Sydney's future is looking bleak

[blue_swan]

Even as a swans member i have to admit the future isnt looking that good. We have just the one young tall who can play KP in LRT. Players we have picked up in the draft over recent years such as Mark Powell, Ricky Mott, Daniel Hunt, Nick Malceski are unheard of and Jarrad McVeigh at who we got at pick no. 5 in 2002 isnt even getting a game. Most 1st and 2nd round draft picks at other clubs have played at least 10 games by the end of their 2nd season and are showing good signs.

Our young players such as Schneider, Ablett and Buchanan are good players but dont have the skill or class to be the next Buckley, Judd or Kouta.

i predict in 3 years that we'll be outside the 8.

 

[Turbocat]

The comp is that even that you could be out of the 8 next year. You will lose Ball and you are bound to have more injuries, that could be enough to cost you a position. However,I would be too worried about thge future, the AFL have instigated a draft option for NSW kids to ensure that more kids from NSW get developed. Its in their interest to have the Bloods up there.
Basically enjoy the moment, worry about next year when it comes, it will be here quick enough.

 

[Ed_Gein]

If Maxfield retires, you will see a hell of a lot of Malceski next season. Limited game time this season, but was impressive. McVeigh is a worry. Ablett and Buchanan have been solid and Schneider is a rocket. Dempster has consolidated his spot in the squad as has LRT who stepped up a level this season. And Luke Vogels will get more game time next season after impressing on occasions this season.

We pretty much had an injury free year which didnt give the youngsters much of a look, but we'll see what happens with Schauble, Nicks, Ball and possible Maxfield retiring.

 

[ben.carbonaro]

It would be great if we could see Malceski play more AFL footy next year, there has been raps on him before he was injured for all of season 2004.

Played well in AFL Canberra this year and played five AFL games this year as well captain our reserves flag win over Balconnen.

 

[Half Back Flanker]

Jarrid Moore as well in the squad who looks fine, we have had the advantage of easing our younger players in.

While I agree to some level that their is a concern of a section of our list that are absolutely nowhere, Mark Powell, Ben Fixter, Heath James. Jarrid Sunquist... And Schauble and Saddington do not seem to be in the picture at all and Stephen Doyle gets a years grace because of injury and Balls retirement.

There are also a score of younger ones with question marks around but I will give them time before I slag them off.

We have been the masters of recruiting outside the top bunch, we don’t stop because we are top and we could be fine.

 

[cruiser]

Even as a swans member i have to admit the future isnt looking that good. We have just the one young tall who can play KP in LRT. Players we have picked up in the draft over recent years such as Mark Powell, Ricky Mott, Daniel Hunt, Nick Malceski are unheard of and Jarrad McVeigh at who we got at pick no. 5 in 2002 isnt even getting a game. Most 1st and 2nd round draft picks at other clubs have played at least 10 games by the end of their 2nd season and are showing good signs.

Our young players such as Schneider, Ablett and Buchanan are good players but dont have the skill or class to be the next Buckley, Judd or Kouta.

i predict in 3 years that we'll be outside the 8.

Good grief! We win a premiership and you start a thread saying our future looks bleak? Perhaps you'd be happier supporting St Kilda.

And I beg to differ that Buchanan doesnt have the potential to be as good as the players you mention.

 

[juliec]

Even as a swans member i have to admit the future isnt looking that good. We have just the one young tall who can play KP in LRT. Players we have picked up in the draft over recent years such as Mark Powell, Ricky Mott, Daniel Hunt, Nick Malceski are unheard of and Jarrad McVeigh at who we got at pick no. 5 in 2002 isnt even getting a game. Most 1st and 2nd round draft picks at other clubs have played at least 10 games by the end of their 2nd season and are showing good signs.

Our young players such as Schneider, Ablett and Buchanan are good players but dont have the skill or class to be the next Buckley, Judd or Kouta.

i predict in 3 years that we'll be outside the 8.

