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Like previous years after a big preseason.Swans have hit the ground running.Remember a game v the Sharks when we started well And played good footy all day.A big win v Ep at Medibank where we normally struggle. Close losses v Wp and Sf. and Claremont.But sadly we have ran into Subi 3 times this year and derailed our season.Flat mid to late in the season again.
Gault is the standout player in 18 and is worthy of an Afl contract. IMO a very good fit at Freo.Notte does the job as allways.Blackley left a huge hole when not playing.Great to see young players make there way into the side and do OK.Banfield class is no longer there and Matt Riggio will leave a massive hole if not there in 19.Freddy needs to string half a dozen games together Steven Payne since coming over from Ep has been outstanding.Palmer done OK but hope for better in 19.
Need some speed through the midfield to move the footy faster up the ground.Slater is an important player in 19.We can still shape the finals v Claremont last game with a strong win.

BC wrote: So is Gault coming to Subi next year 42?

You will probably lose Zac Clarke next year so its not out of the question, wouldn't blame Corey if he wanted to earn more coin but it would be disappointing nonetheless.

BC wrote: So is Gault coming to Subi next year 42?

He has far more character than to go to the soulless entity that is Subiaco.

yes but at least he has a better chance of being a premiership player.

BC wrote: yes but at least he has a better chance of being a premiership player.

Maybe he doesn't want to prostitute his principles for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver.

Just bringing this back up again now that Swans season is over.

The bald facts are that we lost 9 out of our last 10 games, finished 8th and dropped from 4th in 2017.
So it was a fail really,with only the last 4 games providing us with some hope, given that we were competitive in all of these.

Still a long way to go though and with the exodus of some senior players over the last few months it is difficult to see at the moment how we are going to improve enough to become finals contenders next year, but I suppose a lot of things can happen in the off season.

Thoughts from others?

Some numbers for the season
40 players used this year
8 debutants
14 players had played under 20 games
8 players had more than 100 games experience, we have now lost two of these (Rogers and Ugle)
Another 6 players had 50 - 100 games experience but we lost Banfield to retirement and Blight did not play for the vast majority of the season due to injury.
There were ex AFL players Gault, Ellard and Palmer to add experience.
Highlights of the season; the win over East Perth in May, Stephen Paynes and Rhys Palmers contribution, Nobles improvement, the return of Doc, Mitchell Bains goal of the season last saturday, the ressies making the finals
Lowlights; one goal in 3 quarters at Joondalup, general drop off from a promising start, the sudden retirements and walk outs.
Its been a tough first year for the coach, he's had his work cut out and I think we need to give him some slack to guide the team away from the Harding era and put his mark on the team..

definately need 2-3 more senior players to help out the decent core of blokes we have and to keep us in games for longer against the top sides.
young players look pretty promising, just need experience around them.
Hackett, Watson,Raynor,Italiano,Maguire,Erceg,Dean,O'Sullivan,Reidy,Bain and Wilson all look capable league footballers but needgood pre-seasons to get fitter and stronger.
Jesse Turner another top year - such a hard worker
well done to the ressies to sneak into the finals, they work hard every game.
hopefully Stewart gets himself fit next year but who knows.

Agree with your comments Mark. The success of Noble has shown the benefit of spreading the net far and wide including ammo's to pick out talented players who may not have come up through the club juniors.
Jesse Turner is now our premier midfielder I reckon along with Riggio and will take on even more responsibility next year if Riggers pulls the pin. Turner is one of 6 players who played all 18 games this season, the others were Gault, Payne, Notte, Howard and Tobe Watson. Riggio, Reidy and Noble only missed one game and Palmer and Warwick Wilson played 16, so there is the core of our 2019 team right there. As you said it probably needs a few more experienced bodies to make us competitive.

agreed Mike - we need a club representative at different games over the next few weeks at ammo and country level to see who stands out and invite them down for a pre-season..
forgot to mention Wilson as he went away for a week late in the year and then played reserves on the weekend, his best year at league level and if he has another good pre-season will imporve again in 2019.
wait and see with him and a few others to see if they can take the next step.