Afternoon all, it's Tuesday afternoon and time for another SwansCast episode. Before we get to that, there's been considerable movements in the machinations that make up football fabric.
Last night the Swans announced Sam Reid was extending his stay with the club until 2021. This is massive news on a number of fronts, most importantly Sam repaying the massive amount of patience and faith the club has afforded him.
There's been times when the fans have turned on him, and he suffered a raw deal, certainly in terms of fan angst and injuries from 2013 to the end of last season.
A shoulder injury early in 2013 against the 'Kangaroos' affected his season more than anyone realised, certainly using him as bit of a lightning rod, while waiting for Tippett to come along. It was all a bit extreme, and laughable, given he was an important player in the premiership a year earlier.
Fast forward to the start of 2017, all the recurring shoulder issues, calf, achilles and hamstring injuries behind him, and he's certainly shown why he was highly regarded in the first place.
Career best figures across the board, as well as returning to his dynamic best, showing good form in attack and defence, and providing flexibility across the ground in many positions.
His best role is undoubtedly at full forward, and he's proven it time, and time again, with a career-equal best 6 goal haul in round 2 against the Dogs, two hauls of 3, three hauls of two, including an influential effort against the Cats last week.
His flexibility opens up a lot of possibilities for the Swans forward line, and removes the dependency on Franklin carrying the forward line for the Swans to win. The proof is in the emphatic 46 point victory against the Cats last Friday, given the relatively poor performance of Franklin, yet the strong performances from Reid, Papley, Rohan and Hayward.
Papley is another player who's value has certainly increased this season. There's no doubt that there's a correlation between with his return to the side, as well as Rohan and Hayward, the teams' ability to lock the ball in the forward half. The Swans are strangling teams with their pressure around the ball, and there's no more telling area of the field than their forward half.
The Swans squeezed the life out of the Cats at time, but have done so against the Bombers, Tigers, Saints, Suns and Roos to name a few. While he's not the only component of that forward line, his pace, tackling pressure, endurance and sensational goal senses have certainly added a new dimension. It used to be the triple threat with Reid, Franklin and Tippett, but now it's Rohan, Hayward and Papley. And you still have Reid and Franklin to throw in.
Meanwhile in Queensland, the Suns have parted ways with former Swan coach, Rodney Eade. It isn't exactly a surprise given their horrible form, persisting on and off field issues, the will-he, won't-he drama with Gary Ablett and the mass ostracising of players.
It was a poor choice of assignment to begin with, given Eade wasn't a particularly popular choice to begin with, and didn't exactly leave the Dogs bemoaning his absence. His old style, iron fisted approach to coaching and man management was ham fisted as best, and in stark contrast to the approach of modern, successful coaches.
While Clarkson is often referred to as an "angry ant", and Longmire is frequently seen screaming and ranting into his fists, looking like a tomato about to explode, they've frequently extracted the absolute maximum from their players and earned their respect and loyalty. Even after grand final success and disappointments, both respective coaches and their teams have continued to have the support and respect of their team.
It's more than can be said about Eade, who set about destroying the fledgling culture of the club, referred to as corrupt and unacceptable, by a bit of an idiot chairman, who has no right managing a football club, let alone being in any kind of administration role.
In this weeks episode, I'm joined by Rowan from BigFooty and we discuss the weekend's results, the terrific Swans win, have a bit of a chuckle at Port Adelaide's situation and look at the road ahead.
As always, it's another great episode, this time it runs a more than modest hour and 10 minutes. So kick back, enjoy a coffee and listen to us discuss the Swans.
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