At last! It hasn't been 72 years but, here it is.
I have pondered why I have not felt moved to kick this thread off sooner. I think it is at least partly because I anticipate less dramatic change or it's less clear what the change will be in the year ahead. Not that this thread has to be about change necessarily.
My thoughts and comments:
* my take on our latest off-season was that
we rate our current list and have chosen to invest in them. We are trusting our youth to improve and that is the main way we are looking to improve our list. We have had the benefit of a number of first round draft picks (and even high first round draft picks) over the last several years: Jones, Heeney, Mills, Florent, Hayward (near enough to first round), Ling, Blakey as well as other young talent like Hewett, Aliir, Melican, Papley, Ronke, McCartin, Stoddart. And we have a proven track record developing talent. So this seems a sound strategy. We avoid paying premiums on the open market and our players are better schooled in our systems and game plans (conversely they have had less exposure to other ways of doing things).
* the biggest point that comes to mind when thinking about our list management come the end of the year is that we will have a
war chest to chase players, including big names, if we want to. Andrew Ireland said as much in his farewell interview although he declined to use the expression "war chest". We have had some big name players depart and more retirements are on the cards. Who will might we target? Where are our weaknesses? Will Heeney, Mills, Jones, Florent, Papley, Clarke etc fill the gaps in the midfield left by our departures? With Mitchell long gone and JPK aging, will we want a midfield bull or ball magnet?
Retirements
It seems almost certain that this will be Kieren Jack's last season and nearly as certain it will be Jarrad McVeigh's last season too. Heath Grundy might retire although I think it is more likely that he will go around again, depending on his form this year. Will Menzel's body last beyond the season? I don't think Nick Smith's future beyond the season is in question but I could be wrong.
Contract extensions
There aren't too many key players coming out of contract this season, perhaps in line with the recent trend of extending contracts well before they expire. Leaving aside the potential retirees, players who can expect contract extensions include: Cunningham, Jones, Cameron, Dawson, O'Riordan, Smith, Sinclair, and, probably, Fox. I can't see any of the best 22 players leaving although those that can't find a regular spot in the senior team may be targeted by our rivals and choose to go.
Later this year we might start to think about extending the contracts of some of our younger players who are due to have contracts expire at the end of 2020 e.g. Hewett, Florent, Hayward, Papley, Ronke. I don't think we'd want to have them all unsigned at this time next year.
Under the pump
This year the acid will be on Maibaum, Rose and Pink. They all just got an extra year extension and are touch and go to be further extended depending on their seasons. Surely Rose will be delisted if he doesn't get another senior game. But if he can carry on with the form he showed in the 2018 NEAFL granny the future may be brighter. Would be good to see Maibaum start to dominate more at NEAFL level. He has been solid but hasn't done enough really to convince our list managers and get a decent contract. His future may depend a little on the form and fitness of Reg, Aliir and Melican too. Pink is a bit of an unknown. Due to injury, he hasn't shown anything since a promising rookie year in 2017 when he was still quite raw.
Coaches
On the coaching front we might expect to see Macca join the team if he retires, possibly at the expense of Laidler. Still we have had recent significant change among the coaches and I am not forecasting more. Will be interesting to see how Perris goes. He's really young, which I like.
Other football staff and management
It's to be hoped that Blakey and Beatson are not contemplating retirement or new challenges. Gardiner has just ascended to the head of football role and we will back him in. Ditto Harley as CEO, although he is more of a known quantity so we can expect to be happy with him. We've also renewed our recruiters in recent times already - Simon Dalrymple, Ross Monaghan, Chris Keane and the move to the greater focus on stats analysis. I'm not to up on the details of our other staff - although here is a handy list if you are keen to see who they are:
Staff Listing - sydneyswans.com.au.
* then there's the inaugural
mid-season draft coming up in June. At this stage I don't think we have a space to use it but that could change if someone has a season ending injury.
* when it comes to the
2019 draft I guess we'll see the rule changes and innovations that come about under live pick trading 2.0. The
Academy player most on the radar seems to be
Josh Rayner although I don't think he's currently projected to be a high pick. The brightest promise is being shown by Academy players eligible for the 2020 draft, particularly
Errol Gulden and Braeden Campbell.
* in terms of
free agency there is not a lot of quality on offer - Stephen Coniglio being the stand out. Here's a recent article from afl.com.au explaining why this is so and listing the free agents that currently remain unsigned byeond 2019:
Slimmer pickings? Why 2019's free agency crop is different - AFL.com.au. It might be more fruitful to examine who will be the free agents in 2020 and target them a year early.
What are your thoughts? Which players should we chase? Where are our weaknesses - forward, back, midfield? Ruck seems ok if nobody goes anywhere. Do we need changes in the coaching ranks or among other staff? (Maybe save the 'Sack Horse' comments for a different thread and only comment on who you might want to replace him here.)
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