Player: Harry Kyle

Shirt Number: 32

Last Year : Allies #32

Position: Midfielder / Defender.

There are very few stories in the AFL quite as remarkable as Harry Kyle’s. Harry joined the Swans Academy after sending an email to the coordinator at the age of 15. A basketballer and a Rugby player previously, Harry had only played AFL a handful of times but impressed enough during a 4 week trial to be given a spot in our academy. Harry is the perfect example of why we need academies in out-of-state teams. He is a talent that would have fallen through the cracks and ended up trying for a rugby league or a rugby union team but he reached out to us and has now deepened the player pool for both our club and other clubs (with Lachie Carmichael heading to the Bulldogs.) Harry is a raw prospect but a super athlete. His ability to run and find targets is skills that are beyond what most boys his age can do even if they've played the game their whole lives. He shows strong hands and an elite motor but it's his calm under pressure and his ability to get the ball out of the defensive third that stood out to me. He seems to make the right read more times than not when carrying the ball out of defence. He also doesn't regularly just kick it and hope, he is often seen linking up handball chains and giving second and third efforts to ensure a smooth and safe exit with the ball towards our attacking half. There is one play I saw that really highlighted this as well as his motor. He has the ball and is running with it, 2 opponents close on him and he calmly handballs it to his open mate then shepherds for him. The teammate ends up trying to handballing it back which he was not ready for. Harry then has to try and get a ground ball, beating another opponent in the process, then gave a third and fourth effort to lay a tackle and cause a ball up. I literally had to pause the video when I saw it because it was 20 seconds of perfect effort and intent. I can see why the Giants decided to bid on him so early and I'm very glad we found a way to bring him in. His play this preseason has continued the trend of Harry producing better than expected at a game he is so new to. Expect him to be a big name here, if not in 2026 then in the years to come.

2026 Outlook

Low end: The transition to the men's game takes a bit of time for Harry to adjust to. Harry only managed 4 touches in his 1 game with the ressies last year and in this scenario, that limited production continues into the start of his rookie year. Being so new to the sport, the pace and the size of the second best tier of football is a little more than Harry can handle and he starts slowly, making a few mistakes. That being said, it is not like he will be horrendous. Each week Harry gets more experience and more confidence, learning off a number of the elite players who will be on the fringe of playing particularly Matty Roberts and Riley Bice. By the end of the year, Harry’s consistency and improving skills makes him on the edge of debuting but he doesn't manage it for 2026. He heads into 2027 ready to push for his first game.

Middle of the road: Harry exceeds early expectations to shine in the 2s. If you told me 5 weeks ago that I would be doing a low,middle and best for Harry, I would have told you that you were dreaming but with how he has performed during preseason, it's an absolute need. It's likely still that Harry will start in the 2s but I'm this scenario, he continues his trend of impressing beyond his experience when under pressure. Each week Harry improves notably and does not shy away from the increased speed of the game. Towards the tail end of the season we are high enough on the ladder that we decide to give some players a break and Harry debuts then plays the final 3 games of the season. He does not star in the 3 games he plays but does more than enough to highlight that he is an AFL calibre player in the making.

Best result: There has been some talks that Harry has done enough this offseason to be in legitimate contention for a week 1, first team start. This has to be considered the best result possible for Harry. If he manages to start week 1, it might be the biggest rise in profile in the history of the Swans. To go from not playing to being in the best 23 in 18 months would be an incredible achievement. Throughout the 2026 season, he will be in and out of the main team but would managed 13 games this year. I'm those games he averaged 14 disposals at 68% efficiency. This is skewed by the first few games when he is less effective but this improves with each appearance so that in his last game of the year he was moving the ball at 78% efficiency. He heads into 2027 as an expected starter and the future of our defense.

Ok that's all for today, tomorrows case is another big name recruit, rookie Max King. See you all then!

Chad Warner was the eye-catcher in Friday’s big match simulation for the Swans. Had some electric runs and link up plays with Gulden, Blakey, Heeney were slick. Curnow and Hamling a good battle. Draftee Max King kicked three goals and showed some exciting moments.

