2021 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[Ludwig]

Pathetic if we let him go. Way worse than losing AA given our lack of quality inside mids.

There is some sort of a myth that's been going around for a while that we lack quality inside mids. This is simply not true, as evidenced by the fact that we started the season playing Hewett in defence, because there wasn't a spot for him in the midfield.

The Swans have the deepest midfield in the league; maybe not the best, but the deepest. We need to give opportunities for the young ones to play and not languish in the reserves.

The in vogue prototype inside mid player was someone like Patrick Cripps, but things are changing, and a mix of bulls and speedier types are having the most success, like Essendon with Stringer, Parish, Merrett and McGraw. We had some good success with Papley at centre bounces and I think we will see more midfield time for Heeney in coming years.

A POD advantage for the Swans, going forward, is to have a wide range of players at centre bounces, obviating the opposition from planning midfield matchups. We mix things up so much, the opposition don't know how to set up to stop us. We have the players to make this work.

[TheBloods]

There is some sort of a myth that's been going around for a while that we lack quality inside mids. This is simply not true, as evidenced by the fact that we started the season playing Hewett in defence, because there wasn't a spot for him in the midfield.

The Swans have the deepest midfield in the league; maybe not the best, but the deepest. We need to give opportunities for the young ones to play and not languish in the reserves.

The in vogue prototype inside mid player was someone like Patrick Cripps, but things are changing, and a mix of bulls and speedier types are having the most success, like Essendon with Stringer, Parish, Merrett and McGraw. We had some good success with Papley at centre bounces and I think we will see more midfield time for Heeney in coming years.

A POD advantage for the Swans, going forward, is to have a wide range of players at centre bounces, obviating the opposition from planning midfield matchups. We mix things up so much, the opposition don't know how to set up to stop us. We have the players to make this work.

It is not a myth it is real

Who have we got ?

Looking more likely Florent wont be the player we hoped he'd be , starting to think Stephens will be the same , could be gone anyway , RB, Clarke these types wont last , Jmac is outside, Gulden and Campbell wont be permanent

Are Chad and Mills gonna be doing it all by themselves ?

Hewetts decent nothing special but lose him and our already poor depth under Jpk and Parker becomes very dire

[caj23]

Can the "happy to let Hewitt leave camp" please advise how many seasons they think Kennedy has left in him?

[longmile]

Can the "happy to let Hewitt leave camp" please advise how many seasons they think Kennedy has left in him?

Hypothetically speaking, if Kennedy retiring this year meant Hewett staying, I'd take it. Big call for against an absolute club champion, but Hewett is only 25 and is severely underrated as a midfielder.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Happy to hear Don Pyke has rejected a move to Collingwood. For him, and for our club.

[Maltopia]

Tony Armstrong mentioned salary cap/planning was one of the reasons AA was let go.

He was not threatening to be as good as he turned out to be at PA this year for the money he was being offered, so we probably felt we would have been paying him overs to keep him at the time.

[waswan]

Can the "happy to let Hewitt leave camp" please advise how many seasons they think Kennedy has left in him?

Before we let George walk

Reid
Sink
Naismith come to exit terms
Lewis come to exit terms
Gray
Clarke

[Ludwig]

I will do this without counting JPK and Hewett in the midfield mix.

Parker is still only 28 and will continue to lead the midfield another 5 years. Mills, RB, and Warner, in addition to Parker will make up our key centre bounce on ballers.

To this we add Florent (who I think is coming along fine, but still has a few kinks around decision making to work out in his game), McInerney and Dawson. That makes 7.

Heeney, Gulden, Campbell and Papley can all rotate through the midfield. So they can be counted as half midfielders. So we're up to 9.

We're not sure about Stephens, but he's another if he stays. I'd like to keep him. If not, we will get another draft pick which can be used for another midfielder.

Sheather looks like he'll be coming into the side, either as a forward or midfielder.

The rest, like Taylor, Ronke, Clarke and Bell are depth players or will be let go in the next couple of years. Who knows what's going on with Ling and his reputed foot injury. So we won't count any of these.

If Hewett leaves, we will likely get a 2nd round draft pick, so we will go into the draft with a 1st rounder and 2 second round picks. One or 2 midfielders are likely to be drafted to add to the base.

We will likely create another midfielder from the excess of non-KPPs in defence, e.g., Blakey may return to the midfield in due course.

That core count of 9 midfielders, plus a lot possibles, looks deep to me, because the quality is there and most are young. We will continue to get new players coming in through the draft, while not many will be leaving through retirement, just Kennedy really.

