TOPIC:

The disappointment is gradually abating and the reality that Swans are no longer in the premiership race has finally hit home.

So Swans fans how do we rate the season just gone? The raw facts are we won 12 out of 20 games and finished 3rd on the ladder. If you break it down, Swans won 9 out of their last 12 games after a slow start and 7 of their 12 wins came away from home. Our usual fortress at Bassendean was a bit shaky this year and Swans only won 5 out of 11 there this season (including 1st Semi). This poor home record cost us a second semi-final spot without any doubt.

The best wins of the season were the Anzac day win at Joondalup when we had only a 4 days break, the come from behind snatch against Perth at Lathlain on the June long weekend, when Garlett dazzled us all with his skills, Round 16’s 89 point thrashing of the same team and the win at Claremont the very next week.

Honourable mentions to the last two rounds where we played gutsy football to beat the Sharks and the Falcons when our finals spot was on the line.

The lowlights of the season were the performances against Peel which yielded 2 very lucky wins and a loss, we never got out of first gear against them. Then there was an absolute shocker against Subiaco at Bassendean where I have never seen two footy teams at this level make so many mistakes.

The gap between Swans best and worst football was too large. They would often start a game slowly, fight back, then drift away again after half time and this was very frustrating to watch at times. Even in some of the games they won, they would get to a match winning lead and then take the pressure off with the result that the opposition would kick some easy goals. They often seemed to be under instructions to handball as much as they could rather than kick and this would often lead to cheap turnovers.

So how did each player go? I have rated the regulars who I defined as having played 10 games or more. I have ranked these players in order of who I think were the most consistent and valuable players this year. My opinion and you could probably raffle the top 5 or 6

1. Tony Notte– Mr Versatile. Can play in the back line, forward line or in the ruck. Took some great marks during the season, the best of which was last Sunday
2. Matt Riggio - I only saw Matt play one bad game all year. A Sandover smokey maybe?
3. Shaun Hildebrandt – ball magnet, not quite the form of the Swan medal winning season
4. Wayde Twomey – gave Swans great run from half back. The Simpson Medallist had an excellent season
5. Ryan Davis – strong and gutsy forward, often does the one percenters which pave the way for his team mates to get the ball
6. Brett Robinson – very consistent season
7. Tallen Ames - still the best full back in WA. I hope he has a few more years left to go around.
8. Justin Simpson – very versatile performer can play tall or small
9. Dayle Garlett – Classy performer. Kicked 48 goals which for a small forward is a pretty decent season. Improved his defensive game
10. Aaron Elari – Great first year at Swans. Real in and under player and he just needs to improve his ability to hit a target
11. Tim Geappen – Kicked nearly 50 goals, but seemed to suffer a bit from the lack of someone like Hansen and was therefore burdened with the opposition’s best defender
12. Tom Roach - wholehearted as usual but not as effective as previous seasons. Still tries to do too much himself
13. Kyle Hams – Not as good a season as 2012, although still a solid defender
14. Alex Howard – young defender with heaps of potential
15. Charlie Cameron – A real talent, capable of some brilliant things but often his mind would be operating 3 steps ahead of his body so he mucked up some times. Only young and he will be drafted
16. Adam Faulkner – Similar player to Elari and ditto with tidying up his disposal a little
17. Jamie Bennell – came back from injury and got better as the season progressed, will the Eagles keep him on their list?
18. Rory Lobb – Battled hard against the odds but a promising young player who has good kicking and handballing skills
19. Graham Jetta - Brilliant when in form, but a bit of an up and down season I thought
20. Matt Rogers – added a bit of physicality to Swans when he came into the team. Very skilled kicker. I was amazed at the decision to drop him for the final
21. Kirk Ugle – Impact player who improved his defensive skills towards the end of the season
22. Blaine Boekhurst - Played a couple of brilliant games but not consistent enough, in and out of the team, should get more opportunities next year.

Harding’s coaching I would give as a pass mark. There were times during the season that I felt that he had lost the players by the way they were performing, but they always managed to bounce back when their season was on the line and I felt Greg was good in that he made himself accessible to supporters via the radio show and was prepared to answer questions about his decisions. Lammies walk out was a lowlight in terms of the season.

So what of 2014 for Swans? A bit of an unknown for everybody given the alignment arrangement. There is also a possibility that some players may leave given the clubs financial situation and the scenario that this may create with lower payments.

