mikeh post=212704 userid=926Reflecting on Swans season, they have certainly taken a big step forward on their way to being a consistent contender for finals. With 10 wins and 9 losses (including the final that they came so close to winning) . The biggest victory was 52 points v Peel in round 15 and the biggest loss was 44 points against West Perth. They were only beaten by 6 goals plus on two occasions so they were a lot harder to play against. Even though they were a lot more competitive this year against “the perennial big four of the league” they still only managed to win 1 out of a possible 9 games against this group ( by 1 point vs Subiaco). The real killer though was the defeat late in the season at Shark Park because that cost us a chance to push for a home final or double chance which would have made a huge difference in the finals.
Swans strengths this year revolved around their defensive unit led by Notte, Howard, Jones, Erceg Stephens and Beck with Spackman also showing a lot of promise until injured. A serviceable midfield led by Fisher, Anderson, Turner, Cipro, Reidy and Clarke. Germs was the discovery of the year and slotted into the league team seamlessly in the absence of Gault.
The forward line was a lot more functional compared with previous years with new recruit Palmer (35 goals), Noble (24), Edwards (18) and Wilson (15) all contributing as well as some of the mids in the 10 – 15 goal range. I still think our goal kicking output has room for improvement in 2022.The other promising sign in 2021 was that all 3 grades made the finals although we are 0-4 so far in the finals series and only the Colts are left to improve that statistic.
2022 will present new challenges for the club as we already know that we have lost 3 players in Matt Riggio and Alex Howard to retirement and Frank Anderson to the dreaded ACL.
Along with this there are some questions marks about Tony Notte, Lewis Jetta and Corey Gault.So that could be 6 quality players who may be missing next year. Not sure if Costigan is still at the club but if he is hopefully his luck will turn and he can get some injury free footy next year.
The club will probably need to do some targeted recruitment in the off season to bolster the defence and midfield and also the hope is that some of the successful colts players will be able to graduate to the league level.
I have said this a few times but I reckon Swans best footy is as good as anyones. The difference between us and the Subiaco’s, Claremonts etc is that we cannot sustain this level for as long as they can. That must be the focus of pre- season going into 2022 and we might just start winning against these top 4 teams a bit more often.
Interested in others observations or if I have missed anything
The lack of drive from the middle is what I found disappointing last season. Yes, Anderson and Fisher are very good ball getters around the ground, but their (and others) inability to get first possession at the bounce was a problem - despite Germs' ruck work. It's a bit unfortunate that Bayok's best use last year was his defensive role in using his pace at bounce downs to bugger up the opposition's usual constant feed from the middle.
I believe we have picked up a guy to overcome Anderson's loss, but we need someone in the middle and at through ins where we get killed.
