2018 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[troyjones2525]

I wouldn't mind us having a crack at Aaron Hall from Gold Coast. Has been in and out of favor for years there but is a highly skilled, relatively quick ball, a good goal kicker and high possession winning midfielder when he's on his game. Would fit perfectly in our side if we can get him right! But I wouldn't be surprised if Dew gives him a bad wrap so we will probably stay clear unfortunately... we need to take risks though and I reckon it would be worth it for a 27 talent like him!

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[S.S. Bleeder]

Was listening to SEN late this late morning. Not sure who the commentator was but he thought our problem was lack of A grade players. He said that being at the bottom of the draft order over numerous years had cost us. He made mention that we have an excellent system that gets the most out of our rookies; the problem with that is that the rookies are going to have a much lower ceiling on the abilities. As a result we have a lot of B and C graders.

[barry]

Or problems are overstated. We lost to gold coast in a one off event because:
A) we got cocky
B) their coach knows us inside out.
C) Gold coast have a young list which occasionally turn it on. And they turned it on.

All things that won't bother us again for the rest of the year.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Pretty cool
Rampe, Melican, AA and maybe Maibaum could really create a strong tall rotation down back for years to come

Solid

[liz]

Was listening to SEN late this late morning. Not sure who the commentator was but he thought our problem was lack of A grade players. He said that being at the bottom of the draft order over numerous years had cost us. He made mention that we have an excellent system that gets the most out of our rookies; the problem with that is that the rookies are going to have a much lower ceiling on the abilities. As a result we have a lot of B and C graders.

David King has a remarkable gift for stating the bleeding obvious and thinking he is providing some great insight.

"Being at the bottom of the draft order over numerous years has cost us". Well, DOH!

Most clubs play lots of B and C graders each and every week. Of course they do because, depending on how liberally one applies the A grade tag, most player are B or C graders (or worse).

As an aside, I don't agree with his assessment of the ceiling of rookie listed players necessarily being lower. Of course, the hit rate of top notch players via the rookie list is lower than with top 10 picks but there are still plenty of excellent players who started life as rookies. We have three ex-rookies on our current list who have been AA players in their time. We also have at least six who won rising star nominations. Admittedly only one of those is on the cusp of being an A grader (probably not quite but still a fine player who might well win the B&F this year and should at least be in discussions for this year's AA squad). Three of them are still at the start of their footballing journey and one is very close to the end (but was an AA at his peak and thus, I'd argue, an A grade player).

[Markwebbos]

Wasn't our ruck-midfield coach once a rookie? He had quiet a high ceiling. Goodesy was a pick 43...

And with the academy we've had an opportunity to draft the equivalent of high draft picks despite making finals: Mills, Heeney and Blakey

[Aprilbr]

I think our batch of young players compares very favourably to most teams so I don’t buy the B and C grade players argument. Our recent problems reflect a severe drop off in the form of former elite mid-field players combined with injuries. Of course we could do with another elite ball getter and some more help for Buddy up forward but most clubs would love our list. No list is perfect. We can build it further over the off season. A radical overhaul does not seem necessary. Retirements and delistings will take care of themselves. Hopefully Lloyd will opt to stay.


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[Blood Fever]

David King has a remarkable gift for stating the bleeding obvious and thinking he is providing some great insight.

"Being at the bottom of the draft order over numerous years has cost us". Well, DOH!

Most clubs play lots of B and C graders each and every week. Of course they do because, depending on how liberally one applies the A grade tag, most player are B or C graders (or worse).

As an aside, I don't agree with his assessment of the ceiling of rookie listed players necessarily being lower. Of course, the hit rate of top notch players via the rookie list is lower than with top 10 picks but there are still plenty of excellent players who started life as rookies. We have three ex-rookies on our current list who have been AA players in their time. We also have at least six who won rising star nominations. Admittedly only one of those is on the cusp of being an A grader (probably not quite but still a fine player who might well win the B&F this year and should at least be in discussions for this year's AA squad). Three of them are still at the start of their footballing journey and one is very close to the end (but was an AA at his peak and thus, I'd argue, an A grade player).

King part of Eddy's boys club on fox footy. They treat each other as gurus and the punters watching fall for it and think they are hearing something profound. Mutual admiration society. Disappointed Roos has become a part of it. Used to disdain people like Lyon and King when he was a coach.

