Opinion Who were the Swans top 5 Worst recruits ?

Ed_Gein

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Worst for me was Paul Chambers. He was really awful.
 

Dubai Quacker

Wily Old Campaigner
Aug 11, 2019
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Not even close

I was there on his debut, a lazy 5 goals from memory alongside Plugger
Injury cruelled his career

You could name dozens of draftees that never even got a game as the worst before sticking it to Ryan
Nothing against Ryan personally (even though he annoyed the hell out of me as a media personality) - but whether due to injury, ability or attitude - any pick 3 who plays only a handful of games is a major bust. Hard to recall any other instances of such a high draft pick busting to the extent Fitzgerald did.

And I have to confess, I'm still angry at Dawson - hence any player that was traded home to Adelaide earns bonus points in my "worst list", for setting a poor example to future generations of Swans.
 

Ed_Gein

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haha ... did we get him from geelong?
and earned the nickname "torture"?

Yes. I have no clue what Geelong saw in him to begin with... I know it's not nice to say, but I couldn't fathom him being on a VFL list let alone an AFL one.

It got to the point we just dropped him and started using Richards, Hall, and LRT to give Jolly a rest in the ruck until Doyle came back a few weeks later IIRC.
 

Gongswan

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The context of trading for Nick Daffy is completely misunderstood. We didn't want him, but Richmond insisted on including him in a trade along with their 1st Round Pick in 2001 for Greg Stafford. We then traded that 1st Round Pick and our own 1st Round Pick to St Kilda for Barry Hall.

We don't get Barry Hall if we don't take Nick Daffy and maybe we are still waiting for our first Premiership since 1933. Sometimes the context of a trade matters
same as putting Rocca in, we traded him for Williams who added the class we needed for 2005
 

Wolftone

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A bit of off season fun. i think we’ve become pretty good at recruiting of late but I also recall a time we were very ordinary. I will give it a go in no particular order:

Tippett
Rocca
Talia
Bomford
Ryan O’Connor

I think Tippett was pretty good except for injuries. I don't think he ever recovered having to spend half a season out. He was good when he actually came in.

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Wolftone

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I may be the only one but I hate the constant and almost universal bashing of Tippett on this board.

He was bloody good for us, he was a good target up forward and up until his injury he was looking like he may be All-Australian as a forward/ruck. People only think about his performances after his injury and that is really not fair to him.
I totally agree

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Wolftone

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well actually I'm not the original poster, they said 5 worst recruits. All players who come to us are a recruit, whether through a draft, trade or in the old days a transfer fee.

I was replying to someone who quoted Carey and Longmire in comparison to Tippet, Tippet was a recruit both Carey and Longmire were traded out. (although from memory this isn't quite true, we sold the rights to recruit them both don't think they were ever offically on our list)

Fields was a recruit hence why I included him.
Swans were negotiating with North on Longmire when North mentioned Carey, a 16 year old. Carey later moved to North Adelaide but North Melbourne held the right to him which they purchased from the Swans for $10,000. History tells the story. Both were never officially Swans players but they were zoned to the Swans because they were from NSW.

The Swans were up themselves. They finished 3rd in 1987 but from then on it was all downhill. In 1996 it was Carey who buried us after half time. We were up and playing well then their mids got on top and Carey, left one out in Pagan's Paddock obliterated us.

Very short sighted by the Swans as the list was quite old and we really did recruit badly. Not only that we were broke, again. They traded Capper out, worst move ever. Crowds died and the side was a joke. Some of the recruitment decisions were baffling. But I suppose when you have a beer bottle pocket in a champagne industry you have to take what you can afford.

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Wolftone

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For me the problem was picking Tippett when he was injured. His mobility IMO was really very marginal, at full fitness he was really effective when forward or in the ruck. When he had a knee or ankle injury, or any other leg injury, his mobility dropped below the level required for him to be effective but he was picked anyway(something that happened way too often).

