Swans adjusting to their new reality

I can’t agree that living in Sydney and Melbourne are similar. The rent in melbourne is significantly cheaper than in Sydney, say $850 per week for a two bed apartment (Syd) vs $550-$600 in Melbourne. That alone is $1000 per month saving for living in Melbourne, then in Sydney you have toll roads to get everywhere.

Gasket, you’ve lost it. Recruiting genius is what it was. Neale, Hodge? That wasn’t recruiting, it was acceptance of gifts because those guys requested to go there for their own reasons. The other two are nobodies at this stage. What a joke of a comparison. Not yielded anything/backfired? Silly or uninformed comment it’s just rot. I hope one day your team case rise again, it’s good for footy, but I won’t be surprised if SYDNEY does it before your mob. Good luck.

Nah mate there’s nothing to show for it, as a Brisbane fan, I’m glad we didn’t end up with Tippett and Franklin wouldn’t have done our team any good either. At the time yeah they looked good for about 3 seasons now you’re stuck with Franklin who’s too old and injury prone and Tippett who’s retired but still on your list wasting cap space. The Lions talent spotting/wheeling and dealing on the other hand since the 2013 crisis AGM has been almost second to none (who wouldn’t want Cameron, Neale, McCarthy, Hodge, etc) there’s been nothing high profile but we’ve managed to get ourselves to a window with cap space to spare. Ultimately the Franklin trade backfired and didn’t yield anything, the team you traded with won 3 more premierships you won nothing. How can you be happy with that since now you’re stuck with Franklin and Tippett? Won’t be surprised if/when Sydney loses some of these kids they’ve got running around for them when they realise they won’t be getting pay rises at all.

I'm still finding hard believe Sydney are actually losing. Don't get me wrong, living in a house fall of Swans supporters I'm enjoying it. Looking at where they are now, last 2 seasons you've seen some good kids coming in. I just wonder whether Horse has the ability to change his own style to get more out of this list. I don't think they have the make up for the crash and bash game anymore. Buddy still has enough talent to make an impact, but never going to when he's continually doubled team. Often due to Horse wanting to have an extra person around the ball. Needs to start to trust the younger guys like Mills, Heeney and Hewett and their ability to win it at the coal face.

The treatment of Tom Mitchell is probably one of the few Sydney would stick there hands up and say they got wrong. I just don't think they rated him highly enough. They clearly thought he had serious flaws in his game. You could just see how the 1st couple of years went. In for a couple of weeks then out, in and out. He never really was consistently in the team and would often get decent amount of the ball every week. It probably got to a point where he figured Horse didn't truly believe he could get to the elite level.

I'd like to see that. It would be hard to use a fretless instrument if you only have hooves.

I was also wondering if the Mitchell trade was also to make salary cap space for Franklin and others having back ended contracts.

Its difficult to argue that the CoLA should be kept when (i) the survey it was based on showed Sydney and Melbourne’s cost to be similar, and (ii) when the club’s officials were repeatedly caught boasting they held it back to use as recruiting bait for marquee players.

One of the intangibles is how Buddy and Tippet's deals distorted the Swans list and ability to recruit. Also, to what extent the contract(s) was back ended so that the big amounts were paid at the end of the contract. While I think that Buddy has been fantastic for the Swans, they haven't got the full bill yet. Ultimately, the real tally can only be made when Buddy leaves the club. But, I have been wondering if getting rid of Rowan was budgetary as much as anything else to make salary cap room. I always rated Rowan as a player and would I have been happy if he ended up at Collingwood, so to move him on when Franklin was starting to show age related problems suggested that there may be off field issues.

Not needed, not asked for.

Not everyone, just those that can’t make it happen the way the Swans can.

Nah mate, that is a bit of a weak bail. They were brilliant recruiting outcomes all AFL teams were envious of, including whoever your team is. And you know my inference is on the money, you and every other follower would have been grinning ear to ear if it was their club. Franklin has obviously been every bit as successful for Sydney as any past or present player you can name in this comp. Like I said, santimonious BS.

Accept your points Buddy has been a success - with bums on seats etc, but everyone was questioning the length of the deal and the cost even back then.

Nah mate just saying they made some recruiting decisions which they are paying for now not sure if that is entirely clever in the long run as we now see.

I have zero sympathy for the million dollar club , suffer in silence we don't want to hear ya

It's been a good deal thus far. Going forward it it a complete distaster. $5 million owing to a guy that can't train.

Tippett did not work out at all. To say Sydney ‘grilled’ itself with the Buddy deal is devoid of reality. He’s been an absolute success on and off the field, winning many games off his own boot, bringing in the crowds, keeping interest high in a broadly uninterested market and enticing sponsors. Yes, the natural response is no premierships. Well, as a Swans fan I burned as much as any the ones we let slip, but it’s gravely simplistic to suggest that makes it a poor deal.

So if your team was half as clever you’d be happy with them getting the same treatment, right? Sanctimonious BS.

So we are agreed.

Sydney grilled itself with the Franklin and Tippett recruiting saga only have themselves to blame.