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Analysis 2026 - The Way Forward

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Something I've been thinking about is how our defence sets up for 2026. I think we need Mills back in the midfield personally to get the most out of Warner and Heeney as a reliable, defensively minded Josh Dunkley type, although if we somehow managed to get Marcus Windhager I'd be happy for Mills to stay back. That seems very unlikely to happen so to get Mills into the midfield we'd need to try something else.

I actually think one way to make this happen could be reeeeeaally unpopular amongst some fans, but I'd be very curious about: Errol Gulden to HB. Josh Daicos and Dayne Zorko style. Rebounding off HB with Errol and Blakey? Oof. Sign me up. And I think Errol is smart enough that he'd intercept at will (less in the air, more on the ground I mean) and taking the rebounding load off Blakey could be incredibly beneficial. The stats analysts constantly go on about how important rebounding off HB is so seems a no-brainer in that sense to me. Put our most dangerous player where so much of the play evolves from and the wing can be occupied by some combination of McInerney, Jordon, Cleary, Campbell, whomever else.

I really hope the coaching staff have the curiosity to give it a go in the off-season.
 
Something I've been thinking about is how our defence sets up for 2026. I think we need Mills back in the midfield personally to get the most out of Warner and Heeney as a reliable, defensively minded Josh Dunkley type, although if we somehow managed to get Marcus Windhager I'd be happy for Mills to stay back. That seems very unlikely to happen so to get Mills into the midfield we'd need to try something else.

I actually think one way to make this happen could be reeeeeaally unpopular amongst some fans, but I'd be very curious about: Errol Gulden to HB. Josh Daicos and Dayne Zorko style. Rebounding off HB with Errol and Blakey? Oof. Sign me up. And I think Errol is smart enough that he'd intercept at will (less in the air, more on the ground I mean) and taking the rebounding load off Blakey could be incredibly beneficial. The stats analysts constantly go on about how important rebounding off HB is so seems a no-brainer in that sense to me. Put our most dangerous player where so much of the play evolves from and the wing can be occupied by some combination of McInerney, Jordon, Cleary, Campbell, whomever else.

I really hope the coaching staff have the curiosity to give it a go in the off-season.
Windhager would be an incredible addition if we could. Would essentially be the end of Rowbottom + potentially JJ, considering Windhager is a ballwinner with great defensive nous and shutdown abilities, while still being able to find the ball and contribute.
 
Something I've been thinking about is how our defence sets up for 2026. I think we need Mills back in the midfield personally to get the most out of Warner and Heeney as a reliable, defensively minded Josh Dunkley type, although if we somehow managed to get Marcus Windhager I'd be happy for Mills to stay back. That seems very unlikely to happen so to get Mills into the midfield we'd need to try something else.

I actually think one way to make this happen could be reeeeeaally unpopular amongst some fans, but I'd be very curious about: Errol Gulden to HB. Josh Daicos and Dayne Zorko style. Rebounding off HB with Errol and Blakey? Oof. Sign me up. And I think Errol is smart enough that he'd intercept at will (less in the air, more on the ground I mean) and taking the rebounding load off Blakey could be incredibly beneficial. The stats analysts constantly go on about how important rebounding off HB is so seems a no-brainer in that sense to me. Put our most dangerous player where so much of the play evolves from and the wing can be occupied by some combination of McInerney, Jordon, Cleary, Campbell, whomever else.

I really hope the coaching staff have the curiosity to give it a go in the off-season.
For mine his running and delivery into 50 is too valuable so not my preference but worth discussing.
 
would be looking at assistants who just want to be that and have been successful at other clubs. In other words they are at premiership winning clubs now. Either that or REAL Coaches from lower leagues, in other words SANFL, VFL, WAFL like these;

James Allen; Werribee Coach. Has been an assistant at the lower level before tasking over at Werribee. He inherited a very good team from Michael Barlow but did very well with it. Unfortunately for him and Werribee the AFL clubs came sniffing around.

