Where are the senior players?

[AlibiMonday]

I've just had a look at the BigFooty B&F Leaderboard and it's a pretty good indication that the youth have been doing very well this - they've definitely stepped up and doing their bit. But where on earth are the senior players?

1. JPK
2. Parker
3. Jetta
4. Jack
5. Richards
6. Bird
7. Goodes
8. Malceski
9. Hannebery
10. Johnson

The club shouldn't be left to the over 30's and under 24's to carry the results. The players aged between 26-29 years should be your best players. I think it's always a bad sign when this group isn't carrying the majority of the load for the team. If it's left up to the kids and over 30s (get hit with injury) to underpin it - it's going to be inconsistent. Half of that top 10 list above should be populated with 26-29 year olds.

The list of 26-29 year olds (players in their prime)

McVeigh (27yrs - 176 games) - Where is he? Should be in his prime, but simply isn't having an impact on games. Especially needs to stand up with his co-captain out. Not a vote. Not good enough.

Mattner (29yrs - 198 games) - Should be a top 10 performer at the club. Not a vote.

LRT - (28 years - 152 games) - hmmm. Had some injury problems, but having very little impact.

Malceski (27 years - 111 games) - Not doing as bad as the others. Standing up reasonably well, but could show more leadership.

McGlynn (26 years - 89 games) - Needs to pull his finger out start doing some damage. We know he can, but he's disappearing too much and not having an impact.

Richards (29 years - 163 games) - He's been outstanding. No complaints here. Doing his job and leading the defence as he should be.


It's definitely not panic stations - the team are doing very well. But it's all off the back of the kids, Goodes and Richards. McVeigh in particular needs to start winning some ball, spreading and kicking goals.

 

[Tedeski]

You're basing this on bigfooty voting?
The contrasting differences in people's opinions on here & the hate towards certain players is not something that our coaches take into account when they give out votes to our players.

If it wasn't for some of our senior players you could put down the Hawthorn game as a loss too.

I actually think they're the ones relied on to keep getting us out of the poo!

 

[GoTheSwannies]

I personally think Horse is trying to turn over the list while the seniors are in the side, you can see this particularly in the midfield with ROK & Bolton spending more time in the forward line.

Looking at those lists (and taking them as valid indicators of our form), the thing that strikes me is that our recruting over the next few years will be crucial, whether we look at drafting players, or recruiting a couple of mid-aged players.

We've got some real solid performers at the top with Goodes, Bolts & ROK, but then the quality drops off quite dramatically. With Richards the only stand out of that second tier. McVeigh will follow the path of his brother imo in becoming a list clogger. He's been decent this year, but really expect more from him. LRT's being played out of position and can barely sting a few games together. Malceski's alright, but hasn't the heights that he has in the past. Perhaps could remain a b-grader for the remainder of his career. He's also injury prone so there's no guarantees with him. Another injury and I'd be saying his career's over.

The player that concerns me most is McGlynn. In his first season with us he was an absolute gun. Took a dip in his second year, and this year he's really sturggling. I don't know what it is with him, whether he's carrying an injury, or is having off-field issues. He just isn't the same player he was when he got to Sydney. I wouldn't be opposed to dropping him to the two's for a few games, not because he necessarily should be dropped, but because it could really ignite the fire for him. I'm not bagging him, he's one of my favourite players, but something's not right with him. Perhaps dropping him isn't the answer, but he needs to do something to rediscover his form.

 

[CAS79]

While Tedeski is right on the money not to take the bigfooty voting too seriously We've covered the topic of the missing age group and a drafting issue before.

In football terms we have a missing generation.

 

[SM]

Grundy is in that age bracket too and hasn't had a single vote.

 

[Gongswan]

Backmen rarely get votes in anything, you don't often se a backman have a 40 pos game, with 17 clearances, eleventy seven tackles, goal assists, inside 50's and or goals. Backmen spoil and take a few contested marks. Someones gotta do it, but it won't get u many votes

 

[S120]

If you wanted to properly gauge how players are going from a voting system, you would be to have every voter give every player a ranking for every game. By our system, you could say a guy who has come in 6th place in every week's voting is having a shit year because he has no votes.

