TOPIC:

BC wrote:

mikeh wrote:

therealswansman wrote: In the over 50 years that I have watched Swans never before have I seen a team so devoid of a game plan.
If there is a plan and it consists of kicking the ball in any direction except towards the goal then we are following the plan to the letter.
On the drive back home I pondered over whether I have seen a more disinterested, spineless person in a Swans Jumper than Josh Simpson.
Just another example of the wonderful recruiting by the lawnmower man.
This season is over and at the risk of sounding like a broken gramophone, nothing will change unless we clean out from the top.
if you wonder what I am on about, take time to review our long term plan and KPI's and none of them say anything about winning games of football and participating in finals.

That is exactly the reason why I am sadly going to walk away from Swans at the end of this year, there is no motivation within the club to win games and make finals any more, SDFC is now a community and social club and if I want that I can go somewhere closer to where I live.

Absolutely on the money trsm and Mike. If you want to be a destination club for players, a value proposition for sponsors and something to follow and be proud of for members and supporters, winning games must be up there as a priority target. When that happens everything else including the feel good stuff virtually takes care of itself. To not even mention on field success and the various ways to measure it in future planning is a nonsense for your average ground level WAFL supporter and down right negligent from a club perspective.

I havent come to this decision lightly. I have been thinking about it all season and its certainly not a knee jerk reaction to yesterdays performance. I have stuck with Swans through many dire seasons because I have always felt that the club have been looking for ways to improve and prioritised the on field performance above all else. This is not the case now, no matter how much lip service is paid to it by the coach and others. Going to Bassendean now is like attending a kids fun park with the football as a sideshow. The players have the ability to win a lot more games but when push comes to shove they get found wanting by a far more desperate opposition. The coach comes on social media and says to the supporters how gutted everyone is and how they need to work harder but the same scenario happens on repeat every week. Action speaks louder than words. There is no sense of unity amongst the players, the huddles seem to have no energy, it is not like the Swans team even under Harding who for all his shortfalls at least could inspire them at times. I don't blame Pickering for this malaise,he is just the front man. It is a collective responsibility that all of us supporters, members, board and football department have allowed the clubs football to fall away this badly in the enthusiasm to turn SDFC into a community based and social club in order to bolter finances. These goals are very important of course but are not mutually exclusive to being successful on the field.

Mike I would suggest sending an email to the club outlining your grave concerns for the playing future as I and others will be as these piss poor performances are not an isolated instance either how many times in the last 7 seasons or so have we bemoaned the second half of the year after reasonable starts bar 2016 which was a train wreck from the start similar to this year in which we are on the same amount of wins.
At what point do you actually realise that 8 seasons of underachieving rubbish do you decide to do something about it and I dont mean getting pensioner crocks like Crowley, Ellis etc who were disastrous "recruits" who havent been seen since that year at the football club and quite frankly have put us back further than we should be in hindsight.
The current standard we are playing at is barely above amateur level.

The recruiting has been a disaster for the last 8 years or so. As BH pointed out, it’s been largely old crocks or players with ability but questionable character who have mostly not performed, but more importantly brought down the standards of the playing group.
I’m not sure PIckering was the right appointment but he shouldn’t have to shoulder the blame at this point.

You lot are mad. You’ve won what 5 flags since PFC’s last one. How many times have you made finals since 97? Come on guys.

Yep thinking the same STT.....think those heady early 80s have these SD boys being a bit greedy......

17 finals games for only 1 Premiership in those 23 years is hardly awe inspiring STT.
Putting it as kindly as possible we have no desire to follow in the Dees footsteps.

one thing the club needs to do is be upfront about recruiting, if we cant afford to recruit top-line players as we cant afford it then fair enough but let the members and supporters know.
unless we get 2-3 blokes who can be in our top 5 players we will continue to struggle.
also need to find some blokes in reserves or colts who can run and give us some pace, that has to be a focus in our recruiting.

The lawnmower man, fireman and teacher have recruited us class acts in the last 5 years while ignoring the needs of others.
They have taught our up and coming and some already gone the art of
- how to ignore a coach, train when you feel like it and then grizzle because no one kicks to ball to you at full forward
- how to lie to drug testers
- how to get money up front and then run
- how to go to a public race meeting and make a fool of yourself
- how to continue with the lifestyle and company that was bringing you down and then expect a different result than before
- how to be the centre of attention when no other club wanted you
Call an extraordinary General meeting with the sole motion being a vote of no confidence in the board.
The last AGM saw the constitution change to require 25% of the members to seek such a meeting.
Anyone interested let me know.

Are you organising a ticket to run for the board TRSM?

Looks like Townsend reads this site for stories.

Coaching Swans must be the hardest gig in the WAFL.