Darren Reeves; This guy has a wonderful record as a coach and mentor. He was coach of Central Districts Academy to start with. Then Reserves Coach and Assistant at Central. He then moved to NT Thunder as Herad coach. Head of Development at North Adelaide for 3 years before becoming coach of Glenelg and coaching them to back to back premierships.

Stewart Edge; Currently Western Bulldogs Reserves Coach. He has been an assistant at GWS in their inception years and as Development Coach at Dogs during the period they won their premiership. Dogs VFL are top.

Cameron Bruce; He has had assistant Roles at Hawks, Carlton and Lions. He is very well respected.

Nigel Lappin; He's been at the Cats since 2008, maybe he needs a change.

Matt Spangher; Has been relatively successful at the dogs as the Forwards Coach. I personally think we need a very good forwards Coach. Spangher fits that. Allen and Reeves do too as they have developed killer forward lines.

Micheal Barlow; He coached Werribee to a Grand Final He moved on to North where he is now Head of Development. Could we extract him from North?
 
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would be looking at assistants who just want to be that and have been successful at other clubs. In other words they are at premiership winning clubs now. Either that or REAL Coaches from lower leagues, in other words SANFL, VFL, WAFL like these;

James Allen; Werribee Coach. Has been an assistant at the lower level before tasking over at Werribee. He inherited a very good team from Michael Barlow but did very well with it. Unfortunately for him and Werribee the AFL clubs came sniffing around.

Darren Reeves; This guy has a wonderful record as a coach and mentor. He was coach of Central Districts Academy to start with. Then Reserves Coach and Assistant at Central. He then moved to NT Thunder as Herad coach. Head of Development at North Adelaide for 3 years before becoming coach of Glenelg and coaching them to back to back premierships.

Stewart Edge; Currently Western Bulldogs Reserves Coach. He has been an assistant at GWS in their inception years and as Development Coach at Dogs during the period they won their premiership. Dogs VFL are top.

Cameron Bruce; He has had assistant Roles at Hawks, Carlton and Lions. He is very well respected.

Nigel Lappin; He's been at the Cats since 2008, maybe he needs a change.

Matt Spangher; Has been relatively successful at the dogs as the Forwards Coach. I personally think we need a very good forwards Coach. Spangher fits that. Allen and Reeves do too as they have developed killer forward lines.
As somebody who is very much on the Assistant Coach refresh bandwagon, I like the way you think!

Blokes from successful state programs like Werribee, Richmond VFL, Norwood, Glenelg, etc. would be well worth a look.

I'd be especially keen on grabbing one or two coaches from the SANFL considering the new rules being proposed are already in place in the SANFL and have been since 2016, so their knowledge might be very helpful
 
Kiama Chris did a great job in helping turn our minds to the future rather than dwelling on the 2024 loss.

In order to keep the chatter going, thought I would create this given where we’re at.

In the past 2 years I called first for speed and then for contest and tackling.

I’m now calling for strength. We have not built up any muscles since we were rag dolled in the 2022 GF. Must recruit for strength.

I’m most disappointed this year cos I expected a cultural change. We didn’t get one. We need to make some tough calls on list and find creative ways to make Sydney a destination club.

Onwards and upwards.

I like strong players.
We were reminded of just how shallow our list has become because we traded in players who's time was already over, Adams, or players who were just not good enough, Francis. I don't think Hamling fits this if played in his correct position. I thought he was playing really well up until he got injured. He was asked to do some horrible tasks this year and I think did some good stitch up jobs for us. The problem was not Joel Hamling but not having any forwards at all.

Our List Deficiencies we obvious when we got some midfield injuries but also in the backs. Yet even though the backs were struggling Cox insisted on playing Hamling forward, seeing we had no tall forwards. Mind you he insisted TMac was a forward, Yet we had a young bloke battling away in the reserves who when he did come in has proven to be a more than useful forward, in Buller. He left him drowning in a reserves team, who couldn't get the ball past half way most of the time and when they did the delivery was atrocious. Some very bad decisions.

