You know the moment in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when the turtles infiltrate the Shredder’s junkyard and Donatello says, “The perimeter’s quiet” and Leonardo says, “Yeah, a little too quiet”?
Besides loving this moment in my childhood, it reminds me of the Sydney Swans – all is quiet, a little too quiet.
Three things I have learnt watching football for the last 10 years are: Don’t hold my breath for a Richmond premiership; don’t expect a Richmond coach to last longer than five years, and write off Geelong and Sydney at your own peril.
Oddly, in Sydney the storm came before the current calm. The storm in this case was the Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin storm and all eyes will be on the big forward entering season 2013.
But since the storm, all is ‘too quiet’ in Sydney.
What’s the perfect balance for the Swans forward line?
Kurt Tippett kicked 35 goals in 12 games; he’s a monster and demands two defenders every time it is kicked to him.
Adam Goodes is playing closer to goal as the years go by and still loves to push up the ground if he has gone quiet. Does that remind anybody of a former Hawthorn player?
Does Sam Reid have room up forward when Buddy is around or does he go back to where he played his junior football in defence, and is there enough room for Gary Rohan who looked good coming back from injury?
Last season the Swans had 15 goal kickers who kicked 10-plus goals; they have enough firepower to blow teams apart. They’ll find a system, it’ll just be interesting to see what that is.
Mike Pyke pushed for All-Australian last season and will give his team a target around the ground.
Josh Kennedy, Daniel Hannebery, Keiran Jack and Ryan O’Keefe are all inside beasts (they all averaged above 25 touches a game except for O’Keefe, at 23), they were ranked first in clearances, contested possessions and tackles.
Jarrad McVeigh is as good a small utility as there is in the comp. The reigning best and fairest winner can kick goals as a midfielder or sweep across half-back in a quarterback role.
If there is one knock on the midfield it can be the lack of pace. Lewis Jetta was sorely missed by the Swans throughout last season and the Swans will benefit from his speed.
Luke Parker, Tom Mitchell and Craig Bird would start in the middle for most clubs.
But the balancing act isn’t only in the forward line.
Ted Richards can hold down opposition forwards and Heath Grundy is one of the first picked every week. Lewis Roberts-Thompson is available and if there isn’t enough room for Sam Reid up forward, he will more than fit in defensively.
Their creative attack from defence starts with Nick Malceski, who was the leading rebounder from defensive 50 in the league, and Rhyce Shaw’s return from LARS surgery looks promising.
Nick Smith and Dane Rampe are defensive rocks.
They play slow; it’ll be a war of attrition. But if they want to go head-to-head with anybody, it seems they now can.
Balance is the key, this group are experienced, it’s just a matter of how long it takes to unify.
We’ll know more after week five just how good the Swans will be in 2014, where they have a tough draw. But the balancing act could take a little longer to figure out.
They’ll go deep into September and I’m not counting them out as premiers, this is just where I find them finishing on the ladder.
Back to that great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles scene, Donatello takes out two soldiers single-handedly and says to Leonardo, “Well that was easy”, to which Leonardo replies, “Yeah a little too easy.”
If the Sydney Swans can get the balancing act right and find their perfect line-up, they could be saying the same thing come season’s end.
Lad-View: third
Individual Predictions
Best and Fairest: Keiran Jack
Goal Kicking Award: Kurt Tippett
In The Hot Seat For 2014: Hhmmmm
Player You Need to Watch In 2014: Tom Mitchell
Things Most Looking Forward To Seeing In 2014: Buddy versus The Hawks!
Novelty Blog Award: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Michael huston
Guest
I would hope so Jack. O'Keefe is 33, and preserving our more senior/injury-prone players in the "easier" weeks is a smart strategy, especially after seeing how fatigue wore away the Swans in August and September last year. However, wasn't there supposed to be some rule that a team must field its best possible list each week after Freo sat out half their team last year? It's a difficult rule to enforce... I trust Longmire knows what he's doing though.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
My family and I, while I disagree with the omissions themselves, think that the are trying to save these players for round 2 or further. Only logic behind it...or O'Keefe has an injury they are not telling us or needs the extra week.
Michael huston
Guest
Me too, Mark. It's a very Clarkson-esque thing to do to adjust the best 22 based on weekly opponents, but unfortunately it's not very Sydney-esque. Since when has Sydney sat out a best and fairest winner, an all australian and a Norm Smith medallist to allow players like Laidler and Cunningham a position in the team. Yes, their pre-season form was great, but you can't compare three practice matches of play with over a decade of consistency. O'Keefe is almost always one of our best tacklers and ball-getters, two things that is crucial to any great player. This is what I was afraid of: Franklins arrival is just one in a string of questionable decisions made by the Swans since their 2012 win. Changing their style of play, injecting youth into their side (though last year it wasn't their fault as injuries led to their depth being tested) and relying on the less consistent like Jetta and Reid. It just bothers me that players who have given their all week in, week out like Rampe, Parker and now O'Keefe aren't receiving the recognition they deserve for contributing to the team. I hope the team ethic doesn't go out the window just because of this star-studded line up.
Mark
Guest
Flabbergasted that O'Keefe didn't get picked
TW
Guest
Off topic but related-- The Swans and the AFL are expecting a crowd of over 20,000 for Saturdays game against the Giants at Spotless. Apparently tickets are selling well. The biggest crowd to date for the Giants home ground was 12,136 last year. The big promotion is Franklin v Cameron for goalkicking honours. However seeing its in Sydney the TV ratings will also be of interest.
CLAYTON BEASY
Roar Rookie
Agreed, didn't put him there because I didn't want to put the mocker on him! and Tom Mitchell is a jet.
CLAYTON BEASY
Roar Rookie
I think he may have to play back regardless, I wonder whether Tippett, Franklin, Goodes and Reid are just a little too top heavy. Longmires key decision.
Andrew
Guest
Player to watch is most definitely Gary Rohan, if he can get through the first part of the year watch for him to take on more midfield time.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Indeed. We were beaten by Freo and Hawks with more experienced and energised sides. They deserved to go through. It was pushing ourselves at end of 2012 that meant 2013 we were behind much of the time (in terms of where we wanted to be).
Michael huston
Guest
I'm not sure what you mean by 'once again' Gene. Last year Sydney had a pretty tough run having to play Geelong, Hawthorn and Collingwood twice. Their efforts in August and September were a clear result of fatigue. Their players were dropping like flies every single week. And when they won their 2012 premiership, they defeated all the top 4 sides, including convincingly beating Adelaide in Adelaide and Collingwood in the prelims. They then beat Hawks in the GF after narrowly losing to them at the end of the season and thrashing them in Tasmania earlier in the year. Sydney have proven all they need to show they are worthy of their two premierships in the last decade and worthy of more in the near future.
Cat
Roar Guru
Will Sydney be able to beat a top 4 side this year or will they once again pad their record against lesser sides and an easy draw? 0 wins, 6 losses, and 1 draw against Geelong, Hawthorn and Freo last year (with three of those 6 games in finals).
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Will be good to see. Sam Reid has been conformed by Longmire to mostly be playing forward this season. My guess is if we get any injuries, Reid will be at back however.