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Past Oliver Florent

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Oliver Florent
Young speedster Oliver Florent has become a crucial element of coach John Longmire’s team since the Sydney Swans secured him with their first selection at the 2016 AFL Draft. The Victorian has shown glimpses of exhilarating footy on a wing, most memorably when he jagged a runaway goal in Round 4, 2018 to seal a gripping victory for the Swans over the Bulldogs. But Florent, who’s also spent time on the inside of the contest, is determined to continue to grow his game as a hybrid midfielder in 2020.

Oliver Florent
DOB: 22 July 1998
DEBUT: 2017
DRAFT: #11, 2016 National Draft
RECRUITED FROM: Beaumaris (Vic)/Mentone Grammar (Vic)/Sandringham U18

www.sydneyswans.com.au

Oliver Florent | AFL

Follow Oliver Florent's progress through AFL
www.sydneyswans.com.au www.sydneyswans.com.au
 
caesar88 said:
The issue with Florent is that his issues have always seemed to be between the ears in terms of playing with confidence, consistency etc. Lloyd's a rock solid veteran who was playing a certain way in a certain role and so all he needed was a circuit-breaker to make him play a different way in a different role.

I fear that's the difference and why simply dropping Florent and hoping he finds form in the VFL isn't gonna be as clear-cut a solution as it was with Lloyd. He's looked extremely fumbly and nervous and just overall underwhelming in the few senior appearances since he was initially demoted to sub against Carlton. He's looked like a guy who now knows he's on the bottom, whereas Lloyd has looked like a guy who knows he was too good to be on the bottom.

The worry is that it's just made an already-mentally-vulnerable player that much more mentally-vulnerable. (Not saying I disagree with the move at all; I still think it was the right call by Cox & co.)

Hopefully his performance on the weekend is the start of things turning around for him.
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You can take it to the bank that Florent was dropped due to not being able to consistently beat his direct 1 v1 opponent, not because of his ball use as what seems to be the general thought. He's been given a lock down role and every time his opponent has been bigger and stronger than him. I always refer to the GC game which i was present at, he got absolutely mauled by Humphrey, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. I actually watched Florent closely that day and he was wearing Humphrey like a glove and busted his backside doing the right things, the guy was just too strong for him and I actually felt sorry for Ollie.

It's the whole defence first thing that Cox is so focussed on which has pulled Ollie away from doing his best work on the overlap. It's not playing into his strengths. I think he is being poorly coached from an individual perspective. I understand the whole defence first attitude, but if someone like Roberts can continue to get a game without being anything special defensively yet pretty poor offensively, then surely there's a place there for Florent. Even Bice isn't anything special from a defence perspective. Blakey is poor 1 v 1 when on a stronger oppo. Florent isn't any worse than Roberts and Bice defensively, if anything he's better as long as he's not played on absolute units, so I feel there is a sense of 'it's ok for some but not others' going on.
 
zyzzbruh said:
You can take it to the bank that Florent was dropped due to not being able to consistently beat his direct 1 v1 opponent, not because of his ball use as what seems to be the general thought. He's been given a lock down role and every time his opponent has been bigger and stronger than him. I always refer to the GC game which i was present at, he got absolutely mauled by Humphrey, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. I actually watched Florent closely that day and he was wearing Humphrey like a glove and busted his backside doing the right things, the guy was just too strong for him and I actually felt sorry for Ollie.

It's the whole defence first thing that Cox is so focussed on which has pulled Ollie away from doing his best work on the overlap. It's not playing into his strengths. I think he is being poorly coached from an individual perspective. I understand the whole defence first attitude, but if someone like Roberts can continue to get a game without being anything special defensively yet pretty poor offensively, then surely there's a place there for Florent. Even Bice isn't anything special from a defence perspective. Blakey is poor 1 v 1 when on a stronger oppo. Florent isn't any worse than Roberts and Bice defensively, if anything he's better as long as he's not played on absolute units, so I feel there is a sense of 'it's ok for some but not others' going on.
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Agree with this 100%. Cox with his defence first mentality has screwed up Blakey's game as well. Gone is the attack first mentality that served him well and has been replaced by a player who has been given key defensive jobs which he is just not cut out for. Any casual observer of our team knows that Blakey is not a true defensive player but is an offensive weapon off HB. Ollie is in the same boat. Bice started with a bang but now looks to be infected with the same confusion, torn between trying to show his defensive qualities and being low risk versus his natural attacking game. Haven't seen the statistics but wouldn't be surprised to see a massive drop off in our scoring off half back.
 