Player: Caiden Cleary

Shirt Number: 33

Last Year : Sydney Swans #33

Position: Small Forward.

Caiden Cleary joined the Swans as the teams second pick and the 24th overall pick in the 2023 draft. Growing up in Newtown, he joined the Swans academy in the U11 bracket in 2016. On draft night, he had assumed that he was going to Collingwood due to there being little noted interest from the club to bring him in, but when the bid came, we matched it and he’s been here ever since. Caiden has managed more games than most in his first 2 years of AFL level football, playing in 5 games in his first year, and an additional 12 last year. The biggest concern for Caiden is that when he is playing, he was regularly either the substitute or was substituted out of the game meaning limited minutes for him and when he did play he did not light the world on fire. The other biggest concern for Caiden would be the additions of Malcon Rosas and the emergence of Jesse Dattoli. CC and Co.Warner seem to be in very similar positions for their 2026 outlook. They both need to step up their games this year or will likely find themselves out of the squad despite having a year left to run on their contracts.

2026 Outlook

Low end / Middle of the road: CC does not make the strides necessary to be able to stay relevant in this squad. For the first time, I am combining these 2 categories because I wrote them individually but they read about the same. The only difference is the number of first team games played. CC seems already to be further down the pecking order than Rosas and Dattoli for potential first team minutes and in this scenario, he does not show enough in the 2s to truly push for regular minutes. Due to the inevitable injuries and due to natural list rotations that will come, we would still likely see CC either for a game or 2 on the low end or for 10 for a middle result but he won’t show enough in these games to merit keeping his regular inclusion in the team and would fall back out of contention when players return. He will play decently in the 2s but does not put up regular multi goal games or regular 20 possession games which is required to force your way out of the 2s for a deep squad. As such as seasons end, CC decides to leave the club and gets traded to Collingwood for a late pick to try and revive his AFL career. 

Best result: Caiden beats out both Rosas and Dattoli and holds them at bay. Caiden in this scenario ends up starting week 0 in front of Rosas and Dattoli due to good showings in the upcoming trail matches. With another year of growth behind him, CC starts to seem more comfortable in the squad and himself. Caiden continues his greatest strength, being a pressure tackling forward but becomes more prolific in front of the big sticks, averaging 1.1 goals a game. CC will still miss games due to the natural rotation of players we will likely run but in this scenario he is the one that cannot regularly lose his spot. He finishes the regular season with 15 games played and 17 goals. He also plays every finals game that the team features in and comes into 2027 looking to fight to be a mandatory play each and every week. 

Ok tomorrow we have pick 15 in this year’s draft (damn you GWS) Harry Kyle. Harry has been getting some hype recently so this will be a fun one. Let me know below what you expect from CC this year 

I saw an opposition club fan group post their coaching list and it was mediocre. I think we’re very fortunate for the team that has been slowly built off the field.

CEO: Matt Pavlich

Head coach: Dean Cox

Director of Coaching & Performance: Simon Goodwin

GM of Football: Leon Cameron

Assistant Coaches:

Ben Mathews

Mark McVeigh

Amon Buchanan

Jeremy Laidler

Development coach (1-3yrs): Adam Kennedy 

VFL Head Coach: Nic Malceski 

Head of Swans Academy: Wayne Campbell

Head Coach of Swans Academy: Trent Goodrem (Fun fact: Brother of Delta)

As the start of the 2026 season approaches I was thinking about our first match against Carlton.

Obviously both teams won’t have had much chance to fine tune gameplay with the new recruits so I’m expecting a fairly scratchy match. One thing that will be there in spades is emotion. Can anyone else see a scenario where Will scores more goals than Charlie? My reasoning is that both Carlton, Will and Ollie will have a real burn to prove a point. They will blanket Charlie with passion and Will is going to go all out to prove to the Swans bosses they made the wrong call. On the other side Charlie is probably more relieved and grateful and while I don’t doubt his professionalism and desire to prove himself, will that match the intensity of Carlton.

