Sydney Swans prepare for crucial 2024 Draft after another first-round talent leaves the club

The Swans don’t have a great history in the first round of the draft outside matching bids. With picks 19 and 22, they must nail the brief come November after being quiet in the trade period.

The Sydney Swans’ draft strategy will be put to the test in the coming weeks after yet another first-round selection departed the club this trade period.

Seemingly lost amid the process of Luke Parker’s successful request to move to North Melbourne, the Swans included young forward Jacob Konstanty in the trade with the Roos.

The 19-year-old had yet to make an AFL appearance but was taken with the Swans’ lone first-round selection in the 2022 draft at pick 20.

Konstanty impressed in patches but could never quite crack first-team selection. Picture: Phil Hillyard

A talented small forward, he played 23 VFL games for Sydney and showed a knack for hitting the scoreboard, finishing with 24 goals in the red and white. However, with the likes of Tom Papley and Will Hayward above him for selection, and a couple of injury concerns thrown in, the Gippsland product was never able to break through for a senior debut.

Konstanty is a talented young player and will be given an opportunity to thrive at North Melbourne. However, it’s the latest example of a first-round draft pick unable to breakthrough at the Swans.

Sydney is often praised for being able to find a diamond in the rough. Seven players who played in last month’s grand final started at the club on the rookie list, Parker was taken at pick 40 and the highly-touted Chad Warner was selected at pick 39.

But victims of their own consistency, high draft picks have often been few and far between outside of matching bids for Academy products.

The Swans have had 18 first-round draft picks, excluding Academy and father-son selections, since the start of 2000. Of that group, half have played a dozen games or fewer for the club.

Jarrad McVeigh (pick five, 2002) is the only one to have played more than 200 games in the red and white, while both Ollie Florent (pick 11, 2016) and Will Hayward (pick 21, 2016) should also eventually hit that milestone.

Hayward and Florent have been two of the Swans’ most successful first-round selections in recent times. Picture: Jonathan Ng

It is important to recognise the Swans’ strategy going into draft night across the past decade. Isaac Heeney (pick 18, 2014), Callum Mills (pick five, 2015), Nick Blakey (pick 10, 2018) and Braeden Campbell (pick five, 2020) all loomed as highly-rated talents who they had to be ready to match bids for. When you include Errol Gulden who was taken in the second round in 2020, clearly it has not been all doom and gloom for the club as they’ve been able to add exceptional local talents.

Yet, Konstanty joins a list of talented footballers such including Dylan Stephens (pick five, 2019), Matt Ling (pick 14, 2017) and Jed Lamb (pick 21, 2010) who didn’t quite live up to their high draft potential at the Swans.

And with the club relatively inactive during this year’s trade period, the coming draft could be their most important in some years. For the first time since 2016, and just the second time this century, the Swans have two first-round picks in this year’s draft.

For the second-straight year, the Swans have seen a highly-rated first-round draft pick head to North Melbourne. Picture: Jason McCawley/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Sydney currently holds pick 19 and pick 22, the latter they received as part of the trade that sent Stephens to North Melbourne 12 months ago. It’s a rare position for the club to be in given their consistent success, so they know it’s important for them to get it right.

Their 2016 selections of Florent and Hayward have to be the shining light. They added two talented players who have become an integral part of John Longmire’s plans ever since they joined the club.

This year’s draft class will give the Swans the perfect opportunity to do something similar. While their first-round selections might slide once some Academy bids are matched, the wide consensus of it being a deep draft means they will be adding at minimum two top-30 talents to the club.

That’s on top of Academy product Joel Cochran, the mobile key defender who impressed at the draft combine and should slide towards at least the end of the second round.

Academy talent Joel Cochran took our the two-kilometre time trial at the recent draft combine. Picture: Martin Keep/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Sydney still has a relatively young profile. They also have a number of exciting young talents in key positions, like ruckman Will Green who was taken in the first-round last year and has made a strong impression in his first season at the club.

That means the Swans can purely focus on picking the best talent available. For picks in the 20s, that could be either of the impressive Whitlock brothers, exciting small forward Joe Berry or even athletic defender Noah Mraz.

In the back of Sydney’s mind will also be the 2025 draft where they have two enticing Academy products in Noah Chamberlain and Lachlan Carmichael to look forward to.

There is plenty to play out to see where the Swans’ interest lies next month. But there’s no doubt that the 2024 draft is shaping as one of the most important for Longmire, Leon Cameron and head of list strategy Chris Keane in some time.