Just reflecting on a rainy sunday morning about the progress that Swans have made so far this season.
At the start of the season, If you had offered me a record of 6 wins and 4 losses with a percentage of 110 after 10 games I would have grabbed it straight away. Swans are in a solid position to play finals with a cushion of 2 wins and percentage separating us from the 6th placed team.
Swans have used 30 players so far in their league team, 13 of them have played all 10 games which has given the team an element of stability. Our strength has been our defence led by Notte, Howard, Jones, Erceg, Stephens and Spackman (before injured) who have kept opposition teams to an average of 67 points which is the second stingiest to Subiaco.
Our best win was undoubtedly last week against Subiaco. The worst loss was the previous week v West Perth.
The structure we used last week with Germs coming into the team appeared to have the impact of giving us more physicality and flexibility in that Gault and Noble were more able to have an impact in the forward line. IMO That would be a good formula to take into the 2nd half of the season.
One thing I have enjoyed is watching the development of guys like Aiden Clarke, Josh Cipro, William Reidy and Laclan Riley. Sam Fisher has been good but he has been tagged a lot. However some of the young players in the midfield as well as Frank Anderson and Jesse Turner have taken the baton and there is more of a team feel about the midfield this year. Gault has been outstanding and the Victorian recruits Palmer and Jones have been good contributors as well. Hopefully we might be able to see some of Devon Costigan before the season is out, depending on the progress of his recovery.
Where is there room for improvement? Swans need more from Lewis Jetta for a start. In the 4 games he has played, he has been patchy at best. We need more attacking options and marking power in the forward line, which may be addressed by the inclusion of Germs. I was hoping that Matt Riggio would contribute more than 9 goals in 9 games.
Swans need to bring the sort of desperation and intensity they bought to the table against Subiaco every week. Beating teams above them on the ladder will give them the confidence that they deserve to play finals. There is a great opportunity against South Fremantle at Bassendean in a few weeks. Firstly there is a much improved West Coast team to tackle next week.
The challenge for the Swans players is to finish the season strongly which hasn't been a common trait of teams under Harding and Pickering in the last decade.
Interested in others observations.
