Why the Swans have the best young crop in the AFL

The Sydney Swans have set themselves up beautifully for a sustained attack on the premiership.

It took no more than two seasons for the club to turn their fortunes around and now they possess a squad featuring some of the best young pieces across the entire league.

We all know the Sydney story: a perennial finalist, missing just once between 2003 and 2018 with eight top-four finishes, five grand finals and two flags. They’ve undergone a re-imaging since 2019, which has left them with an entertaining style that can compete with the best.

The start to season 2022 has been scrappy – they won a shootout against GWS, were far more efficient and precise against the Cats, ran into a roadblock against the Bulldogs and clawed their way over the line against North Melbourne.

Over the next month of the season, Sydney play West Coast, Hawthorn, Brisbane and Gold Coast, which provides the club with a strong opportunity to cement a top-four spot for as long as they can.

And while they haven’t exactly captured the hearts and minds of the AFL fans as they did in last season’s magical ride to the finals, coach John Longmire has advanced this group into the upper echelon of long-term contenders without so much as a peep from the outside.

Unlike Geelong or Port Adelaide, the Swans have almost eliminated their over-reliance on their veterans by playing them in peripheral roles, rather than being the focal points.

For so long, Josh Kennedy was the main extractor in the midfield, Dane Rampe held the defensive fort as the undersized key defender and Lance Franklin was Lance Franklin.

(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

With the sped-up development of young players and their above-average output as inexperienced players, it has allowed Longmire to shift players around positionally.

Having the McCartin brothers as key defenders who can read the ball superbly in the air has released Rampe to mind the third-most dangerous forward in the opposition.

The team defence has seen the 31-year-old exposed to minimal one-on-ones and allows him to sweep across the back, providing assistance where it’s needed. His battle in Round 4 against Jack Ziebell ebbed and flowed, but Rampe had key moments in the last quarter when his calmness held the defence in good stead.

Franklin seemingly remains the key focal point and while he continues to post good numbers, the Swans often look better when the legendary forward is either off the ground or higher up the ground.

The veteran still has his magical moments around goal, but this power can be intoxicating to the midfield group and attract most of the targets.

Sydney are so much better with a varied approach with their inside 50s. When Franklin is higher up the ground, it has left Hayden McLean to work in one-on-ones, or Sam Reid or Logan McDonald to lead up at the ball.

No Tom Papley has meant the groundwork in the forward 50 has lacked a little, and Will Hayward’s form hasn’t been great in the opening month. But by having players that can win their individual contests, the varied approach often works well for the Swans.

Luke Parker is playing more as a forward who pinch-hits in the midfield, while Kennedy’s opening month to the season has his position in the team in peril, such is the development of the youth.

A common belief was that Sydney should dominate the game against North Melbourne, but the away team came to play and proved to be competitively stubborn and tough in the contests.

In the last quarter, when other teams may have thrown Patrick Dangerfield, Robbie Gray or Dustin Martin in the middle to get a spark, Longmire backed the players that have taken over the most significant roles in this team from their mentors.

Yes, Isaac Heeney most certainly counts as one of the next generation of Swans that makes this group so dangerous going forward as a 25-year-old, with his potential being realised now. He had seven disposals and kicked two goals in the final quarter of the Kangaroos match.

For the medical substitute to have such an impact replacing a legendary figure like Franklin is a feat in itself, but Ben Ronke finishing with 11 disposals and five score involvements in just over a quarter of footy was indicative of the depth at the Swans.

And instead of Parker or Kennedy dragging their team over the line, Justin McInerney had 14 disposals, four marks, two intercept possessions and a goal in the decisive final quarter that dragged his team over the line.

(Photo by Matt King/AFL Photos/Getty Images)

The 21-year-old gets lost in the shuffle when discussing the youth at Sydney, yet has proven himself to be capable of winning the hard ball when necessary despite being a wing patroller and his clearance work proved match-winning.

A player like McInerney is exactly the reason why the Swans have the best young crop in the league.

He was taken at pick 44 in 2018. Also taken in that draft was Nick Blakey at pick ten, averaging 21 disposals and six marks off half-back, and James Rowbottom at pick 25, currently ranked ninth for tackles and 12th for stoppage clearances per game in the league.

In 2019, they took Dylan Stephens at pick five, who is still looking to establish himself, and Will Gould at pick 26, who is waiting to debut.

Yet it was pick 40, Chad Warner, who has been able to have an instant impact despite being a later draft pick, averaging 21 disposals and five tackles.

In 2020, the Swans had the fortune of getting Logan McDonald at pick four and academy pick Braeden Campbell at pick five. Both are incredible talents with the latter showing great two-way commitment to start the season.

But again, it’s been Errol Gulden, an academy player taken at pick 32, who has been the transformative type of player in the forward half that’s really taken off.

Anyone that harbours any resentment towards the club points to the academy and suggests the Swans are gifted talented players.

Campbell and Gulden are the two most recent examples. Heeney and Callum Mills are the most high-profile and the two best players at the club.

Yet not enough is spoken of the true top-to-bottom development of the Swans that really showcases the recruiting and coaching staff as among the league’s very best.

For multiple players taken late in the draft to be so impactful early in their careers is a testament to how well the Swans’ program has been run for such a long time.

Having exposure to a certain amount of picks and players is only as good as the development on offer, and the fact Mills and Heeney are now entering their prime having played as flankers for the first five years of their careers shows that with clearly defined roles and a backing from the senior coach, players can take off at any time.

Where Kennedy and Parker have taken clear steps back from being the main clearance players, Ollie Florent has bulked up and helped take some of the load, with Rowbottom and Warner.

Jake Lloyd is only 28, but the burden of being the only distributor out of the defensive half is a thing of the past with 22-year-old Blakey and 20-year-old Campbell in the team.

Look at the ruck stocks behind the rejuvenated Tom Hickey and realise that the recruitment of 24-year-old Peter Ladhams suits the trajectory of this group, as well as the genuinely strong coverage provided by Joel Amartey, taken as a rookie himself.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

And knowing the talent identification and subsequent elite nurturing of the youth, the 2021 draft crop looks like a beauty.

Angus Sheldrick is a bull who will likely get more game time in 2022, but picks 34, 40 and 58 were all sliders with significant upside, with the Swans taking Matty Roberts, Corey Warner and Lachlan Rankin.

Roberts is averaging 29 disposals and four tackles to start his very first season in the reserves while the wildly talented but raw Rankin is running all over the place in the reserves and looks like a keeper.

So while we look around the competition and laud the performances of the very top draft picks who have entered the league in recent times, whether it be Jason Horne-Francis, Nick Daicos or Tom Green, it would be remiss of us to ignore this Swans unit and the components that make it up.

In 2022, Sydney’s squad is predominately aged 25 years or younger and all the main positions are filled by this age bracket.

Longmire has prioritised the youth and rewarded the excellent performances of these players by giving them more responsibility and backing them to win games off their own bat for the team.

Many coaches are too afraid to head down this path, but in his 12th season in charge, the 51-year-old has re-established himself among the very best leaders in the AFL with how he has handled his playing group.

The Sydney Swans have the best young crop in the AFL and we can expect them to challenge for the premiership for years to come.