Vendetta Sports Media is once again covering Australian Rules Football in 2022. Today we continue our AFL season preview series with a look at 2021’s surprise package, the Sydney Swans.
Waist deep in a rebuild, nobody expected the swans to make the finals in 2021. Can the Swans back up that surprise effort with another finals appearance in 2022, or will the team revert to type?
For all of our previous season 2022 AFL team previews, click here.
Season 2021
6th position: 15 wins, 7 losses, 119.9%.
The Swans jumped out of the blocks, surprising the heavily favoured Lions before taking down the Crows and the reigning premiers in Richmond.
Most encouragingly, Sydney earned the first three Rising Star nominations of the season in those wins as Errol Gulden, Chad Warner and Braeden Campbell all took to AFL football like ducks – or indeed Swans – to water.
The young Swans rode that momentum throughout the home and away season, continually confounding the pundits where were waiting for the other foot to drop and the Swans to fall away.
Sydney were drawn with arch rival the Giants in the opening round of the finals series. They had the game in control before fading badly in the final term, at one point kicking six straight final quarter behinds in their way to a heartbreaking one point loss.
In addition to the emergence of their youngsters, Sydney received some excellent contributions from their older players.
Buddy Franklin enjoyed a throwback season, kicking 51 goals. The now 35 year old must have thought his days of contending for honours were over with the Swans in a rebuild. His return to form mirrored that of his team. Luke Parker won his 3rd club Best and Fairest, 33 year old midfield dreadnought Josh Kennedy played superbly before missing the final with an injury and agitator-in-chief Tom Papley continued to kick goals (45), annoy the bejeezus out of his marker and even took some shifts in midfield.
Key ins: Peter Ladhams (Port Adelaide), Paddy McCartin (Free Agent), Lachlan Rankin, Matthew Roberts, Angus Sheldrick, Corey Warner (all draft)
Key outs: Jordan Dawson (Adelaide), George Hewitt (Carlton), Kaiden Brand, Matthew Ling, Sam Gray, Malachy Carruthers (all released)
Much of the Swans success in 2021 was attributed to their revamped tactical approach, which saw coach John Longmire abandon his steady kick-and-mark style for a helter-skelter running game that played into his squads relative youth. Augmenting that was a group of hard working clearance machines that moved the footy to all of those runners. Much of that kudos can be directed towards former Crows coach Don Pike, who joined Longmire’s coaching team last season and took control of the offensive side of the team.
The club did lose two integral parts of their machine in the defensively minded George Hewitt and borderline All Australian Jordan Dawson, who was their primary playmaker from half back. It’s a testament to the Swans newfound depth that they might not miss either of them all that much. There are ready made replacements for Dawson in the exciting Justin McInerney and the genuinely frightening Nick Blakey.
Blakey’s game could best be described as ‘chaos’. He’s a genuine line breaker with speed and unlimited creativity. Sometimes that imagination can get him into trouble as he does something his teammates are not expecting or he makes an utterly perplexing decision with the ball. The balancing act for Blakey is finding a level of calmness that doesn’t detract from his all action style. He’s good – he’ll get there eventually.
Hewitt will be replaced by James Rowbottom, which will worry Swans fans. At best an average user of the ball, Rowbottom is prone to killing the play, but he’s also adept at killing the oppositions play through his close man-marking. In a team that has ball movers all around him – including captain and talisman Isaac Heeney who Longmire has said will play predominantly midfield this year – he doesn’t need to be prime Simon Black with the ball; he just needs to get it to those who can be.
The Swans will miss Heeney and his 33 goals as a full time forward, but with an array of talented half forwards to lean on, the Swans should be fine in that department.
It will be interesting to see how the Swans manage Franklin’s workload. Entering his 18th season, the legend of the game rarely, if ever, trains these days in an effort to manage the myriad of leg injuries he’s dealt with over the journey. Sitting just five goals short of the magical 1000 milestone, expect the Swans to let Buddy play in the first few games then reduce his workload significantly once he hits the grand in an effort to keep him fresh for the finals. That will give an opportunity to either 19 year old Logan McDonald to stake a claim to the full forward position once Buddy finally hangs up the boots, or to the grandest of reclamation projects in Patrick McCartin.
Now 25 years old, the former 1st overall pick (to St Kilda back in 2014) has been limited to just 35 games in his career due to injuries and a series of concussions that brought about his temporary retirement. If McDonald isn’t yet up to the rigours of AFL football then letting Franklin and McCartin split the workload could work out well for both men.
Speaking of McCartin, his younger brother Tom emerged as one of the best defenders in the AFL last year. In the mold of Darcy Short, Tom Stewart and Jake Lever, McCartin in a terrific intercept mark who can also play a nullifying role as required. He teams with Dane Rampe to form a fine defensive duo on the smaller confines of the SCG, though Rampe’s ageing legs can be stretched on larger grounds.
Prediction: 6th
One of this writers favourite sayings is ‘progression is not linear’. Indeed it isn’t and there will be some of these young Cygnets that either don’t develop as expected or plateau for a season before finding another level.
That said, there’s just so much young talent on this team! Everywhere you turn there is another player in his early 20’s ready to step into the first team. Half of the Swans list is 23 or younger – that’s incredible! As for the veterans, they’re practically all proven entities. Franklin, Heeney, Parker, Papley, Rampe, Kennedy, Callum Mills, Tom Hickey, Jake Lloyd: these are all established stars or stars in their roles.
That mixture of talent both experiences and young, should see the Swans do enough to maintain their position on the AFL ladder.