Incidentally, I think Grundy has been good this year and would be around 8th-11th in the B&F voting at this stage.

 

[SM]

Backmen rarely get votes in anything, you don't often se a backman have a 40 pos game, with 17 clearances, eleventy seven tackles, goal assists, inside 50's and or goals. Backmen spoil and take a few contested marks. Someones gotta do it, but it won't get u many votes

Sure. Absolutely. That's why Richards hasn't had any votes either. Oh wait...

 

[RW]

Interesting topic, usually the players in the 26-29 age group are critical to a team's chances and the sign of a team at its peak is the quality of the players in this age group. It's probably true that we are the opposite in that our better players are mostly under 25 and over 30, apart from Ted. However, looking at the rest of the competition so far, it may not cost us as much compared to other years...

 

[Gongswan]

Sure. Absolutely. That's why Richards hasn't had any votes either. Oh wait...

Rarely, rarely, not never. Jeez, nitpickers and trolls everywhere

 

[bungee]

Most of the senior players go about their same job day in day out. Their form is so consistent they rarely stand out. As an example, I've seen Goodes criticised for a game of only 2 goals, 5 clearances, 18 possessions and 4 marks. Folks will drop him from the votes and give them to a young guy who does less but exceeds expectations.

 

[S120]

Most of the senior players go about their same job day in day out. Their form is so consistent they rarely stand out. As an example, I've seen Goodes criticised for a game of only 2 goals, 5 clearances, 18 possessions and 4 marks. Folks will drop him from the votes and give them to a young guy who does less but exceeds expectations.

I'm with you on Goodes. I think there are many Swans fans who genuinely underrate just how good he is and how profound his effect is on our team.

 

[bungee]

Many of our senior guys are only noticed when they're out. These guys are so entrenched into our team structure that they go unnoticed until they're missing. Then they're big outs

 

[MF]

Most of the senior players go about their same job day in day out. Their form is so consistent they rarely stand out. As an example, I've seen Goodes criticised for a game of only 2 goals, 5 clearances, 18 possessions and 4 marks. Folks will drop him from the votes and give them to a young guy who does less but exceeds expectations.

I completely agree.

And it's no coincidence that our season took a turn for the worst the second Goodes was injured. He's dragged us over the line so many times in his career that I doubt there's a player in the entire league who's been more important to his teams success as Goodes has to ours.

I've often said that even his very poor games still usually mean he's been in our best 10 or so.

 

[SM]

I completely agree.

And it's no coincidence that our season took a turn for the worst the second Goodes was injured. He's dragged us over the line so many times in his career that I doubt there's a player in the entire league who's been more important to his teams success as Goodes has to ours.

I've often said that even his very poor games still usually mean he's been in our best 10 or so.

I completely agree with you completely agreeing.

I think it's actually a great thing he's been injured, gives other players a taste of the sort of performance necessary for them to win us tough and close games. Means it'll soften the blow when Goodes retires, and could potentially mean that when Goodes comes back we'll be even more dangerous.

 

[MF]

I completely agree with you completely agreeing.

I think it's actually a great thing he's been injured, gives other players a taste of the sort of performance necessary for them to win us tough and close games. Means it'll soften the blow when Goodes retires, and could potentially mean that when Goodes comes back we'll be even more dangerous.

lol. Best username ever.

 

[AlibiMonday]

Most of the senior players go about their same job day in day out. Their form is so consistent they rarely stand out. As an example, I've seen Goodes criticised for a game of only 2 goals, 5 clearances, 18 possessions and 4 marks. Folks will drop him from the votes and give them to a young guy who does less but exceeds expectations.

The OP specifically is not focussing on the senior senior players >30 years (ala Goodes, O'Keefe, Bolton...). It's the group underneath them that have largely gone missing except for Richards.

 

[GotTheGoodes]

Ohhh... "senior players" not "seniors" ... got it....