or position near the top, and don't view it as a privilege to play for Sydney, they view Sydney as a club willing/able to pay top dollar to get them there.

Your club has lost its soul and the players have lost a degree of pride as a result of this dodgyness. No one likes you anymore, including yourselves.