These players don't have what it takes from what I have seen;

Mitchell; As much as he has grunt he just doesn't seem to have the skill set for AFL level. The other thing is that he goes missing for long periods. He has been the victim of a tag since his burst onto the VFL scene. But he does not seem capable of breaking a tag or a strong defensive mid. But the reality is his lack of skill is obvious.



Francis; Aaron is very much a confidence player. Unfortunately our Sports Psychologist could not get him confident. He is certainly not playing at an AFL level that would help us win a Premiership. Dropping simple marks, fumbling, kicking OOF from 20 metres out. Not good enough. Needs to go.

Bowman; I know he has a contract until the end of '27. But what is happening with him. He came to us as a Forward/Wing. A high leaping player who is fast and has good foot skills they said. But we have seen nothing of that because he has been played as Full back, what the eff? He's 187cm FFS and in the backs all season. He had some good games where he accumulated good disposals. But there were many that were underwhelming. I would like to see him let loose. Played wing or HF. The trouble with us is that our players are being taught to defend and save games but we just don't know how to attack or have strategies for that. We need a really good forwards coach that can get the best out of guys like Ned

Paton; Most Swans supporters don't think he is good enough for the AFL. He produces great games in the VFL. Accumulates big disposal levels. Plays really well. But like his AFL equivalent, in the mids, he has no relationship with his forwards. I am not sure he gets another contract. Probably not. He seems to panic at AFL level. But then again he has only played back at AFL level and much of his time in the VFL was in the mids due to us not having anyone but VFL players to play there. Probably delisted.

Leidler; He had to play out of his height for some of the season. But he also played Mids/Wing and managed over 15 disposals only once. He doesn't seem to have developed at all. No contract. Probably won't be given a new one

Kirk; Most of the Resies Watchers seem to think he is not good enough to play AFL. I have no opinion only to say the few times I saw him play he actually put in and was contributing to the team. Mind you the Resies Watchers ALL said Buller was no good and would be a disaster at AFL level. Shows how much we know. He has no contract. Probably won't be given a new one.

Corey Warner; Not sure if he is up to it. He played quite a few early games and he averaged 7.2 disposals. He played mainly small forward but also wing. That is definitely not good enough. I was astounded he got so many games. But then again we were decimated. Although there were some others. Unfortunately he is contracted until 2027. Umm, maybe Big Brother wouldn't sign on unless he did?

These next players are not about delisting but about maybe retiring;

Adams; I
know, everyone is going to say he is contracted for next year. But the reality is he can't even get onto the park. He played well in the Reserves toward the end of the year but that is basically his level now. He will more than likely be kept as depth. Depth that is always injured. Very bad trade. Too old. If we could find a way to move him to the Rookie list or have some other team take him it would be good.

Rampe; I personally think Sir Dane needs to move to the media or something. His days at HB are numbered. As much as we all love Sir Dane he has been only just serviceable this year. What's more he is not going to be a part of a Premiership group moving on.

Lloyd; He had a wonderful back end of the year as a forward. Not sure if he retires, to me it is up to him. He won't be told the time is nigh.

Fox; At 32 and now quite injury prone does Robbie go on or retire?

Other old buggers who WILL go on;

Grundy
Cunningham

Where from here? How do we sure up the sinking ship?

What does Cox want us to look like in 2026. He needs to do something about the fitness staff. If that doesn't change we will be in the same position next year of having half a team. The other areas that need change are midfield and forwards coaches. I am not sure if McVeigh did well or not as he had very little to work with most of the season. Only after the half way mark did things improve. Same could be said of Cox. But I am worried about one part of our game that is soul destroying.

The lack of ability to change the game and wrestle momentum back. We were flogged by sides we should not have been flogged by. The fact we were flogged is due to our inability to wrestle momentum back because the players don't fight like Junkyard Dogs. They just lay down and let the opposition take control. Then again we did beat sides we should not have beaten with the personnel we had. We have been absolutely flogged in the mids in every one of those games when we lost momentum. We put little or no forward pressure on. Our zone is terrible as we give opponents far too much space. I am not a fan of the forward half zone. I think it encourages an opponent to get an overlap as players get caught out as their opponents move the ball around quickly. Crows, Cats, Lions (first round), Dogs all murdered us due to these two factors and our turnovers. What happened to our silky skills? Players giving the ball back in the middle of the ground FFS. Gulden, Blakey I am talking about you both but Roberts too. If you turn the ball over in the corridor you get punished. Why is it that after a few years at the Swans we turn silky skilled players with almost perfect delivery into hacks?

