By Andrew Wu
The Swans have been one of the major disappointments this year. Injuries have hit them hard, particularly to their key position ranks, but do not fully explain their drop down the ladder.
Their woes started in round three when Tom McCartin, Paddy McCartin and Dane Rampe – their three best tall defenders – were injured in a game they squandered a 16-point lead in the last term. Only Tom McCartin, since injured, has come back, while Paddy’s season is over, and possibly his career, after another concussion.
Sydney’s Chad Warner.Credit: Getty Images/Stephen Kiprillis
All-Australian midfielder Callum Mills, Logan McDonald, Sam Reid, Joel Amartey, Tom Hickey and Peter Ladhams have also missed, or will miss, chunks of the season. The injuries should not gloss over their midfield’s at-times brittleness against bigger-bodied opposition. This was a glaring weakness cruelly exposed in last year’s grand final, and continues to dog them.
As impressive as Chad Warner and Callum Mills have been, neither have the brute force of the retired Josh Kennedy to ease the burden on Luke Parker. Their underperforming midfield has been unable to protect an undermanned defence or power a forward line also lacking tall timber and no longer able to rely on veteran Lance Franklin’s match-winning ways.
A game out of the eight, the Swans remain in the finals hunt but need to lift. They play almost every team around them on the ladder in the run home, so their destiny is still in their hands.
Chad Warner has been a shining light, but the Swans have struggled to recapture their form of last year.Credit: Getty
Who’s hot
Fourth-season star Chad Warner has established himself among the competition’s top bracket of midfielders. He has everything you want from a modern on-baller - hardness, speed and skill. In a season when many of his teammates have dropped off, Warner has improved again. He needs a few more of his generation to follow.
The man they call “Lizard”, Nick Blakey has become a point of difference for the Swans. In isolation, his speed and precise left foot make him a damaging half-back, but it’s his height and marking power that expands his repertoire. Due to injuries, Blakey has been required to play as a key defender but is best suited to a rebounding role. He’s on track for a career-best season and a podium finish in the best and fairest.
The Swans need more from spring-heeled utility Isaac Heeney.Credit: AFL Photos
To appropriate a line from the Australian Crawl song of the same name, “Ohh Errol, I would give everything just to kick like him”. If you were a key forward, there wouldn’t be many other players you’d want delivering the ball to you inside 50 than the 20-year-old pint-sized left-footer from the Swans academy, Errol Gulden. One of the most exciting young players in the league, he has already become a driver of this Swans side.
Who needs to lift
The most talented player on the Swans’ list, Isaac Heeney has failed to back up his All-Australian season of last year. Being a Swans forward has not been easy this year, but the boy from Newcastle must do more, as his 10 goals from 11 games attest. Perhaps his job last week on Patrick Cripps can be a launching pad for the second half of the year.
A silky-skilled runner in his fourth season, former No.5 draft pick Dylan Stephens is yet to cement himself as a regular in the Swans’ best 22. He showed improvement in last year’s finals series on the aggressive side of the game but needs to become stronger - and more reliable - in the contest when it’s his turn. How quickly players like Stephens can develop will determine whether they can reach September again.
It feels unreasonable, perhaps even treasonous, to ask one of the greatest the game has seen to lift at the age of 36, but the Swans need superstar Lance Franklin to muster one last effort. His days of consistently dominating matches appear gone, but they would dearly love a 10-minute burst here and there to get them over the line in some close ones. With Sam Reid and Logan McDonald injured, he remains a key target in attack.
Coach’s box
Most coaches in season 13 with a team out of the eight would be shaky, but there are no doubts over John Longmire’s future, having signed a contract extension in March keeping him in Sydney until the end of 2025.
Injuries have forced Longmire to play outside the v this season, as seen in Mills’s move to full-back on Tom Hawkins.
His challenge is beefing up a midfield that has been outmuscled at stoppage, and reorganising a forward line that can no longer have Franklin as its centrepiece.
The likely returns of Rampe and Mills soon after the bye will give him more flexibility on the whiteboard.
The road ahead
Round 13 v St Kilda at the SCG
Round 14 v Brisbane at the Gabba
Round 15 v West Coast at the SCG
Round 16 v Geelong at the SCG
Round 17 v Richmond at the MCG
Round 18 v Western Bulldogs at the SCG
Round 19 v Fremantle at Optus Stadium
Round 20 v Essendon at Marvel Stadium
Round 21 v GWS at Giants Stadium
Round 22 v Gold Coast at the SCG
Round 23 v Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval
Round 24 v Melbourne at the SCG
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