Wheresbuddy said:
Agree with this 100%. Cox with his defence first mentality has screwed up Blakey's game as well. Gone is the attack first mentality that served him well and has been replaced by a player who has been given key defensive jobs which he is just not cut out for. Any casual observer of our team knows that Blakey is not a true defensive player but is an offensive weapon off HB. Ollie is in the same boat. Bice started with a bang but now looks to be infected with the same confusion, torn between trying to show his defensive qualities and being low risk versus his natural attacking game. Haven't seen the statistics but wouldn't be surprised to see a massive drop off in our scoring off half back.
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yep. And people talk like it's ok to bring in a defence first mindset before worrying about the rest, but it's simply not the case in today's game. It's not 2005 anymore where you win on the back of defence. 95% of your fortunes are based on offensive mindset and ability. Out of any team we should've proven to ourselves first and foremost that you can get away with a makeshift defence as long as you're dialled in to smash the opposition offensively. It's how we've made do for the last 3 years, we've rarely had a big name defence set in stone and have faired perfectly fine. The team sitting ontop of the ladder right now is one of the most average defensive sides in it.
 
zyzzbruh said:
yep. And people talk like it's ok to bring in a defence first mindset before worrying about the rest, but it's simply not the case in today's game. It's not 2005 anymore where you win on the back of defence. 95% of your fortunes are based on offensive mindset and ability. Out of any team we should've proven to ourselves first and foremost that you can get away with a makeshift defence as long as you're dialled in to smash the opposition offensively. It's how we've made do for the last 3 years, we've rarely had a big name defence set in stone and have faired perfectly fine. The team sitting ontop of the ladder right now is one of the most average defensive sides in it.
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I think after the GF beltings of 2022 and 2024, Cox feels he has to change things up. Clearly he identified the contest and defence as issues. I feel he's right about the contest but with regards to the defence, his approach is flawed. Sure, tighten up the defence by using players who are strong in this area eg Wicks, Cunningham, Melican McCartin but recognise that so much offense comes out of defence and continue to give licence to guys like Blakey, Florent and Bice. If teams are worried by our offence from defence, they are forced to defend this which actually helps us defend F50 entries.
 

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zyzzbruh said:
You can take it to the bank that Florent was dropped due to not being able to consistently beat his direct 1 v1 opponent, not because of his ball use as what seems to be the general thought. He's been given a lock down role and every time his opponent has been bigger and stronger than him. I always refer to the GC game which i was present at, he got absolutely mauled by Humphrey, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. I actually watched Florent closely that day and he was wearing Humphrey like a glove and busted his backside doing the right things, the guy was just too strong for him and I actually felt sorry for Ollie.

It's the whole defence first thing that Cox is so focussed on which has pulled Ollie away from doing his best work on the overlap. It's not playing into his strengths. I think he is being poorly coached from an individual perspective. I understand the whole defence first attitude, but if someone like Roberts can continue to get a game without being anything special defensively yet pretty poor offensively, then surely there's a place there for Florent. Even Bice isn't anything special from a defence perspective. Blakey is poor 1 v 1 when on a stronger oppo. Florent isn't any worse than Roberts and Bice defensively, if anything he's better as long as he's not played on absolute units, so I feel there is a sense of 'it's ok for some but not others' going on.
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Actually I'm willing to bet Florent was dropped because he wasn't offering anything defensively and only averaging 16 error-riddled disposals prior to being dropped.

All the other names you bring up don't make sense. Blakey has been all over the shop this season, but is still top ten in the comp for creating scores from his intercepts, which shows he can be damaging. Roberts has been all over the shop this season, but also spent a large chunk of it leading our disposals for the year, which shows he gets involved. And Bice was also dropped, just like Florent. Heck, Jake Lloyd was dropped, and he's a better player than Florent.

I think the core of the issue is that you have to offer something. Florent needs to find one thing that he can contribute better than arguably anyone else in the team. One thing that will make Cox & co pause and think, "Can we really afford not to have this in the team?" Right now, and all year and maybe even going back to last year, he just hasn't had that one thing.
 
I'd like to know SPECIFICALLY why Florent has been set aside. We all guess and probably some are correct but nothing beats KNOWING. For mine he seems a good guy and a decent clubman. Has skills though to my eye isn't strong defensively. But his lack of bounce-back is really sad. He's certainly acting like someone who has been told he no longer has a place.
 
Dubai Quacker said:
Given the form Matty Roberts is in .... if Ollie isn't selected this week, I'd start to suspect he's played his last game for the Swans (not his last AFL game though, as he'll get a gig with quite a few Vic teams).

