Gary Buckenara analyses Sydney Swans list after the 2019 season
Sydney failed to strike a deal to get Joe Daniher to the club but we haven't heard the end of this. Ex-Hawthorn recruiter Gary Buckenara knows all about how the Swans can poach stars (remember Lance Franklin's big move) and he writes they'll set the wheels in motion now to do it again.
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The clock is ticking for Sydney to win another premiership with its current group of stars.
Since losing the 2016 Grand Final, the Swans haven’t been a genuine premiership threat and missed the finals completely this season as its ageing list begins to lose players — Jarrad McVeigh, Heath Grundy, Kieren Jack and Nick Smith retired this year — who have been superstars for so long.
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In coming years Lance Franklin (33 in January), Josh Kennedy (31), Dane Rampe (30) and Callum Sinclair (30) will be gone. Will they be part of the Swans’ next premiership team? I’m genuinely worried their window for winning a flag with them is gone.
Sydney will have a young list heading into next year following the retirement of those four stalwarts and has put some decent development time into players like Will Hayward, Ollie Florent, Callum Mills and Aliir Aliir, but can these guys be the next generation of stars?
Coach John Longmire will be relying on them to take the next step, plus the continued improvement of young guns Nick Blakey, Tom Papley and Tom McCartin, who I think can be a serious player, plus the development of recent draftees Matthew Ling and Ryley Stoddart, who have big raps on them.
I have some concerns about the Swans. While the guys I mentioned have talent, the Swans don’t have enough young players who look like they’re going to take the next step and become really good AFL players. Guys like Harry Cunningham, George Hewett, Ben Ronke and Jackson Thurlow have probably reached their ceiling. Are they going to get any better?
They’ve got too many C-graders.
The Swans were one of the losers of the trade period by failing to pull off a coup by trading for Joe Daniher. They did the hard work to get Daniher to request a trade to the club but failed to satisfy Essendon. But we haven’t heard the end of this. Expect the Swans to get to work on locking Daniher in as a restricted free agent recruit in a similar way to how they landed Lance Franklin basically 12 months before the deal actually went through. Another Franklin-style mega long-term big-money contract is looming to blow the Bombers out of the water to make sure they can’t match the offer.
It was smart not to trade out Papley, their leading goalkicker this year, before securing Daniher because that would have come back to bite them.
LIST NEEDS
The midfield is an area of concern. They’re desperate for leg speed and recruiting classy and quick midfielders should be the priority.
Heeney and Florent can move into permanent midfield roles and I think Ling and Stoddart can add some speed in the future but adding some ready-made talent to come in and help now is required.
LIST BREAKDOWN
A: Lance Franklin, Isaac Heeney, Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker
B+: Will Hayward, Callum Mills, Dane Rampe, Aliir Aliir
B: Jake Lloyd
B-: Tom Papley, Ollie Florent
C+: Harry Cunningham, Callum Sinclair, Sam Reid, George Hewett, Jordan Dawson
C: Sam Naismith, Colin O’Riordan, Robbie Fox, Lewis Melican, Daniel Menzel
C-: Jackson Thurlow
Developing*: Tom McCartin, Nick Blakey
Developing: Matthew Ling, Jack Maibaum, Ben Ronke, Ryley Stoddart, Ryan Clarke, James Rowbottom, Zac Foot, James Bell, Joel Amartey, Toby Pink, Samuel Wicks, Justin McInerney, Harrison Reynolds
DRAFT STRATEGY
It’s time the Swans start to reinvest in the draft to develop its next wave of stars to take over from Kennedy, Parker, Franklin and the now-retired Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack.
Must target classy ball users who are really quick and who take the game on.
CRYSTAL BALL
I have concerns over the midfield — Kennedy showed signs of slowing down this year and Parker looked a bit the same to me, they both looked a bit tired. The loss of Zak Jones takes away some speed and creativity, which the Swans already lack, so I think there is still some work to be done both in the list build and development before the Swans become a premiership threat again.
A middle of the pack finish is where the club finds itself now and that’s probably what we can expect from them next season as Longmire continues to regenerate the list and gets games into young players. They’re an 8-12 side.
But I have a lot of respect for Sydney and their ability to fast-track the development of their players so I wouldn’t be surprised if they prove me wrong.
Originally published as Gary Buckenara analyses Sydney Swans list after the 2019 season