Swans hoping Buddy will face Geelong

Small forwards weren't an issue for you in 2012 because slingshot football was more effective back then which was how you scored a high percentage of your goals. Now teams are drilled hard to counter fast breaks. Also the Swans' pressure was higher in proportion to the rest of the competition who've now caught up, their tackling was far more ferocious and this resulted in many more turnovers that led to easy shots on goal. The competition is a lot more even now and its infinitely harder to score because there is even less time & space so having quality crummers inside 50 has become vital, especially when Pyke is cooked and Tippett is struggling so your ability to clunk contested marks up forward has dropped noticeably. As for your midfield's lack of pace, its laughable you even mention Jetta who's playing across half back - do you even watch your own team mate?

Yeah, the way the Swans move the ball forward has really changed. It's more direct but also more predictable. That said, there've been other changes since 2012. O'Keefe and Bolton were useful goalkicking mids who've gone, and Goodes, McGlynn and Jetta aren't the players they were. I doubt Sydney could be as potent as they were in 2012 without Franklin and TIppett.

Well, firstly you're wrong about needing small forwards, because, again, we had none in 2012, unless you include McGlynn and Jetta, both of whom are still in our side. Second, you're wrong again about our midfielders. How are Parker and Jack and Hannebery and Jetta not "fast enough"? If anything, their main issue is the over-use of handball leading to turnovers, but I've long given up hope of Longmire turning our game away from handball mania. Got nothing to do with skill or pace.

The problem Michael doesn't really lie with Franklin & Tippett (or Goodes, who shouldn't even be in the discussion as he is obviously cooked as a footballer) but with the Swans lack of decent small forwards. Midfielders will occasionally get you goals resting in the forwardline but typically aren't natural goalsneaks, lacking the instincts necessary to crumb packs and cause havoc at the feet of the talls. West Coast are sorted in this area with Le Cras, Freo have Walters, and Hawthorn has Rioli & Bruest, but the Swans' best small forward is probably Gary Rohan who frankly aside from his pace I don't rate as a footballer at all. This problem is compounded by the Swans' midfield being made up of excellent ball-winners but few line breakers with genuine pace and even fewer elite ball users. If you're relying on Kennedy to throw the ball on the boot for meaningful forward 50 entries then you're going to wind up disappointed more often than not - West Coast has suffered from the same issue with Priddis but is now doing a better job of getting the ball out to guys like Gaff, Yeo, Wellingham etc and they are faster through the middle which doesn't hurt either. Nor does having a capable ruckman. Hard to see the Swans doing any serious damage in the finals this year when they are fundamentally lacking at both ends of the ground. Places a massive amount of pressure on them to dominate their opponent in the midfield to kick a score and how likely is that to happen against Hawthorn, Freo or West Coast? Maybe in one game out of three but not three in a row unless the other clubs all fall over with injuries.

Here's why I'm mad/sad as a Swans fan. When Buddy first arrived at the Swans, I got so angry at all the talk that he'd help us win a flag. Because we actually won a flag without Buddy. In fact, we won a flag without any kind of functioning forward line, which is almost unprecedented in AFL history. Last year, we would have played really well even without Buddy, because we were still that team that had Jack, Hannebery, McVeigh, Kennedy, Parker, McGlynn, Jetta etc. rotating through the forward line and popping up causing chaos for the opposition back-line. But this year, I don't rate us without Buddy, or Tippett for that matter. I said a few weeks ago that the arrival of two key forwards kind of gave us a kick-it-to-them mentality amongst the midfielders. Our two-way running in 2012 and parts of 2013 was breathtaking, as we could transition the ball from one end of the ground to the other with speed and skill, and because of our hard-running, our mids would win the ball inside 50. Now, we're a pretty functioning machine coming out of defence down the wing and through the corridor, but that's when we stop. It's like the machine shuts down because we've done all the hard work, and now it's up to Buddy and Tippett and Goodes to do the rest. It's like the long bombs inside 50 will do the trick because hey, we have two great forwards down there that will do something with it! But the truth is: they can't always do it. Buddy is a superstar, but he's not as accurate or trustworthy with the ball as, say, Jetta or McGlynn or Hannebery. And he and Tippett will always have multiple defenders leaching onto them, making it damn near impossible for them to mark the ball, whereas the sneaky types like Parker and Jack can lead off their defenders. I have said this even before we won the flag in 2012: we are at our best when our midfielders act as forwards. It's great having Buddy and Tippett down there, as it usually adds four or five goals onto our score, but where's the spread? Where's the unpredictability about our forward attack? We have one of the largest midfield groups in the competition (probably the largest), so Horse should be utilising that!