I feel sorry for the swans having you as one of their members, they need our support, not negativity

 

[music_2000]

I think we could exceed the lions 3 premierships if we try. I never focus on the bad points of our team I always go for our positives. even if we do get outside the 8 I hope some of our more recent fans stick by us and don't just ride the bandwagon when we win

 

[grimlock]

Malceski will be a star, he has penetrating left foot kick that leaves me drooling everytime he kicks it.
Moore looks like a great prospect too, its quite unusual at the Swans for a first year player to break into the seniors.
Powell I had great hopes for 2 years ago, I don't know where he is rated within the club. He managed to get onto the emergencies in the last couple of rounds of the H&A season.
Schmidt should make his debut among the midfielders next year, he probably deserved to this year but few injuries prevented this from happening.
There's a few gems hidden among the rookie list. Grundy is ready to step up as a 3rd forward or back. Shaw has been impressive with his tapwork, although he is still very slight. Potter I believe if given a chance will not disappoint. He is ferocious in his attack on the ball, kinda like Kirk.

As for McVeigh, I'm prepared to give him at least another year for him to develop. I think he's in the same position as Noggy was 2 years ago where a lot of supporters were willing to trade him because he hadn't shown much on the field.

And finally the smokie himself, Matt Davis. He's very lean and athletic, could be a very impressive running flanker for us.

 

[cruiser]

I think we could exceed the lions 3 premierships if we try. I never focus on the bad points of our team I always go for our positives. even if we do get outside the 8 I hope some of our more recent fans stick by us and don't just ride the bandwagon when we win

I see no reason why we cant achieve back to back next year. So far we've only lost three players at the end of this season, two of whom had very few games in 2005. We have a number of young players in our reserves side with seniors experience that we can call back into the 2's should we cop some injuries. Young senior players like Monty, Scheids and Dempster improved as the year progressed (Schneids later).

I cant for the life of me understand why someone would get gloomy speculating about where we might be in 3 years time when next year looks as promising as this year. Blue by name, blue by nature Blue_Swan?

 

[Buddhy]

It would be great if we could see Malceski play more AFL footy next year, there has been raps on him before he was injured for all of season 2004.

Played well in AFL Canberra this year and played five AFL games this year as well captain our reserves flag win over Balconnen.

He looked alright from what i've seen, but not someone we can build the future around. That could be our problem, not alot of players who are going to excell come the prime of their careers.

 

[ben.carbonaro]

Yeah, good point Budhy.

Who are you suggesting we get through trades as someone to build our future around ?

LRT has had an awesome year in terms of development, his skills are not awesome but they are serviceable and in my opinion only another year or two til he is on pat with everyone else.

 

[babydoll]

you guys had a good run with injuries. with a few big names retiring your depth might be tested. whoever mentioned you 'll be as good as brisbane is an absolute nob. at their best they would absolutely smash you to pieces. think of eagles midfield with brown and lynch in the fwd line. you guys wouldn't get within 5 goals...

also you will find the big boys in melbourne having a quiet word with Mr Demitriou wrt the $1m extra salary cap - could be heading the same direction as brisbane's cap. now that's fair game.

 

[Buddhy]

I think the problem with our lack of star youngsters is where we finish on the ladder. If we're not making the finals, we're finishing right up there, therefore not getting the best picks possible. And our expendable players like Saddington, McVeigh(maybe) and Bevan(played in GF, but not sure how highly he's regarded), aren't worth a high pick in the draft.

To get a middle aged player like Luke Power would be hard to do aswell. We wouldn't want to get rid of any established players, but we can't afford to give up draft picks either. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but it's not like the next few years are going to be that bad, so we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Bloods Rule!]

you guys had a good run with injuries. with a few big names retiring your depth might be tested. whoever mentioned you 'll be as good as brisbane is an absolute nob. at their best they would absolutely smash you to pieces. think of eagles midfield with brown and lynch in the fwd line. you guys wouldn't get within 5 goals...

also you will find the big boys in melbourne having a quiet word with Mr Demitriou wrt the $1m extra salary cap - could be heading the same direction as brisbane's cap. now that's fair game.