We are just about at the maximum number of quality mids that can be carried under the salary cap.

[bloodspirit]

Talking about the midfield does my head in.

"The Swans have the deepest midfield in the league; maybe not the best, but the deepest. "

Even if we accept your arguments about quantity (and I don't for a second accept we have the deepest midfield in the AFL), Ludwig, building the quality of our first choice midfield is important too.

Hewett IS a quality, underrated midfielder and I'd love to keep him. However, there are other players we can less afford to lose including Parker and Dawson (who are also out of contract), and youth like McInerney, Warner, Gulden, Campbell etc. If we need cap space he is one of the ones whose departure could offer us some relief. So I am prepared to countenance his departure if need be. I trust out list managers to make the right calls - even though they don't always get it right, they mostly do.

What we do need is KPP and ruck depth. Daniel Talia is on the market. His brother didn't work out too well for us and so I'm not sure if he would consider coming to play for us but, if he would, what do people think? Could be a good stopgap while we get some younger talent up to speed. He's the kind of inexpensive top up player that could help us if he can overcome his injuries (obviously we'd have to do our due diligence). He'd surely be an upgrade on Brand and worth it even if he costs a bit more.

[Ludwig]

It is not a myth it is real

Who have we got ?

Looking more likely Florent wont be the player we hoped he'd be , starting to think Stephens will be the same , could be gone anyway , RB, Clarke these types wont last , Jmac is outside, Gulden and Campbell wont be permanent

Are Chad and Mills gonna be doing it all by themselves ?

Hewetts decent nothing special but lose him and our already poor depth under Jpk and Parker becomes very dire

I think you are grossly undervaluing the quality of our players. What does it mean to say Gulden and Campbell won't be permanent? They are absolute guns. If you don't value those 2, you will never be satisfied.

Hewett received so much criticism over the years. Now that he's a good chance of leaving, suddenly he's indispensable.

Same thing goes for Lloyd and Cunningham. We might as well add Hayward to that list.

I don't know why so many posters take a negative slant on players and seem to judge them on their worst performances. More often than not, players develop and improve with time, and work out their deficiencies. Florent, for example, is in his 5th year. My guess is that he will work out his remaining faults by the time he starts season 7 and become a fine player, maybe like a Cunningham or Lloyd. I'm more than okay with that.

[i'm-uninformed2]

I think the interesting thing about our (emerging) midfield is the mix.

I'll be clear on one thing first: JPK is irreplaceable. He was THE best clearance/contested player in the AFL in the last decade. Not our team, the entire comp. When it came to the barge and bullock of big bodies colliding, and literally ripping the ball out to our advantage, no one came close. Other players could do more with the ball, but in actually winning a contest, he was no1.

So, there is that context to what I say here, which is the two types of players we have. And each can do a bit of the other of course.

I put the contested bulls in one bucket (knowing they all have other skills too, like Parker and his marking or goalkicking). But they are Parker and Mills, with Rowbottom and Warner showing traits. Hewett also falls in this category.

There are then those best placed to use the ball types: Florent, Dawson, Heeney, JMac, Gulden, and in future Blakey and Campbell and hopefully Stephens. Papley is in the this camp when he's in there.

I haven't seen enough of Sheather to know where he might fall.

Now, as I said, some can mix and match. Heeney for example could easily play inside mid if he had to, but his fitness and skills demand he play more outside. As Papley and JMac have shown at times, you need a diverse mix in the square at centre bounces.

But if there is an argument for keeping Hewett (and I favour that camp), it's that our inside stocks aren't quite as rich and as much a sure thing as our outside stocks.

[mcs]

I think you are grossly undervaluing the quality of our players. What does it mean to say Gulden and Campbell won't be permanent? They are absolute guns. If you don't value those 2, you will never be satisfied.

Hewett received so much criticism over the years. Now that he's a good chance of leaving, suddenly he's indispensable.

Same thing goes for Lloyd and Cunningham. We might as well add Hayward to that list.

I don't know why so many posters take a negative slant on players and seem to judge them on their worst performances. More often than not, players develop and improve with time, and work out their deficiencies. Florent, for example, is in his 5th year. My guess is that he will work out his remaining faults by the time he starts season 7 and become a fine player, maybe like a Cunningham or Lloyd. I'm more than okay with that.

Just need to accept Ludwig that even if we won 10 flags straight, said poster would still find something to whine insessantly about....

the same poster would delist 3/4 of the gun players across the competition before they ever had a chance to become 'guns' because they weren't at 100% output in about their 3rd game.