TOPIC:

Forget Sunday's result against the Dockers and the East Freo match at the WACA, I was pretty pleased with Swans season.  Team is putting a lot more effort in and playing with the heart throughout the season.  We were lucky our walkabouts halfway through the season were 0 none that I'm aware of compared to previous seasons and I think that was a key to that we kept the players together and hopefully they will stay together again in 2023.

Coaching options certainly need to review and I suspect our Talent Manager will now move to East Perth.

As for Peel, if we go by what the WAFC strategy is.  Peel is now too strong, they don't need all their zone.  Give Rocko and Baldivis back to South Fremantle, we take back the South West - Harvey, Brunswick and Collie.  Peel only need Mandurah and Pinjarra.  It would be very interesting to see the stats of junior sport in the Peel region, I hope footy is suffering with no pathway for kids to league WAFL footy.

And it's time we stood up to the WAFC and not let them walk over us in particular with zones. I won't let Midland become part of East Perth zone and I will walk away from WAFL footy the day that happens. It's coming.

 

some good observations there MOM. Comparing our 2021 season with 2022, there has been very little change in the final outcome. Swans won exactly the same number of games in 2021 and 22 (10). The only difference was that last year 10 wins was good enough to play finals. Our points for and against were not that different in each year although we scored about 70 points less over the 18 games. Swans had a near flawless home record this year (9 out of 10) but an Abysmal away record (1 out of eight), that has ultimately cost us the finals spot.

We lost some key players from 2021, Frank Anderson with injury as well as Gault, Howard, Jetta and Riggio but gained new players in Kemp and Pina and Tobe Watson who all contributed to the cause. Jesse Palmers output of goals reduced this year from 35 to 22 but Jones made up for that to some extent with 29 goals. Nobles output in 2022 was significantly less than 2021, mainly because he was often asked to step into the ruckman role which is not the best use of him in my opinion.

Clarke, Turner and Fisher were once more the engine room of the midfield but there was a fair bit of improvement from guys like Bain and Riley to support them. The defence was the strength of the team with Erceg Stephens and Notte leading the way supported by young guys like, Collins  Ottoviano, Bright, Ehlers and o'Donohue.

I think the foundations are there to go further next year but we do need another ruckman to support Germs who was often battling against overwhelming odds this season. If Anderson returns and Max Chipper can get more opportunities I think our midfield stacks up pretty well. Ideally also a strong forward to take the pressure off Palmer a bit. This would free up Jones to play somewhat as a utility.

If Anderson was to return which 5 pointer is gonna be forced out?  Or we gonna give 5 of our kids spots to have Anderson back?

I'd like to see Anderson return - with Bayok moved on.  Conor Blakely with no AFL club could be a handy addition to for 1 point as he is our product.

MOM dont both Anderson & Fisher's points reduce next year as both have been on our list for 3 years now?

Harding is leaving to work outside of footy, can’t remember where he is going though.
Blakely a chance as think will concentrate on studies if delisted and not move East but some afl club may change his mind.
Anderson supposedly returning to play but his injury was pretty bad.
Eastern stater was at the club recently and committed but as always wait and see.
Palmer played last half of the year like he had one foot out the door, didn’t seem interested but did have knee issue.
We didn’t have the depth to cover all the injuries and covid early in the year, hats off to the teams that did.
Our reserves made the finals but only won 7 games so good experience for those young players this week.
Colts a disaster season.
How long is Pickering contracted for ?

MarkOlsen wrote:

Harding is leaving to work outside of footy, can’t remember where he is going though.
Blakely a chance as think will concentrate on studies if delisted and not move East but some afl club may change his mind.
Anderson supposedly returning to play but his injury was pretty bad.
Eastern stater was at the club recently and committed but as always wait and see.
Palmer played last half of the year like he had one foot out the door, didn’t seem interested but did have knee issue.
We didn’t have the depth to cover all the injuries and covid early in the year, hats off to the teams that did.
Our reserves made the finals but only won 7 games so good experience for those young players this week.
Colts a disaster season.
How long is Pickering contracted for ?

He was re-signed in June 2021 for an extra 2 years which means that he is contracted until the end of 2023 by which time he will have been head coach for 6 years.

Regarding Pickering, every week I get a email from the club which includes a link to a youtube video by the coach after the game where you can listen to his immediate reaction to the previous week. The duration of the video is about a minute and it usually goes along the lines of "proud of the boys, great character" for a win or "not the result we were after, we didnt bring our best, we will strive to be better next week" after a loss. Am I being harsh by saying this is just a total waste of time?
 
If you are going to do this sort of thing it has to be scripted and include some analysis of the game and an insight into what the coach and players had tried to do tactically to push the result Swans way. That would be useful to know.
When Harding was in charge he wrote a piece each week for the Swans bulletin which I found quite useful in which he broke the game down a little and gave us some inside information but this current video just seems to be going through the motions

I agree Mike some actual proper game analysis and feedback would be appreciated a lot more by us hardcore football heads not just a "we were outplayed today but turn up next week as we will have a crack" type junk to appease some.
We are now 5 years in and only 1 finals appearance to show for it, you would have to think the SDFC are pretty loyal to their coaches as I can think of a few clubs who wouldnt stand for that type of poor record.
We would want to get away to a good start next season (not give up 2 winnable games late as we did this year) and finish Top 3 at a minimum for Pickering to stay on as after 6 years as coach if you havent finished any higher than 5th once then it is time to go!

Next year is the 4th year of the 5 year plan and I'm sure that top 3 would have to be the aim in 2023. I think they need to plug a few holes in the team over summer to be able to achieve this goal. None of the current top 5 are going to stand still or go backwards next year, Subiaco will bounce back and Perth and East Perth will be refreshed under new coaches.

There are some reports out that we are now on the search for a new coach as well?

Townsend running with that on sportfm website.
No surprise to me