I'm guessing you haven't seen much of the Swans until this finals series? When the Lions were at their absolute best and the Swans were far from it, we beat them at the Gabba in R20 2003. We then beat Port, the minor premiers at AAMI in the QF and lost to the Lions in the PF but were in it until the final quarter. First round in 2004 we lost to the Lions when Jason Ball missed a set shot on goal almost on the siren. We then thrashed the Lions in R18 at the SCG. This year, we beat them at the Gabba in R3 and thrashed them at Telstra in R20. The Lions were an awesome team - but even at their best, the Swans were matching it with them. Wouldn't get within five goals? Results suggest otherwise.

 

[superstar]

Gee whiz, you just won the flag and already you've got some negativity on the board.

As it is, I agree that your young talent is not sensational, but who cares? You rolled the dice on experienced recruits in recent years and you won a premiership. Enjoy it. It's been too LONG between drinks spoil it with negativity.

 

[Refried Noodle]

i predict in 3 years that we'll be outside the 8.

If your going to say that you could say it about every team.
The competition is now fairly even with all teams going through cycles so I would expect it to happen to Sydney at SOME point in time and to a CERTAIN extent.

With a coach like Roosy, I (hope and) doubt we will finish in the bottom 4 in the next 5-6 years. We've been written off every year and told we have a second rate lineup and he's pulled some amazing things out of the players. Even if we have some retirements and injuries, there will be players that Roos and the coaching panel will develope.

 

[liz]

Gee whiz, you just won the flag and already you've got some negativity on the board.

As it is, I agree that your young talent is not sensational, but who cares? You rolled the dice on experienced recruits in recent years and you won a premiership. Enjoy it. It's been too LONG between drinks spoil it with negativity.

It takes a non-Swans fan to make some sense.

In any case, what Roos has shown this year is that you don't need A-grade draft picks to build a successful TEAM. O'Keefe, Buchanan, Bolton (C), Goodes, Kirk, Jolly, Kennelly, O'Loughlin, Schneider etc were all modest draft picks in their time (ie 3rd round or lower). Yet all made vital contributions to the flag.

Of course it doesn't follow that the same cohesiveness can be replicated next year - or that other teams won't be able to replicate it - but nor does it follow that other later picks, like Malceski and Davis, won't be able to be moulded into just as influential players as the likes of O'Keefe and Buchanan have become.

 

[ben.carbonaro]

Yes, good point Liz.

If any team has won a premiership, surely there shouldn't be any sort of negativity coming from the supporters of it. Personally, I think this shows some Sydney supporters are actually quite fickle.

I, for one, am not one of those fickle supporters.

 

[swansman]

you guys had a good run with injuries. with a few big names retiring your depth might be tested. whoever mentioned you 'll be as good as brisbane is an absolute nob. at their best they would absolutely smash you to pieces. think of eagles midfield with brown and lynch in the fwd line. you guys wouldn't get within 5 goals...

also you will find the big boys in melbourne having a quiet word with Mr Demitriou wrt the $1m extra salary cap - could be heading the same direction as brisbane's cap. now that's fair game.

I think it was a 32 point deficit in the last quarter against THAT Brisbane team early in the year...WHO won...oh yeah,that's right...Cheer Cheer the Red and the White

By the way,...didn't realise that the weagles were drafting brown and lynch...stick with reality

 

[roowatch]

Not any more bleak than a lot of other sides. Of the five retirements so far only Ball made any onfield contribution to the Premiership.

LRT, Dempster, Buchanan continue to improve and Malceski will be good. No tall defenders? Probably, but good enough to win a flag anyway.

Yeah, had a good run with injuries as most sides who win flags do. Didn't have a good run with injuries three years ago when made the Prelim.

Opponents who continue to undersell the Swans by examining the individual and not the collective do so at their ignorant peril.

 

[LittleSchneider]

What type of supporter bags out their team after they have won the ultimate prize? What more do you want?

Frankly, I'm not even thinking of next year yet - still loving the fact that we are number 1!

As for our young players not being talented? Well Buchanan finished 4th in our best and fairest this year, Schneider has been rated as one of the most dangerous in front of goals in recent years and if Ablett continues to improve at the rate he did this year than I see no reason why these players, plus Bevan, Malceski and Moore cant become the backbone of a strong side.

blue swan - why dont you just enjoy the fact that we won a premiership and stop starting threads about nonsense