I'd find that a bit sad. I always kinda saw Ollie as a Swans-lifer.
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I mean, have you seen the form Florent is in? He didn't even make the bests in our last VFL match.
 
caesar88 said:
I mean, have you seen the form Florent is in? He didn't even make the bests in our last VFL match.
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That’s true (even though I regard the bests list as comically inaccurate at times).

At his best - he’s a quality player. Like Kiama Chris suggested, I can’t help but feel perhaps Ollie knows he’s not seen as part of the future (for reasons we can’t know).

Perhaps he’s even already asked for a trade?

Anyway …. if he did happen to appear on the team sheet this week, all the speculation subsides.

But I don’t think he will be.
 
Dubai Quacker said:
That’s true (even though I regard the bests list as comically inaccurate at times).

At his best - he’s a quality player. Like Kiama Chris suggested, I can’t help but feel perhaps Ollie knows he’s not seen as part of the future (for reasons we can’t know).

Perhaps he’s even already asked for a trade?

Anyway …. if he did happen to appear on the team sheet this week, all the speculation subsides.

But I don’t think he will be.
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More trade value playing 1sts
 

Ollie on the outer​

Sydney winger Ollie Florent is yet to commit to a potential fresh start at another club despite being overlooked in seven of the Swans’ past eight matches.

The 27-year-old was a staple in former coach John Longmire’s team, including playing in the 2022 and 2024 grand finals, but has fallen out of favour in Dean Cox’s first season at the helm.

It is a fascinating situation, given Florent signed a five-year contract extension in May last year to stay at Sydney until the end of 2029 and finished seventh in the club’s best-and-fairest award.

Florent has averaged almost 18 disposals across 180 games and has many close relationships at the club, particularly with business partner Will Hayward.

His contract status means he could opt to remain in red and white, and back himself to again become a senior regular. Clubs cannot trade players without their consent.

Source: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...a-as-bidding-gets-hotter-20250729-p5milm.html
 

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Indifferent as I've become to Florent the player, I have the utmost respect for Florent the person, given the loyalty he's shown to the club despite having as strong a pull home as anyone. My respect for him would somehow go up even more if he chose to stay at the Swans beyond this year. Only a very small percentage of AFL players go their entire career - from their first year to their last - without being dropped. This is basically Florent's first time being seriously challenged from a selection stand point (and it's arguably well overdue, depending on which Swans fan you asked), so I'd love it if he responded by putting his head down, bum up and getting to work, rather than jumping ship because it's the easier option. That's what a true Blood would do.
 
Jeffers said:
Awesome. Keep talking him up. Get better value when we trade him.

Surplus to requirements
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I’m a bit bemused that with Blakey & Roberts getting pummelled on here, Rampe retiring soon, Cunningham & Fox nearing the end & not a lot of backline talent in the VFL …. that it’s still said Florent isn’t needed.

He’s a good player. We don’t have a lot of them in defensive 50.
 
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BarneyBent said:
I mean Paps looks like he's close to impacting but just off. Florent looks a shell of himself. Sucks cos at his best I really like him. I reckon he'll go to another club and thrive with a change of scenery.
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Both looked like nothing was working
 
The King! said:
Both looked like nothing was working
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To me Paps looks like he's looked tons of times when he's been out of form but not far off from things clicking. The way he plays, if things aren't working it looks bad, but it doesn't take a lot to turn around.

I'm much more worried about Ollie. And I'm not a hater.
 
Thought he was stiff the first time around, he was one of about 6 that could've been made the sacrificial lamb. Dropping him has almost had the opposite effect to what we wanted where it's destroyed his confidence.

He'll bounce back and unless is absolutely necessary to bring some ins to the club in the offseason, I wouldn't be pushing him out for nothing pick for the sake of it. We're the only club with a almost sacrosanct best 18 and anyone who temporarily falls outside of that finds themselves on the outer.
An out of form best 22 player going back to the 2's to find form is part of the norm at most clubs, and doesn't mean their career is over and they're banished forever to the VFL and need a new home. Depth is required. Most clubs have some good players missing out weekly, we need this. We need selection to be hard, which it hasn't been for years.
Would love to see him say '**** off I'm staying' and fight his way back over the summer. Obviously this year it's going to be hard to justify his position in the 22 these last few games.
 
He's got too much ability to de-list or trade for peanuts.

A new off season and I'm tipping that he'll be back to his best in 2026.
 

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Past Oliver Florent

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