[liz]

Wasn't our ruck-midfield coach once a rookie? He had quiet a high ceiling. Goodesy was a pick 43...

And with the academy we've had an opportunity to draft the equivalent of high draft picks despite making finals: Mills, Heeney and Blakey

More than half our current coaching staff started life as rookie listed players - Cox (arguably the best ex-rookie ever), Kirk (definitely an A grader in his time), Laidler, and Kennelly (described by Roos at one time as the most important player in the Swans' team).

[Ludwig]

The talk in the media has been about how the Swans are forever this slow contested ball team that never changes and has fallen behind quicker teams like Richmond. This is simply incorrect.

The Swans have been transitioning to a side that tries to move the ball quicker and we showed our intent to do this for quite a few years. Sometimes things don't work out the way you want. To site one example,Longmire and us supporters were very hopeful that Brandon Jack would make the grade. He was quick, but just not a good enough footballer. Same can be said for Hiscox. If only Rohan could be more productive and Towers use his speed to greater advantage.

Draft years 2014 and 2015 offered up 2 great academy kids who are well on their way to being elite players, but neither has line breaking pace. We might have used those draft years to target some quicker players, but I doubt they would be in the class of Mills and Heeney. Luckily we did manage to draft the speedy Papley in 2015.

In 2016 we made a bold move that looks to be paying off. We traded an elite inside midfielder in Tom Mitchell to put us in a position to draft 2 quick and talented players in Florent and Hayward. We also did some fine recruiting in taking Ronke in the rookie draft. It's not often that a team recruits 3 talented players with great pace in one year, but we did it.

We followed up the next year by drafting Ling and Stoddart, both very fast players.

In a couple of years we will be one of the quickest teams in the AFL, with speed on every line. The midfield will be well served with plenty of the usual types of contested ball winners in Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery, Hewett, Heeney, Mills, Jones and Dawson. That's a lot of ball winning talent.

We've been rebuilding on the run. We've been struck down with so many injuries to key players this year. Not only to established players like Reid and Hannebery, but also to Dawson, Melican, Ling, Johnson and Foote (who started the year looking quite an improved player). Despite this injury blight, we still find ourselves in 4th place. We probably are not good enough to win a premiership this year, but we've made a good run so far, all things considered.

When I look at our list I see a lot of talent spread across all lines. I may not agree with every decision made by the football department, but I think they've done a fantastic job during the Longmire period. We're still challenging for the cup. We haven't missed finals. And I think we still have a couple of years to go before seeing the best of our young and talented list. I'm not at all worried about the post-Buddy period. We've got that covered already.

It's important to look at the big picture and see how things are evolving. It's unrealistic to think we should be premiers every year. A lot has to go right to win even once. Geelong and Hawthorn, the other 2 clubs that have had done exceptionally well during the past dozen years, have given up a lot of draft picks just to try to stay in touch with the 8. I like our chances more than theirs going forward.

[The Big Cat]

I said it then and I'll say it again. That was the biggest trade mistake we've made in decades. We would have been better fitting him in best we can and trading Hanners or Parker at the time or the following season. We also should have had the vision to plan for his contract in the years prior.

Hold on! Isn't everybody hinting that the last thing we need is another slow inside mid?

[Flying South]

Not sure if this is doable. But I think we should try to target Fremantles pick 6. Their only other pick is 78. So they will be looking to get into the draft a lot more. In a deep draft, maybe we could bundle up some picks to entice them. I'm thinking
1. Try for GCS pick 17. Maybe Lloyd could get that trade done. Dreaming???
2. Trade pick our 15 and the Collingwood 2nd rounder (33ish) to Freo for pick 6. Dreaming again? What could get it done?

Use pick 6 to trade in the best inside bull in this draft Jackson Hately. Played 7 or 8 games for Central Districts and averaging over 20 possessions. Not bad for a 17yo kid. I really like the SANFL kids that are playing senior footy. They're tough. Has an afl ready body 190 and 80kg. Jackson could come straight into our team next year. With Kennedy, Dawson and Hately that gives us a big inside midfield trio. Hannebery, Parker and Hewett can provide support via rotations. Enabling Heeney, Mills and Florent to provide the outside polish.

I doubt anyone would bid on Blakey before pick 6, so our remaining pick 17 should be enough to get the job done.

Maybe I'm dreaming, but anyone have any other ideas to get us another high 1st round pick?