TOPIC:

MarkOlsen wrote: Mike - Banfield took a job up North, nothing the club could do about that.
Ugle has the opporutnity for plenty of weekend work through his job so the financial aspect took over for him also.

Fair enough Mark, thanks for clearing that up. You're certainly not going to make heaps of money playing WAFL footy these days. Just a pity that two classy players both retired in their 20's..

mikeh wrote:

BC wrote: I'd be interested to know why so many outs. Is it a cyclical thing do you think or are there other problems like the coach not connecting with players or similar? It's a genuine question as it does seem like quite a lot and we haven't even got to 2019 yet.

BC I think the new coach has gone through a process in 2018 of gradually weeding out players who were regulars under Harding but who for one reason or another haven't fitted in with his style ( e.g Rogers, Faulkner). Even Banfield and Ugle retired suddenly when I thought they had more to give. Fair enough Pickering has the right to develop the team in his mould. The problem now is that he now has a team with a very low experience level and if it stays that way we could be looking at the wooden spoon next year unfortunately as many of the teams who were at or near Swans level in 2018 have recruited and strengthened their lists

Given the list that bh has provided in terms of our outs; one would think that we would have a reasonable amount of money to recruit some players. The fact that we have chosen not to suggests that our coach thinks that we have the players already at the club. I may be wrong, but to me that is completely delusional. I will be very happy if I am wrong, but as mikeh pointed out our first 5 matches are tough.

mikeh wrote:

BC wrote: I'd be interested to know why so many outs. Is it a cyclical thing do you think or are there other problems like the coach not connecting with players or similar? It's a genuine question as it does seem like quite a lot and we haven't even got to 2019 yet.

BC I think the new coach has gone through a process in 2018 of gradually weeding out players who were regulars under Harding but who for one reason or another haven't fitted in with his style ( e.g Rogers, Faulkner). Even Banfield and Ugle retired suddenly when I thought they had more to give. Fair enough Pickering has the right to develop the team in his mould. The problem now is that he now has a team with a very low experience level and if it stays that way we could be looking at the wooden spoon next year unfortunately as many of the teams who were at or near Swans level in 2018 have recruited and strengthened their lists

Thanks Mike. The vagaries of a new coach I guess although I thought Harding did a pretty good job whilst in the chair and wouldn't have thought Pickering had to change things around too much....but there you go. Likewise it'll be interesting to see how Wardman goes at Subi.

Yeah have no idea what's going on at Basso but pretty sure the coach is the problem.

Maybe Swans logic is we are just being prudent with the spending at the moment whilst only 1 club can possibly win each year (and that same club continues to spend willy nilly in the aid of Premiership success year after year) as at their rate of spending the cash large$$e will be all gone soon and the WAFL will be back on an even keel again?

Stand the Test wrote: Yeah have no idea what's going on at Basso but pretty sure the coach is the problem.

stt we shall see. JT had his run-ins with players,administration and not all supporters were on his side in the beginning. I am not sure the final result will be replicated with our current coach: we can only hope.

Josh Simpson is with Swans, hopefully still there at round 1, anything after that a bonus

Hopefully Josh will be there for SD compulsory recovery session....will he be 10 pt player being ex AFL and all that?

Not sure Freeze but he hasnt played WAFL for 2 & 1/2 years so I assume he wouldnt cost us anything transfer wise, plus I think we have close to 80 points to play with with all the departures at present.
But as MO posted I think I will refrain from adding him to the Ins until the season actually starts!

Since this is a topic about season 2019 news and rumours I thought I might see what posters think will happen in terms of scratch matches before the start of the 2019 WAFL season. Specifically what will happen with respect to the teams that are linked to the WA domiciled AFL clubs.