
Issue No 117		26 October 2001

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The Locker Room

New Blood for the Bloods

Barry Hall and Nick Daffy. Are they overpaid, over-rated and out-of-form - or the touch of class and experience the Swans need up front? Peter Moss looks to history for clues.

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That's the raging argument among Swans' fans. But it's a question that can only be answered on the playing field in 2002.

The club's record since drafting began in 1986 shows often disappointing results from traded and drafted players - but the outcomes have improved since the mid-1990s.

There are plenty of failures from top draft picks and big names. And some great players who were picked up by the club with low draft picks.

The five seasons 1986-1990 were years of reasonable success for the red and white and included two finals campaigns.

But the input from players drafted and traded in those years was minimal. Of 54 players traded or drafted, only two went on to play 50 or more games for the Swans.

Only Dale Lewis - picked up from North Ballarat with a number 2 pick in the now defunct mid-season draft - became a significant player for the club. He retired this year having played over 180 games.

Twenty players recruited from 1986-1991 failed to take the field with the senior team. Some never came to Sydney.

The impact of players recruited in the four seasons 1991-1995 was much greater. Often not immediately - the club struggled to compete until 1995 - but several recruits from this period remain today as part of the core team.

In fact, the club's very poor performances though this period - at one stage failing to win a game for 18 months - delivered very strong advantages to the Swans in priority and additional draft picks.

Andrew Dunkley, now vice-captain with nearly 200 games played by 2001, came from North Launceston as pick 56 in the 1991 national draft.

Daryn Creswell, from North Hobart, was pick 39 in the 1992 mid-season draft. He played game 200 this year.

Brad Seymour was the standout recruit in 1993 - as a zone selection from the Wagga Tigers. The Swans used their number 1 draft pick that year on Darren Gaspar, who left the club when his contract expired and is now an All-Australian fullback for Richmond.

1994 was a red letter year for the club. All the highs and lows of player recruitment were on display but, despite mistakes and disappointments, the platform for on-field success was laid.

The number 1 selection in the preseason draft was wasted on Dermot Brereton - a champion with Hawthorn in his day who should have retired in glory rather than eking out seven forgettable games in Sydney.

The club used their number 6 and 21 preseason picks to secure Peter Filandia and Derek Kickett, both from Essendon. They played 133 games between them and were important contributors in the Swans' 1995-1996 resurgence.

The Gaspar syndrome - where talented young prospects from interstate are recruited in the draft, only to leave Sydney at the first opportunity - struck Anthony Rocca and Shannon Grant, taken with the club's top two picks in the 1994 national draft.

But at the same draft, immediately after the 1994 season, Sydney used picks 21 and 40 to win the services of Matthew Nicks and Michael O'Loughlin, both now among the club's very best.

Post-season trading in 1994 delivered Tony Lockett, while Leo Barry came through a zone selection. Throw in Paul Roos, number 1 selection in the 1995 preseason draft, and the Swans completed one of the best recruiting drives ever.

The club rose to 11th on the AFL ladder in 1995, and was further strengthened prior to the 1996 season with the addition of Stuart Maxfield, traded from Richmond, and Ben Mathews, a zone selection from Murray Bushrangers Under 18.

However the trend of many top draft picks failing to deliver for the Swans continued. Kent Butcher, from Collingwood, the club's first preseason selection in 1996, never played in the senior side.

Sydney's 'surprise' appearance in the 1996 grand final clearly owes much to the infusion of talent from advantageous draft picks and trades through 1993-1995.

The club's top pick at the 1996 post-season national draft, Mark Kinnear, played just six senior games. But Rowan Warfe, selected with the Swan's third pick at the same draft, has become a stalwart tall defender.

In the national draft at the end of 1997, two of the club's class acts - Saddington and Goodes - were selected with picks 11 and 40 respectively. Throw in Wayne Schwass - swapped in a trade for Shannon Grant - and the basis for a top four finish in 1998 was established.

The national draft after the 1998 season saw the Swans holding three picks in the top 10. The club went for youth, and scored well with the selections of Fosdike and Bolton. Ryan Fitzgerald, the other youngster from that draft, was traded to Adelaide this month after a chain of injuries was judged to outweigh his height and potential.

Scott Russell and Brett Allison - both older players unwanted by their original clubs - were recruited in 1999. Both should have taken the hint and retired rather than accept Sydney's offer to move north.

But two other established players traded in at the end of 1999 have delivered in spades. Andrew Schauble, from Collingwood, won the Swan's Best and Fairest in 2000, while Jason Ball, from West Coast, was close to the best in 2001.

And of course Paul Williams, who left Collingwood at the end of 2000 while at the peak of his career, took out the Swan's top award this year in his first season with the club.

Three trends emerge from Sydney's drafting and trading history.

Firstly, the high degree of unpredictability about young players drafted in from interstate. The pattern here has improved in recent years. It's possible the club did not push so hard in the 1980s and early 1990s to insist these players make the move once drafted. But today Sydney is a model for the integration of young players from interstate and this is paying dividends with no significant young player leaving against the club's wishes since Brett O'Farrell shifted to Hawthorn a few years back.

Secondly, players judged by their original clubs to be finished rarely resurrect their careers in Sydney. Brereton, Russell, Allison, Tingay for instance. The question mark over Daffy may be whether Richmond believed he was past it, or whether the Tigers simply could not afford to keep him at the salary in his contract.

Thirdly, the Swans have done pretty well from the recruitment of players who, while established elsewhere, transfer to Sydney while still in their prime. A number of lesser lights from this category have contributed; but Lockett, Roos, Maxfield, Schwass, Schauble, Ball and Williams stand out. This history bodes well for Barry Hall's prospects.

Peter Moss is a Director of Lodestar Communications

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  Issue 117 contents

Interview: Brothers In Arms
Labour historian Marilyn Dodkin explains how she exposed ASIO ties with Labor Council's Cold War leadership.

Politics: Defending the Faith
Launching 'Brothers', Premier Bob Carr gave his own take on the allegations that union leaders worked with security agencies during the Cold War.

History: Surviving the Split
In this extract from 'Brothers' Marilyn Dodkin, looks at the manouverings around the establishment of the DLP.

International: Viral Attack
Postal unions in the USA are mobilizing to protect their members from the widening repercussions of an apparent bio-terrorist attack.

Unions: A Living Wage
The ACTU this week unveiled its claim for the 2002 Living Wage Case. Here's what they'll be arguing.

Campaign Diary: Week Three: Wave Them Goodbye
In a week when our boys and girls went off to war, Labor fought a desperate battle to fight the election on the home front.

Human Rights: Colombia's 'Dirty War' Against Unions
It might be tough being an organiser in Australia under the Howard Government, but spare a thought for Colombian trade unionists.

Review: Red Rag Unfurls
Ian Syson is an upfront, knockabout bloke. He heads up a new, small, independent publishing outfit called Red Rag Publications.

Satire: New Hope for Labor: Mackerras Tips Liberal Win
The electoral hopes of the Labor party have revived dramatically, after the perennially unreliable analyst Malcolm Mackerras forecast a huge victory for the Liberals.

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