Guys who seem certain to leave are the potential draftees Garlett and Cameron ( Maybe Lobb as well). Senior players who did not participate in the finals were Blight, Casserley and Newman ( doubt if he will stay on the West Coast list), so you would have to wonder about their futures. To be fair though Blight and Casserley were impacted by injuries. Luke Pratt is another player who may be at the crossroads as he didn’t get anywhere near a league appearance.

Some players who mainly played reserves in 2013 but who could get more opportunities next year are Nathan and Conor Blakely, Ricky Cary, Jacob Cognilio, Kane Goodwin, Jesse Manton, Simon Parry, Nathan Broad and Brent Latch.

Whether Lobb is drafted or not, Swans will need more big man strength which is a weakness that was ruthlessly exposed by East Perth this year. I am hoping that Andy Krakouer may come back for another season or two to finish his career. Otherwise we could be short on recruits and be concentrating on getting games into our young guys much like South Fremantle have done this year.

Over to Dirty Weekender, Swan42, Beasley Hutton, Swandog, Mark Olsen, George and any other Swans fans to add their thoughts

Good wrap up Mike.

Before the start of the season most pundits thought after losing quality players of the calibre of Hansen, Roberts, Motlop & Jacky plus handy types in Outridge, Van Gronigen, Potente, J.Embley, McKinlay & Daniels that Swans would fall back down the ladder.
Then during the season proper Lammie & Miles pulled the pin while other important players like Newman, Blight, Casserly & Pratt could barely get on the park due to injury or other reasons.
After the Subi game in May I put a line thru us as I could not believe how bad we played that day but we did manage to turn it around to win 9 of our next 12 games & finish 3rd before coming up against the side that troubled us the most all season in the 1st Semi.

I thought our best players this year were Davis, Notte, Ames, Twomey & Geappen ..our youngsters in Garlett, Cameron, Lobb, Boekhorst, Howard, Broad, Blakely, Ugle, Manton & Faulkner improved greatly ..Simpson, Jetta, Riggio, Bennell, Elari, Robinson & Rogers were pretty consistent for the most part while Hildabrandt, Hams, Roach were a little down on 2012 although I know all carried injuries during the season.

Will be interesting over the off season to see who comes back to the club & if we make further improvement in our youngsters who are going to have to be the future of the club going forward with the unknown of the WAFL with this AFL host club rubbish taking full effect!

Great wrap up Mike... still bleeding out a little with EP mates not missing me for a second this week....My thoughts on season as a whole are quite positive although as we all did felt like the potential was there to win the whole she-bang so can only rate the season as being one of lost opportunity. On any given day we beat any side in the comp but as u say, consistency was a major drama even throughout the same game. Highlights for me were the win against Tiges (no thanks to Murray Newman who should never play for the club again without an all out apology to the members & team mates, me me me attitudes don't work in any team sport) , the cracking game at Lathlain, the last 2 wins were great when losing was not an option and for me Davis & Notte. I've never been much of a Notte fan as he always seemed disinterested to me, a bit like a young Jason Ball, but just as Ball did in the end has shown me he can be a much better footballer than my opinion initially believed him capable of. Davis's aggression at the footy was great to watch this year. Either of them would be worthy winners of the B&F. Tallen, well I'm an unabashed fan, and just to see the way he ran the team out on to the field in the 1st Semi with the excitement of a little kid says everything about him. A star of this comp and he's one of ours so u gotta love him. Charlie Cameron was great entertainment for most of season and surely deserves a chance at next level whilst Faulkner (haircut aside) who I watched really closely in games I attended only needs to learn to kick and he will carve up at WAFL level. Would love to see him get it together in 2014 and lead the team from the guts. He plays with a dogged hatred towards the opposition, a quality I'm kinda familiar with myself. Honourable mentions to Robinson, Twomey (the barometer), Simpson , Riggio & Lobb for stepping up when we needed him more than ever and lastly to Andrew Embley who showed the club a lot of respect by playing like he meant it when not lining up for the WCE, a quality not always present when the AFL boys drop back. Garlett will get drafted, a lot like Yarran when at SD he could be a bit lazy at times. Hope he irons this out of his game and succeeds however my gut feel is he will only be an average player at next level. Hope I'm wrong coz he has a lot of tools at his disposal to prove otherwise. Lowlights for me (and I didn't attend Subi game so no comment there) were Sunday games (did we win even one of them) , poor home record hurt, Lammie walking (?), Newman enough said and in what turned out to be the final week of our season the Ashley Hansen situation. What a joke to have something like that being thrown in to the equation during finals week. From all reports it was a complete bluff so why do it is beyond me. Fun & Games at the business end of the season are at best distracting. I'm prepared to give coaching staff another go. Harding & Co had their moments, good & bad. Feel they are still learning on the job a little at this level but gut feeling says they might just succeed. Happy to give them anther year to see where it leads. Finally to Gino, the French waterboy/genius physio from Italy. Please, please, please hang around the club mate. We have only just touched the surface with regards to this blokes knowledge gained in various other sporting codes. it will be a massive coup for the club if we can get him more involved. I speak from first hand experience here lads, the bloke is a genius when it comes to leg rehabilitation. Just politefully request that u leave the handling of footballs to the players mate!!!

