TOPIC:

2 GF losses Freeze? Have I missed something here?

GF losses v Cl and v West Adelaide in the Foxtel Cup GF......the latter was worth 100K!

Next 5 players

Jacob Coniglio – (10 games, ave 17 possessions) – Jacob has been in and out of the team all year. He does pick up a number of possessions every game but like many of his team mates wastes a lot of them with poor decisions and turnovers. He will never have the elite skills of his brother but he can still become a very serviceable WAFL player if he can do some work on his kicking. He is still only a young guy.

Chad Daniels - ( 1 game, 5 possessions) – looked a bit out of his depth in his only game but will certainly get more opportunities next year. Still finding his way back after an injury lay off.

Albert Dean - (10 games, ave 20 possessions)- I thought Alby could have played a few more than 10 games this year. Every time I saw him, his ability to extract the ball from packs and distribute it to the outside players was very good. He lost favour with the selectors in the 2nd half of the season so I don’t know where he stands for 2017 to be honest.

Aaron Elari – (6 games, ave 23 possessions) – We all know that Elari walked out of the club as he did a few years back at Perth. I still think that the coaching staff have to take some responsibility for his departure by trying to turn him into a forward when blind Freddie can see that his strength is under a pack in the midfield. I appreciate what he did for Swans in the years he was at the club.

Brandon Erceg- (10 games, ave 14 possessions) – Brandon came into the team about halfway through the season and fit in seamlessly into the defence. He is assured in his use of the ball for someone so young and is an excellent mark. Will be an integral part of the team in 2017.

I am still scratching my head as to why Alby was playing predominately Reserves in the last 6 or so weeks Mike. I thought he was quite clever with his use of handball in congested stoppages at times. One thing that I also noted was the way he had a good understanding with Shand in the Reserves which would have stemmed from their Colts days.
Coniglio can be a decent player for us he just has to stop those silly panicky hand balls he occasionally dishes out not realising he is actually under less pressure then he thought and as has already been noted to work on his kicking.
Chad missed most of the year after injuring his knee late last year hopefully with brother Jason back from his knee they can team up and show us all what we know they are both capable of next year.
Erceg with a big pre season under his belt for us can be a long term replacement for Amesy down back.

5 more for comment

Adam Faulkner – (20 games, ave 27 possessions, 11 goals) – Fair to say that Adam has prompted much debate and questioning in the past amongst Swans fans about the value of his football. This year Faulkner has answered many of these questions I believe. His statistics speak for themselves. He has always been a ball magnet but my perception is that his disposal by hand and foot has improved significantly this year to the extent that he is now hitting targets on a more regular basis. Still room for improvement but I think his sheer weight of disposals will put him in contention for the Swan Medal and I think he can be an even better player next year. Adam is one of two players who appeared in all 20 games this year. The other one was Matt Riggio and these two carried an under manned midfield for much of 2016.

Sean Fletcher – (2 games , ave 7 possessions) – Played in round 1 and 11 and the rest of the season in reserves. Didn’t see his league appearances so can’t really comment on Sean. He obviously didn’t set the world on fire when given his opportunity. Would be interested in BH’s view or anyone else who looks at the ressies regularly.

Laurence Grescos – (10 games, ave 14 possessions) – I rate Grescos as a footballer. He is a good run with player on dangerous opposition players but he can also get his own ball. He had a spell in the reserves mid season but ended the season strongly, which indicates that he is very much in Hardings plans next year.

Brayden Hackett – ( 5 games, ave 12 possessions) – played his 5 games early in the season and performed OK with more than 10 touches in each game and also booted 3 goals. Was then dropped to the reserves and didn’t play at all after round 15. Injured perhaps? Would like to have more of a look at him.

Tyson Hodge – ( 5 games , ave 5 possessions) – didn’t do a huge amount as a big man in his 5 games but I liked his ability to make a contest and he has a bit of mongrel in him as well. Unfortunately he was injured against Subiaco and that was the last we saw of him for the year. Was pretty consistent in 10 games in the reserves leading up to his league debut. Worth more chances next year

Hackett is one that has to be given more & more time up top mate - has to be a part of the Basso future from an outsider's view , imagine what he could learn from say Ellard

In regards to Fletch Mike he looked good in the pre season but unfortunately copped a heavy collision from Freezes great white hope Watson (not Tyler) in the 1st half of round 1 and went off with ribs and never really recovered after as it seemed to affect his confidence tho he played well in the Reserves in the last game.
Hackett unfortunately broke his wrist or hand and missed the last couple of months of footy tho he was our runner in the Reserves, he is one to lookout for.
Hodge if Doc is unavailable again next season will play an important role with Yukich.
Faulkner and Grescos both get a tick for the season.

I agree with your assessment of Laurie Grescos' season Mike. His development reminds me of Howard's apprenticeship from a rough, sometimes error ridden performer to a polished defender.

I hope Swans can keep Howard, Grescos and Erceg.

Grescos last 5 or 6 games were very good, beat his man and gave plenty of run.
agreed that with Howard and Erceg they are 3 blokes to build the backline around and hopefully Ugle can get back to fitness.

Faulkner really improved this year, he ran a lot more and got his goal tally up to 11 from 3 the year before,important for the mids to push down and score goals as well.

this is how poor our attacking skills are the leading goalkickers were:
Cary 21
Rogers 16
Faulkner, Notte, Simmo 11

a couple of those blokes are not likely to be there next year, if we dont get Gault back from Collingwood i have no idea how we will kick a goal.

Just about half way through the list. Here are the next 5 for comment:

Benjamin Holman (3 games, ave 10 possessions) – Holman made his debut in round 18 and played 3 games in a row before being dropped back to reserves for the rest of the season. He will be 22 next year and has taken his time to come up the ranks. He has actually played over 50 reserves games, so that would indicate to me that he is either a late developer or not quite up to league standard. Next year will tell I would imagine.

Alex Howard (19 games, ave 13 possessions) – Alex has been a very consistent defender this year and he has also shown a capacity to play up forward and take contested marks. I have been surprised that he hasn’t been picked up as a mature aged draft pick in the AFL such is his versatility. Their loss is Swans gain though and I think Alex can expect some more time in the forward line in 2017.

Logan Hughes ( 2 games ave 7 possessions) – Logan made his league debut late in the season after a solid apprenticeship in the reserves in 2015 and this year. He will be 25 next year so he will need to make his mark quickly in the 2017 season to avoid being overtaken by younger players.

Graham Jetta (17 games ave 16 possessions) – A serviceable season from Graham and he showed signs of his trademark dash at times. I still felt the team needed a little more from him given that they struggled all year and he is a Senior player. I am wondering if he will be back next year. Hopefully he will.

Matthew Jukes (13 games ave 11 possessions 8 goals) – Jukes is obviously a gifted footballer and has played some great games for Swans in the past. He appears to be a confidence player though and he just couldn’t find the goals this year and was eventually injured . He then played out the season in the reserves when fit. He kicked 11 goals in the last 4 reserves games which renewed my hope that Matt may have a role at the club in 2017.