Most would give us a pass for us having over half the Senior side injured for a good part of the season. But this showed just what lack of depth we had. It was so obvious. Francis and Hamling at FF FFS, Hamling should have gone back and filled a position there as he did later (although they should have played Buller earlier). Corey Warner still keeping his place even though his disposals were in single figures. But we did have one of those years that most of your KPP are injured and we couldn't cobble together a backline early, mainly due to the coach wanting to turn TMac into a forward. Too many mistakes from staff that put our season in jeopardy. I wonder how much trust there is? One really bad move can erode trust. Like trying to put TMac at FF. Cox needs some experienced Assistant Coaches not from the Swans. We need outside prospective. Assistants who have either coached their own team successfully or have been assistants at Premiership winning clubs.
 
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I would caution against wholesale changes to our list in the off season for two reasons. The first is that there does not appear to be that many quality players on the move and those that potentially are eg NAS, TDK will not be coming to us. The second is that our draftees will no doubt take time to come on and of the academy kids, Carmichael looks to be the only one who could potentially be plug and play. The worse thing we could do would be to get rid of guys like Florent, Lloyd, Fox, Rampe, Campbell etc en masse and replace them with even worse role players. Think Brand, Menzel, Grey, Squizzy, Thurlow and (dare i say it) Adams. In the same way that some view our own through rose coloured glasses, some can also do likewise for opposition list fillers. We should only make list changes that have a high chance of working in our favour. For every JPK, Richards and Bolton, there are plenty of fringe players who stay there because that's what they truly are.
There are plenty of good players for us in the draft. We have up to 5 Academy players who are either good or great. We can also trade in a player or two. But we need to clear the list.
 
I can see how you might look at certain games as good performances - but even in those i personally felt like we still weren't clicking anywhere near the same capacity as we have previously. Something still just felt off and the good parts seemed fleeting.

Even with the good, overall our transition game and individual impact has fallen off a cliff. It's too much of a drop off for me to have any faith in what Cox is trying to integrate. imo there is no excuse for such a decline in our performances, even relative to injuries and coaching change.

The gap between our current footy vs our previous ability to dominate the comp is an absolute chasm. It would have to be a remarkable turnaround, and I expect nothing but.

This is a team coming off GF after dominating the H&A. It's an F- for Cox. With the injury and new coach excuse i'll upgrade it to an E-. But ultimately it's an F for the club. The injuries aren't an excuse for the decline in key stats that Cox has contributed to by admitting his shift in focus on what he expects from the team.

I just want to remind everyone that this is a squad who made a GF in 22 earlier than they should have, then made a GF last year after dominating the season which was probably at the point in development where people were expecting us to start challenging. These players have proven that they can be a scary good team and should only be getting better as our core players start approaching their peak athletic age - Horse found the sweet spot in getting the best out of his players – yet there seems to be this weird sense of justified complacency amongst our supporter base as if our current performance is a fair representation of the team’s ability. As supporters we can't stand for anything but top 4 spec performances from round 1 next year based on previous demonstrated ability. But I have a feeling people are going to get complacent with a slight improvement.

It's top 4 comfortably in 2026 or sack Cox for mine. The squad has proved that they can play to that capacity - so anything less is 100% unequivocally on the coach.
While I agree the gap between our good and bad was astounding I think we lack depth. We don't have that 30-35 players who can play at AFL level competently. Cox is trying, under terrible circumstances due to injury, to develop a new game style. He wewnt terribly defensive to start with an wanted the forwards and mids to take responsibility for their opponents. But they weren't buying in. Heeney, Chad, Papley, Wil, Ollie, Rowie, even James Jordan, Gus, Roberts just wouldn't man up defensively. I think Cox needs help. He needs a top line Forwards Coach. A Top Tier Mids Strategist (not Midfield Coach but a person who develops the strategies the midfield coach can implement) all top sides have one except us. Every side that has won a premiership in the last decade has had a midfield strategist.
 
