Sydney - What's going on with them?

[Olian]

They look like a club that's opened the "review the shit out of a grand final loss" box. Never goes well.

Longmire would ignore grand final reviews and just pretend it didn’t happen.

Cox went for a 7 hour slow motion review. Reinforcing 1 bad performance then sends you on a negative path.

 

[Matrix10]

GF smashing. Never bodes well. Longmire was an excellent coach.

He was an ok coach , you don’t shit the bed and get smashed in 4 of the 5 GF he coached , this will be his coaching legacy

 

[RUNVS]

Longmire would ignore grand final reviews and just pretend it didn’t happen.

Cox went for a 7 hour slow motion review. Reinforcing 1 bad performance then sends you on a negative path.

Well to be fair it is a bad performance that just kept happening.

 

[.Shotties.]

I'll wait until we have less than a third of our best 22, including 3 of our five top scorers from last year on the injury list for a stretch, then I'll start looking at other reasons.

 

[demondavey]

He was an ok coach , you don’t shit the bed and get smashed in 4 of the 5 GF he coached , this will be his coaching legacy

Making GF is hard. They weren’t smashed in 2016, they should have won if it wasn’t for the umpiring. The rest of them were awful. Leadership on field very poor I guess? They seemed to shirk contact last year.

I’d still back him to get a list up and get competitive.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Longmire would ignore grand final reviews and just pretend it didn’t happen.

Cox went for a 7 hour slow motion review. Reinforcing 1 bad performance then sends you on a negative path.

Dogs didn’t review 2021 and I think it was a mistake and cost them two seasons of reoccurring scores against in bursts.

It can go either way. I think its better to review

 

[Mr Meow]

Dogs didn’t review 2021 and I think it was a mistake and cost them two seasons of reoccurring scores against in bursts.

It can go either way. I think its better to review

A review doesn't work when everyone keeps giggling and saying "it's okay, we've got big Cox now" though.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Wont be too long when only a couple of hundred go to their games at the SCG and its back to the 1990s.

LOL yea the team that pulls the biggest crowds of any NSW sporting team is going to be seeing crowds in their hundreds.

and about time too.

Thanks at least for making your prejudice clear so we all know your opinion is worthless.

 

[Xtreme]

They've lost the mental edge to compete. What they need is someone like Apollo Creed to help them re-discover the will to win.... the EYE OF THE TIGER!

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Perennial finalists for the last 24 years and destined to miss finals this year

What is happening at the Swans?

The question isn't 'what's wrong with them?'

The question is 'what will the AFL do to ensure they get good again quickly'?

A bottomed out Sydney isn't a problem that the AFL have had to deal with for a long, long time.

 

[Obeanie1]

The question isn't 'what's wrong with them?'

The question is 'what will the AFL do tone sure they get good again quickly'?

A bottomed out Sydney isn't a problem that the AFL have had to deal with for a long, long time.

Bottomed out?

As you are alluding to the AFL will not allow that to happen.

Everyone knows that.

AFL House fat cats wont get their annual bonuses.

 

[demondavey]

The Longmire era over they will bottom out next year.
Same as Carlton dark times are ahead.
Wont be too long when only a couple of hundred go to their games at the SCG and its back to the 1990s.
Downhill from here for the swans and about time too.

What’s your issue with Sydney?

Enjoy your AFL gifted draw.

 

[Olian]

Bottomed out?

As you are alluding to the AFL will not allow that to happen.

Everyone knows that.

AFL House fat cats wont get their annual bonuses.

The AFL live off TV rights. A drop in the market share in NSW hurts.

As for assistance, after COLA was removed and a trade ban. Tightening of academy points system. AFL house must have missed what you are alluding to.

 

[Westlo]

Shit drafting being saved by academy picks hasn't helped.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

The AFL live off TV rights. A drop in the market share in NSW hurts.

As for assistance, after COLA was removed and a trade ban. Tightening of academy points system. AFL house must have missed what you are alluding to.

In all seriousness though, the AFL system is designed to ensure that the top teams bottom out, and the bottom teams get good. It's a cycle.

The AFL knows, in fact I think we all do, that the Northern clubs 'can't afford to bottom out'. Meaning, the support and interest would drop away significantly if these teams aren't highly competitive.

Sydney, due to lots of reasons, haven't had to worry about this for about 25 years!

I'm not writing them off necessarily right now as they played in a GF 9 months ago, and have had lots of injuries - but there are signs that they may be on the cusp of succumbing to the AFL system finally.

If/when that happens, I'd be shocked if the AFL didn't intervene. That on its own isn't a massive story - but they how they manage to intervene whilst also propping up Brisbane, Gold Coast, GWS and Tassie will be the story. Especially given Vic clubs are already calling it out.

 

[Obeanie1]

The AFL live off TV rights. A drop in the market share in NSW hurts.

As for assistance, after COLA was removed and a trade ban. Tightening of academy points system. AFL house must have missed what you are alluding to.

Have the Swans been allowed to bottom out like other teams?

No they haven't.

For the very reason you mention3d. TV rights and executive bonuses.

That's why the AFL continues to prop up the Qld and NSW teams and hands Collingwood so many games at the MCG.

Common knowledge as you are aware.

 

[Obeanie1]

In all seriousness though, the AFL system is designed to ensure that the top teams bottom out, and the bottom teams get good. It's a cycle.

The AFL knows, in fact I think we all do, that the Northern clubs 'can't afford to bottom out'. Meaning, the support and interest would drop away significantly if these teams aren't highly competitive.