Gday guys, noticed swans players list on their website got a couple of familiar names from the past, have they signed with the club already? eg Josh Pullman??

Jimjam wrote: Gday guys, noticed swans players list on their website got a couple of familiar names from the past, have they signed with the club already? eg Josh Pullman??

Think you'll find that list hasn't been updated since the start of the year Jimjam.

cheers Mike was wishful thinking though

Would be good to get Josh back as he showed a lot of promise

Mikeh pretty good summation of our season. Personally I think that Davis has been outstanding throughout the year. Whenever we were struggling it was Davis who first put up his hand to try to get us going. Notte's season was also outstanding. His versatility was the hallmark of his season. Justin Simpson's form in his last couple of games showed just how important he is to Swans. Hopefully he will decide to continue in 2014.

A couple of honourable mentions must go firstly to Rogers whose attitude when dropped was to go back to the ressies and give his all. A great attitude which should see him establish himself as one of the first picked next season. Secondly, Andrew Embley's final few games for Swans were a eye opener for me. After the infamous game against Subiaco I was left wondering whether he wanted to be there. His last few games eliminated any doubts I had and would think taht we would be very lucky if he had one more season at Swans.

Elari was a good pickup also and I would expect a better season from him in 2014.

On the negative side of things I have agreat concern about the potential player losses we may face for 2014. I think that Lobb, Garlett and Cameron are certain to be drafted. I also have a belief that Tony Notte may get a second crack at the AFL as well. Another one who may be considered as a possible draftee would be ALex Howard. His game has developed this year. Apart from Tom Roach's retirement I suspect that there may be a few others and perhaps a couple that may try their luck at other clubs. With our parlous financial state we may not be able to recruit many players to cover these losses. Speaking of our financial position we need all our members to try to recruit some more members to the club for the 2014 season.

would think that the Pullman brothers must be returning from QLD and the club is putting them back on their list so we can get them with us or if not we get a fee as they are listed with us.
interesting to see how it all pans out with players we may lose to the draft and possibily other clubs..
we need another ruckman that is for sure..
Twomey, Riggs and Davis are the 3 we have to keep and hope that Blight and Cass have an injury free run next year...

Nice wrap Mikeh.

A lot of players having consistant years and a few having excellent years, Dayle Garlett you could say was outstanding with the pressure he was under and also with the attention from opposition each week.

Davis, Ames, Notte, Cameron, Lobb, Hildabrant, Twomey are my best for the year. it was good to have a heap of televised games too, taped some when I couldnt make it down.

The recruits were ok, rodgers gives 100% and seems to pop up and have big qtrs but not whoe games. Elari was disappointing for half the games but excellent in half. Blight shows a heap of potential but had some very ordinary games and is injured every 2nd week

My mail is Pullman is returning to WA, but is hesitant on a return to swans. Casserley, Jetta and Hams may not play on. Bennell will be at WC more you would think next year. Ellard and Banfield may return but depending on delistings.

Agree on the passmark for Harding, did well to make third, no one was going to beat East Perth Eagles. The big glaring thought is the removal of Dawson as coach at the end of 2010. Old news but possibly the worst decision by a board in recent WAFL history. Making the job full time in order to move on a premiership coach. One would wonder how many more GF's we would have made in the last 3 seasons with him in charge, certainly doing well as part time coach at EP.
4 seasons in charge in the WAFL - 2 flags (if he wins sunday), 1 losing GF and 1 prelim.