I'd just like them to get into the gym.
It was the U18s against the U12s against Geelong.

I never want to see a Geelong player laughing at a Swans player again.

I hope Coach Dean Cox puts 'a bit of stick about' during this comng pre-season.
I want our players to get the boxing gloves on. Thai Kick Boxing is one of the most strenuous sports but the most compelling thing about it is the ability to build strength without becoming the Incredible Hulk.
 
As somebody who is very much on the Assistant Coach refresh bandwagon, I like the way you think!

Blokes from successful state programs like Werribee, Richmond VFL, Norwood, Glenelg, etc. would be well worth a look.

I'd be especially keen on grabbing one or two coaches from the SANFL considering the new rules being proposed are already in place in the SANFL and have been since 2016, so their knowledge might be very helpful
The other thing is Mark Stone, who was our Midfield Strategies coach way back, has just left Lions. He coached Glenelg to a Premiership in 2019 and set the club up for a success, back to back, under Darren Reeves. I think Stony would be great for us. He knows the club. He was at the Swans during our successful period and at the Lions during theirs. As well as Eagles in their premiership year. A pity he will be the Head Coach at the Perth Football Club this year.
 
Something I've been thinking about is how our defence sets up for 2026. I think we need Mills back in the midfield personally to get the most out of Warner and Heeney as a reliable, defensively minded Josh Dunkley type, although if we somehow managed to get Marcus Windhager I'd be happy for Mills to stay back. That seems very unlikely to happen so to get Mills into the midfield we'd need to try something else.

I actually think one way to make this happen could be reeeeeaally unpopular amongst some fans, but I'd be very curious about: Errol Gulden to HB. Josh Daicos and Dayne Zorko style. Rebounding off HB with Errol and Blakey? Oof. Sign me up. And I think Errol is smart enough that he'd intercept at will (less in the air, more on the ground I mean) and taking the rebounding load off Blakey could be incredibly beneficial. The stats analysts constantly go on about how important rebounding off HB is so seems a no-brainer in that sense to me. Put our most dangerous player where so much of the play evolves from and the wing can be occupied by some combination of McInerney, Jordon, Cleary, Campbell, whomever else.

I really hope the coaching staff have the curiosity to give it a go in the off-season.
Gulden is not going back.
 
It was always going to be a down year. Teams that get flogged in the GF have never won a final in the following year. The injuries didn't help although they've probably been a positive as we got games into Corey W, Cleary and Dattoli. Plus new coach, new footy director, new CEO - a lot of change across the club.

Our performance post-bye was a big jump over the first half - no coincidence it was following the return of Harry, Mills and Gulden.

The glaring flaw is the huge gap between best and worst. Against top sides we are unable to sustain our game across four quarters. As exemplified by the GWS and Geelong drubbings, where we were even or dominant in the first half and got absolutely smashed in the second half. If we can play for two quarters why not four?

We definitely have a problem defending the ground and there's obviously a big mental aspect to it. So that's the summer homework. It's a close comp, not much gap between first and 14th typically. Put in the work over the summer and we should be competitive next year.
 

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If this year’s academy crop are good, we’ll go forward.

If they aren’t, we’ll go backwards.

At the moment, we have the weakest set of young (1st-3rd year) players in the AFL (apart from Collingwood and West Coast).

And that is a harsh reality.
I agree. The very best Academy players will suck up our picks. Hopefully we get a crack before anyone bids.These Academy players will shape our future or not.
Carmichael a likely replacement for Rampe long term.
King a big mid or forward. We need both.
Etc
There are some talls in the draft at pick 9 that I would like before matching academy picks.
 
