TOPIC:

Beasley Hutton wrote: We need leaders like Ellard to stick around the club because we do not have a lot of experience to guide the young blokes coming through other than Tony, Rogers, Doc, Howie and young Jesse Turner are now in that category with Banners now retired Riggs apparently finishing up at seasons end Blight and Ugle out for extended periods etc.
We do have some good players coming through but they need guidance on the park and off as to how to succeed at League level.
A concerted effort also has to be made to get some of our promising former Colts/WA 18s boys back to the club as that is another reason why we havent come on from when Harding started pushing young blokes through 4 years ago.
Where are the likes of Aiden Clarke, Dylan Smith, Jason Daniels, Jake Taylor, Nelson Ansey, John Shaw, Levi Ridley, Dylan Nelson, Lindsay Murray, Chris Firns, Tim Yorkshire, Kevin Pickett, John Grimson etc nowadays?

Aiden Clarke was supposed to be returning to the city for another crack mate according to his aunty who is a client of mine, that was 3 weeks ago. I think accommodation and work are the issues

Beasley Hutton wrote: We are a club going absolutely nowhere at present under the current.
When you have players not even give a yelp by way of effort you have major issues and that is what I am currently witnessing!

I think the issues run far deeper than just with the players

I don't know much about it but pretty sure the problem is the coach.

Stand the Test wrote: I don't know much about it but pretty sure the problem is the coach.

You have contradicted yourself in the same sentence. If you don't know much about the situation, how can you be sure that the coach is the problem??

Beasley Hutton wrote: When lifetime SDFC members such as 42, Mikeh, Swandog, DW, GTR, myself and MANY others not on ozfooty have become completely disillusioned with where the SDFC are at currently and where they might be into the future I think it is high time someone at the SDFC gave us some answers and direction to where the club is actually going on the field and are held accountable for the rubbish currently being served up?!
We seem more concerned with promoting womens football matches and integrated football games than what our League side are displaying on the park.
Another bug bear of mine is the lack of members being made aware of the announcements from the club before the game re SD local lads and club warriors Banfield & Ellard retiring?
Some of the initiatives the club is doing off the park are great dont get me wrong but what the SDFC must always understand is we are a FOOTBALL CLUB at the end of the day and without a competitive League team for now and into the future we will struggle to sustain interest for members, sponsors, players, supporters and thus struggle to survive without any foreseeable hope!

Maybe the footy department and the board/Ceo aren’t in the same page. Would be nice if we could have some sense of direction the club is taking as a whole.

Danger wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote: When lifetime SDFC members such as 42, Mikeh, Swandog, DW, GTR, myself and MANY others not on ozfooty have become completely disillusioned with where the SDFC are at currently and where they might be into the future I think it is high time someone at the SDFC gave us some answers and direction to where the club is actually going on the field and are held accountable for the rubbish currently being served up?!
We seem more concerned with promoting womens football matches and integrated football games than what our League side are displaying on the park.
Another bug bear of mine is the lack of members being made aware of the announcements from the club before the game re SD local lads and club warriors Banfield & Ellard retiring?
Some of the initiatives the club is doing off the park are great dont get me wrong but what the SDFC must always understand is we are a FOOTBALL CLUB at the end of the day and without a competitive League team for now and into the future we will struggle to sustain interest for members, sponsors, players, supporters and thus struggle to survive without any foreseeable hope!

Maybe the footy department and the board/Ceo aren’t in the same page. Would be nice if we could have some sense of direction the club is taking as a whole.

Sounds like a huge lack of communications happening. Another member made the previous comment that even the Swan Districts members were a bit in the dark. That scenario is bad in any organization.

westaussieguy wrote:

Danger wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote: When lifetime SDFC members such as 42, Mikeh, Swandog, DW, GTR, myself and MANY others not on ozfooty have become completely disillusioned with where the SDFC are at currently and where they might be into the future I think it is high time someone at the SDFC gave us some answers and direction to where the club is actually going on the field and are held accountable for the rubbish currently being served up?!
We seem more concerned with promoting womens football matches and integrated football games than what our League side are displaying on the park.
Another bug bear of mine is the lack of members being made aware of the announcements from the club before the game re SD local lads and club warriors Banfield & Ellard retiring?
Some of the initiatives the club is doing off the park are great dont get me wrong but what the SDFC must always understand is we are a FOOTBALL CLUB at the end of the day and without a competitive League team for now and into the future we will struggle to sustain interest for members, sponsors, players, supporters and thus struggle to survive without any foreseeable hope!

Maybe the footy department and the board/Ceo aren’t in the same page. Would be nice if we could have some sense of direction the club is taking as a whole.

Sounds like a huge lack of communications happening. Another member made the previous comment that even the Swan Districts members were a bit in the dark. That scenario is bad in any organization.