The reality is some players can play through injuries and not lose much of their effectiveness, but some players just cant.
He was not injured when we picked him. In fact the half season he played after he served his suspension was incredibly good. So was 2014. He only started to get injured in 2016.

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Wolftone

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Draftee - Vezpremi
Trade - Daffy / Tingay / Tippett
On reflection (and off topic) we had some pretty bloody good trades back in the day though (Dale Lewis, Lockett, Hall, Roos, Kickett, Bayes, Williams, Healy, Maxfield, Kennedy, Jolly, C Bolton, R Shaw and of course BUDDY
Lewis was not a trade. He was a draft pick in the 1990 mid season draft

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Wolftone

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Draftee - Vezpremi
Trade - Daffy / Tingay / Tippett
On reflection (and off topic) we had some pretty bloody good trades back in the day though (Dale Lewis, Lockett, Hall, Roos, Kickett, Bayes, Williams, Healy, Maxfield, Kennedy, Jolly, C Bolton, R Shaw and of course BUDDY

You forgot a few goodies:

Mattner
Ball
Morton
Davis


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Wolftone

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IIRC we tried to trade for Everitt after the 2005 season, but Hawthorn held him against his will.

12 months later Jolly totally no showed in the grand final and cost us a flag.
Yes and no Jason Ball to remedy the problem. Stephen Doyle was a battler at best. Tried hard but just didn't have the talent. But he did try very hard they day as Jolly was missing.

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Wolftone

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Worst for me was Paul Chambers. He was really awful.
Yep he was called The Donut King by The Sydney Morning Herald or Donuts. His nickname at Cats was Sarg. But after 8 games and no kicks I think Donuts fits

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Wolftone

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same as putting Rocca in, we traded him for Williams who added the class we needed for 2005
No we didn't. Rocca was a Draftee. He told the club he would only stay for the obligatory time then go to Collingwood. He played his first game against Collingwood and layed down. That is a bastard act.

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brad cooper

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Jul 5, 2014
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Swans were negotiating with North on Longmire when North mentioned Carey, a 16 year old. Carey later moved to North Adelaide but North Melbourne held the right to him which they purchased from the Swans for $10,000. History tells the story. Both were never officially Swans players but they were zoned to the Swans because they were from NSW.

The Swans were up themselves. They finished 3rd in 1987 but from then on it was all downhill. In 1996 it was Carey who buried us after half time. We were up and playing well then their mids got on top and Carey, left one out in Pagan's Paddock obliterated us.

Very short sighted by the Swans as the list was quite old and we really did recruit badly. Not only that we were broke, again. They traded Capper out, worst move ever. Crowds died and the side was a joke. Some of the recruitment decisions were baffling. But I suppose when you have a beer bottle pocket in a champagne industry you have to take what you can afford.

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Not sure that the swans were up themselves, I think more to do with the fact we were privately owned at the time and those owners were broke, North probably could have offered less and the swans would have said yes.

I was there in 96 and Carey wasn't left one out in Pagans Paddock, he was just simply the best player in the comp at the time and potentially ever.

We didn't trade Capper out he got offered a contract that made him the highest paid player in the league, there was no such thing as trades back then when you were ooc so he just went, with nothing coming back in return.
 

brad cooper

Premiership Player
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Didn't Jolly break his thumb or some other digit during training in the days leading up to it also?
Pretty sure he did that before the qualifying final over here in Perth, might have even been 05 and not 06, either way he sucked big time in the 06 gf.

Side note to all this I best remember him for the 2 softest free kicks he got in the 05 gf both push in the backs against Cox, both led to goals, including the one Hall kicked in the last qtr.
 
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If you don't mind me saying this is a dumb topic. The worst recruits were those who were recruited but never played a game because they weren't even as good as the terrible players who did play.

As for Jolly I can't believe people have forgotten. He was in the maternity ward until 3am of the 06 grand final.
 
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