Re AJ, I think next year is make or break for him in terms of whether he makes it back as a senior player. But I don't think that it is make or break for his career at the Swans. If he doesn't make it back as a senior player I am sure there will be a role somewhere in the organisation for him.
Could be the rookie draft for 2018...at best...
Swans to discuss future with AJ - sydneyswans.com.au
Might end up on the coaching panel, but hard to fathom keeping him on the list for so long and then chop him once he's fit again; unless he's somehow conceded that he wont get back to full capacity.
He ate more cheese, than time allowed
While it was great to see AJ back on the park and in the end playing full games, by the sounds of it he wasn't setting the world on fire. Maybe he knows something deep down but I really hope that isn't the case and they give him the chance of a full pre-season on the rookie list and see where it goes. He can easily retire at any time if it doesn't work out.....good luck to him!
If he'd conceded he can't make it back, he would have already announced his retirement. If the club has its doubts but AJ is still determined, I think they'd give him another year. You don't support someone on the journey he's been on to cut them off at this point. With a weak draft and ample list spots, the spot he'll occupy for a year really isn't that great a cost for the club.
Initially I thought it a bit odd that they'd think about moving him to the rookie list now, with him back playing, while they've stuck with him on the senior list for the last few years. But it does make sense. A couple of things have changed.
I commented previously that I didn't think the club keeping him on the senior list was entirely a show of support for AJ. Indeed, for the last couple of years, I don't think he'd have cared which list he was on. But it made perfect sense from a list management perspective. By going into the season with a senior listed player who they knew was going to be on the LTIL, the club had a chance to look at all the rookies over the pre-season and promote whichever they wanted, whenever they wanted. If AJ had been on the rookie list, someone else (presumably one of the rookies) would have been on the senior list and the club wouldn't have had the same flexibility to pick and choose.
2018 is different though. A-List rookies can play without the need for an opening via the LTIL.
Even if the list rules hadn't changed, AJ wouldn't have provided the same list management flexibility since he's now playing and hence not an automatic occupant of the LTIL.
So whether he stays on the senior list or they put him on the rookie list will depend, I presume, on how many spots there are on the senior list once trading is over (ie will Robinson find a different home), whether there's a delisted FA they have their eye on, and balancing up the benefit of picking the player to fill the final spot on the combined list (ie senior plus Cat A rookies) late in the ND vs in the rookie draft, offset by the requirement to give new senior listed players a two year contract vs the one year contract they can give to a rookie. If AJ is retained on the senior list, he'll presumably do so on a one year contract.
He has to have a comeback game.
Just for the press...
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