We get weekly bulletins from the club WAG but a lot of it is just information about promotions or social events rather than what the football department is doing. I enjoyed the weekly coaches bulletins from Harding. He didn't sugar coat stuff and left himself open to feedback. It would be good if Pickering and/or the other coaches did something similar to give us an idea of their thinking in relation to where the league squad is at. Updates on injuries/new players etc would also be useful.

mikeh wrote:

westaussieguy wrote:

Danger wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote: When lifetime SDFC members such as 42, Mikeh, Swandog, DW, GTR, myself and MANY others not on ozfooty have become completely disillusioned with where the SDFC are at currently and where they might be into the future I think it is high time someone at the SDFC gave us some answers and direction to where the club is actually going on the field and are held accountable for the rubbish currently being served up?!
We seem more concerned with promoting womens football matches and integrated football games than what our League side are displaying on the park.
Another bug bear of mine is the lack of members being made aware of the announcements from the club before the game re SD local lads and club warriors Banfield & Ellard retiring?
Some of the initiatives the club is doing off the park are great dont get me wrong but what the SDFC must always understand is we are a FOOTBALL CLUB at the end of the day and without a competitive League team for now and into the future we will struggle to sustain interest for members, sponsors, players, supporters and thus struggle to survive without any foreseeable hope!

Maybe the footy department and the board/Ceo aren’t in the same page. Would be nice if we could have some sense of direction the club is taking as a whole.

Sounds like a huge lack of communications happening. Another member made the previous comment that even the Swan Districts members were a bit in the dark. That scenario is bad in any organization.

We get weekly bulletins from the club WAG but a lot of it is just information about promotions or social events rather than what the football department is doing. I enjoyed the weekly coaches bulletins from Harding. He didn't sugar coat stuff and left himself open to feedback. It would be good if Pickering and/or the other coaches did something similar to give us an idea of their thinking in relation to where the league squad is at. Updates on injuries/new players etc would also be useful.

mikeh perhaps you can send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and suggest it.

Danger wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote: When lifetime SDFC members such as 42, Mikeh, Swandog, DW, GTR, myself and MANY others not on ozfooty have become completely disillusioned with where the SDFC are at currently and where they might be into the future I think it is high time someone at the SDFC gave us some answers and direction to where the club is actually going on the field and are held accountable for the rubbish currently being served up?!
We seem more concerned with promoting womens football matches and integrated football games than what our League side are displaying on the park.
Another bug bear of mine is the lack of members being made aware of the announcements from the club before the game re SD local lads and club warriors Banfield & Ellard retiring?
Some of the initiatives the club is doing off the park are great dont get me wrong but what the SDFC must always understand is we are a FOOTBALL CLUB at the end of the day and without a competitive League team for now and into the future we will struggle to sustain interest for members, sponsors, players, supporters and thus struggle to survive without any foreseeable hope!

Maybe the footy department and the board/Ceo aren’t in the same page. Would be nice if we could have some sense of direction the club is taking as a whole.

I know the club has a real big focus on our local community off the field which is great and they have been readily open about that but I have no idea what our focus, vision, brand, style, objective, long term strategic plan is for on the field?!?! All I have ever heard is we will concentrate on developing our own zone youth with some very selective recruiting, never any mention of whether we are looking or trying to win a League Premiership at some point! Maybe that might become a key point some time in the future...if we are even still around at that point?!

mikeh wrote: I have noticed a trend with Swans since 2012 really, with the exception of 2016 which was an unmitigated train wreck. The trend is that the players start the season well,usually have a few home wins early in the season and get ahead of the 50% win/loss ratio. Then they hit a roadblock in the middle of the season with a bad defeat or two and they then seem to lack the motivation and resiliance to fight back. In 2012 Swans were on top of the ladder at the end of round 14, but ended up going out of the finals in straight sets. 2013 we were a bit up and down but got a home first semi and lost. 2014 we won 8 out of our first 9 games and then fell away to nearly miss the finals. 2015 we were in 3rd spot at the end of round 15 but ended up missing finals, In 2017 we lost our last 4 qualifying games to barely fall into the finals. 2018 continued the same trend when we were 5 - 3 after 8 games only to lose 6 games in a row.
What does this all mean? I think the current group lack the resiliance to get through an entire season and play consistently. They seem to have accepted their inferiority not just to Subiaco but to several other teams as well. It appears to me that Swans have taken over from Perth in that they seem now to have embraced mediocrity on a season by season basis and it has taken the Demons 20 years to finally get out of that mindset. Now that the wheels have totally fallen off, it is an opportunity for the club to have a look at what is trying to achieve.

Great post Mike and absolutely spot on re the mid-late season fade outs. 2-3 seasons in a row is an alarming trend but 8 seasons in a row is somewhat disturbing for a League Football Club!