Sydney, due to lots of reasons, haven't had to worry about this for about 25 years!

I'm not writing them off necessarily right now as they played in a GF 9 months ago, and have had lots of injuries - but there are signs that they may be on the cusp of succumbing to the AFL system finally.

If/when that happens, I'd be shocked if the AFL didn't intervene. That on its own isn't a massive story - but they how they manage to intervene whilst also propping up Brisbane, Gold Coast, GWS and Tassie will be the story. Especially given Vic clubs are already calling it out.

Isn't the real issue how can the AFL assist the Swans even more than they currently do when clubs legitimately struggling to rebuild get nothing?

 

[DangerSloane]

Swans VFL is 1-8 with a % of 59.

There is genuine concern about core underlying list issues and depth.

Don't be fooled by the first half of last season.

We never should have made that GF last season.
Really an indictment on the other sides.
You shut down one of Gulden, Warner or Heeney and you beat the Swans.
It seriously is that easy and I've no idea why nobody figured that out before Brisbane did

Surely that's partly due to the amount of injuries right?
Blokes playing AFL that would normally be in the reserves bolstering those stocks.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Isn't the real issue how can the AFL assist the Swans even more than they currently do when clubs legitimately struggling to rebuild get nothing?

Well yeah. That's what I was getting at.

 

[Lockyer24]

I reckon there was a turning point last year where they went from very good, back to an average team.

Might have been that massacre in Adelaide but suspect it was something slightly before that. Sometimes it’s just a collective of players being banged up and you overall become suddenly 4 goals off. In late 2011 I reckon we had similar

 

[Scotland]

2024 B&F

1. Isaac Heeney (956 votes)
2. Errol Gulden (888 votes) (0 games)
3. Chad Warner (813 votes)
4. Brodie Grundy (750 votes)
5. Nick Blakey (648 votes)
6. James Rowbottom (639 votes)
7. Oliver Florent (628 votes)
8. James Jordon (622 votes)
9. Jake Lloyd (605 votes)
10. Tom Papley (576 votes) (3 games)

Plus Luke Parker

26

Luke Parker

Age

33

Ht

183cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.2

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

11.6

5star

M

3.8

4star

T

5.6

5star

CL

5.8

5star

D

22.1

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

9.9

5star

M

3.9

4star

T

5.0

5star

CL

5.5

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

8.0

5star

CL

5.2

5star

left, Callum Mills

14

Callum Mills

Age

28

Ht

188cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.2

5star

K

10.8

4star

HB

7.4

5star

M

5.3

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

287.0

4star

D

18.4

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

6.9

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

3.4

4star

MG

293.4

4star

D

17.0

5star

K

9.4

4star

HB

7.6

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

2.8

5star

MG

284.4

5star

has played 1 game, Harry Cunningham 0, Logan McDonald 0, Amartey 6, Adams 3, Melican 6. Fox, McInerney, McLean have all missed games.

They've been trying to cobble together a forward line all year with Tom McCartin

30

Tom Mccartin

Age

25

Ht

194cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.3

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

3.7

3star

M

3.7

4star

T

1.6

4star

MG

129.5

2star

D

7.2

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.2

3star

T

0.8

1star

MG

87.4

2star

D

9.0

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.0

4star

MG

168.0

3star

, Aaron Francis, Joel Hamling

29

Joel Hamling

Age

32

Ht

194cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.6

3star

K

6.2

2star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.0

5star

T

1.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

11.8

3star

K

7.6

3star

HB

4.2

4star

M

5.8

5star

T

1.0

3star

etc. and it hasn't worked. The forward line with no Papley and no decent talls needs Heeney or it's just Haywood vs the world, but the midfield without Heenay and Gulden is ordinary.

2020 -> 2025
2021 -> 2026

Lock it in.

 

[.Shotties.]

Surely that's partly due to the amount of injuries right?
Blokes playing AFL that would normally be in the reserves bolstering those stocks.

You think this would be obvious but you should see the number of posters on our board who genuinely don't seem to get that injuries affect your front liners AND your depth.

 

[sherb]

He was an ok coach , you don’t shit the bed and get smashed in 4 of the 5 GF he coached , this will be his coaching legacy

Three.

 

[Hoop1888]

They genuinely don't look like they know what they're doing, panicky on the ball, running into one another & kicking accuracy is abysmal. Bit of a burst in the 3rd quarter, but the game was well over by then & the Crows looked like they were coasting before they began to muller us again.

I wonder if it'll take time for the players to trust and gain respect for Cox as a coach, and that may be one component of the problem. Also, the Crows looked physically in much better condition than us.

 

[WillHayward]

Surely that's partly due to the amount of injuries right?
Blokes playing AFL that would normally be in the reserves bolstering those stocks.

Nah. The VFL program has been shit for years.

Drafting and recruitment poor last few years.

Lost Nank, Cameron, Hewett, Aliir, Dawson.
You cant just keep losing good players for nothing
and then not replace them. Sooner or later it catches up with you.

The injury list actually isn't that bad . Not much worse than the Giants or Pies.

I recall the Eagles fans spent all of 2022 and 2023 blaming injuries and saying they would be fine once they got the old band back together.
Only in 2024 did they start to accept the list was cooked.
This is where the Swans are now.

The first stage of grief is denial. Blame injuries.

"Don't worry it will all be fine once we get the old band back together'

But most on the Swans board now starting to heavily criticise drafting and recruitment.
We have relied on the academy which is nowhere near as good as bigfooty seems to think.

We would have the worst under 23s in the comp.