I agree. The very best Academy players will suck up our picks. Hopefully we get a crack before anyone bids.These Academy players will shape our future or not.
Carmichael a likely replacement for Rampe long term.
King a big mid or forward. We need both.
Etc
There are some talls in the draft at pick 9 that I would like before matching academy picks.
Schubert and Ludowyke. Either would be OK and if we can't get one of them Greeves if he's still available. Still ropeable we didn't take one last year when we had the chance.
 
We need a forwards Coach that who has actually played in a Forward Line. We need someone who understands how to get the best out of our crop of Key Forwards. The Smalls will take care of themselves if you fix up the Talls. Take for instance, Jack Buller. This bloke is a natural forward. He has tricks. But sometimes gets lost in the contest. We need someone who can teach him how to win every contest and to negate every defender he plays on. He also needs someone to help him with his goal kicking.

We need a very successful Forward to come to us as Forward Coach.
 
Enjoying this thread, the more so that sensible Kiama Chris is in it.

Our AFLW girls are showing us the way today, they're a long way ahead against the Suns team.

Mens team? Get into the gym this off-season. Next year, get the black shorts on. If you can't stick a tackle -you're in the two's next week. If you can't bench press more than last year -you're in the two's next week.

Gloves off Coach Dean Cox, that's why we're paying you the big money.
 
Some thoughts watching the last game of the season, how the hell is a 20 year old Reuben Ginbey for the Eagles more built than the entire swans midfield? Definitely thinking some extra minutes in the gym is required over the off season for Swans players.

The handball chains need a lot of development over the off season. Bombing from centre clearances is out of style and the best teams of 2025 use handball chains to bring the ball to the outside and hit inside 50 targets.

Please recruit some KPP's as the boys are very light on in the height department in defence and forward line. It can't continue to be ignored when the team has no down the line option available for a contested mark.

Think 2026 will bring different outcome to this season injuries permitting but will depend on hard work and a good off-season trade and draft period.
 
I think we should just scrap our attempt at getting a tougher and physical game and just stick to our strengths. Ie. Be a more run, carry, passing and ball movement team).

I'd rather see us making Grand Finals and losing, than seeing this crap I'm watching right now.

I get it. We'll never win a Grand Final with this style and tougher teams will clobber us (as was proven in 2022 and 2024), but we simply don't have the cattle to play a tougher brand of footy. Our players are all skinny or short people. We gotta make do with what we've got.
 

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Need to get big pre seasons into MacDonald, Buller and Amarety.

Potential Forward line should be Hayward Buller Papley, Amarety MacDonald (* rotating midfielder, Campbell, Jmac).

I don't think that needs a huge improvement to be competitive next year, unless we happen to have a Curnow fall into our lap (or if the dogs pay for JUH to play for us).

If we have to resort to playing Hambling and Francis again, then may God have mercy
 
I think we really need to look at our fitness program and it's influence on us this season. I am convinced half of our problems relate to our fitness program.
 
Mind you how did we miss Mathew Nicks? He was a Swans player. He was so unlucky in three years. He should have played finals before now.
 
If Blakey could play more forward we’d be a lot more dangerous. Have to recruit someone to replace him.

Forward line of Curnow and JUH. How good would that be
 
Not a wasted year.. On a positive but also negative note we are on the way to improving the side and found out that:

1. Florent is a big culprit of not delivering his part to the team much more often that not. No longer untouchable

2. Hurts me to say but Rowy can’t be a full time mid with his numbers. JMac and Sheldrick have replaced him and both can rack up 20+. His role at HF is still iffy and it will be telling this year if he polls highly in the Skilton under what Cox values. Might become fringe

3. Roberts needs to reinvent himself somewhere else on the ground. He can play but not in the backline

4. No one on the team is an elite HF that runs all day which all the top teams have. Campbell is our closest but still not quite there.

We seriously threw the kitchen sink at this - Florent, Roberts, Corey, Hanily, Cleary, Rowy - but no one very effective

5. Chad isn’t really an effective forward no matter how hard Cox tried to start him there. Has to be a permanent mid
 

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Analysis 2026 - The Way Forward

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