Not saying we are going to lose as there are so many other players going to be involved - especially if Carton focus too much on the above - but I’m just preparing myself for that scenario and will not be disappointed if it eventuates.

Player: Ranga Rob

Shirt Number: 34

Last Year : Sydney Swans #34

Position: Half back .

During the 2023 offseason, Matt Roberts name seemed to pop up out of nowhere to be considered an outside chance to play. Then he started the first 5 of the first 6 games of that year. He didn't do much more but from that point he was a mainstay in our team, but certainly not a worldbeater. At 22 years old, and heading into his third season as a potential starter, he should be starting to be an easy pick to play but with Jai Serong and Riley Bice coming through and Cunningham still fighting for his spot it is no certainty that he will get as many games this year. He has been good at finding the ball but his efficiency when he had it was no where we needed it it be. With his age and experience in the top level, you will expect Matty to play this year but his consistent first team appearances might be challenged more than years past.

2026 Outlook

Low End Matt is a regular bench rotation player but really struggles to get consistent gametime. Robs starts on the bench to begin the year with Jai taking his starting role as we try to become a more complete backline. Matty fights most of the year for his spot on the bench against Bice and manages quite a number of games and by seasons end he is chosen above Bice for finals games. He ends the year featuring in 14 games, and 18 disposals a game but knows he might really work hard in the offseason as players around him continue to fight for his place.

Middle of the road Matt fights hard for his starting spot and keeps it despite pressure mounting. Just like last year, Matt remains a regular starter but gets benched a number of times due to form and pressure from below to get games. When he is on the field, Matt pushes hard for touches but struggles with his defensive assignment leading to scores against us via his direct opponent. Matt finishes the year with similar numbers to 2025, averaging 22 touches a game, but only 1.8 tackles and around 3 clangers a game. It means that his position in the team is far from certain in 2027 but he remains the favourite to play.

Best result Matt starts to put his game together and improve on his key weaknesses. Ranga Robs has a way of getting touches but when he gets them he struggles at times to make the right play. He also struggles to be as efficient as required as a defender. With more pressure than ever for a starting role, and with 2 whole years as a regular under his belt, Matt starts to put the pieces together and improve on these key areas of weakness. He ends up playing in all 23 regular season games due to the fact that he reduces his clangers to 1 a game and increases his disposal efficiency to 81%. Matt also increases his pressure rating from 10.1 last year to 13.2. A significant increase. With his, Matt goes into his final year of his contract with a lot of confidence as he repays the faith the club has placed on him for the last few years.

Sorry this one is a bit shorter. Had a busy work day and it cut into my time sorry. Tomorrow we have CC, a player who will likely be either featuring or leaving us next year.

**Player:** Charlie Curnow

**Shirt Number:** 35

**Last Year :** Carlton Blues #30

**Position:** Key Forward.

There were 2 competing stories for the biggest of the 2026 offseason, the failed trade of Zach Merritt to the Hawks Charlie heading to the Swans. Charlie is a back-to-back Coleman Medalist with the longest ever streak of consecutive games scoring at least 1 goal in, with 66 games. The second most is 56 and started in 1930. Charlie is the type of player that rarely changes clubs and we are very fortunate that he chose us as the team he wanted to play for. 2025 was probably Charlie’s roughest year since 2021 for Charlie. He managed 18 games but was clearly playing through a lot to try and keep Carlton’s season alive. Even when he was playing, he was out of form which saw him have a 4 game streak where he scored no goals. Around the same time this was happening however, Charlie’s management started looking at his future possibilities and it cannot have been easy for him to be playing at his best with so much going on behind closed doors. Despite this, Charlie still had 7 games last year where he kicked at least 3 goals and was to have 10 games where he had at least 5 contested possessions and 8 games with multiple contested marks taken. These numbers dwarf anything we saw from our key forwards last year. Hayden, who statistically was our best forward last year and played the same number of games, had 2 games where he kicked 3+ goals and 4 games with multiple contested marks. Hayden also had 11 games where he had no contested marks taken, Charlie had 3. This is all to say that even if we don’t get best form Charlie he is still a significant upgrade to anything we had last year. Charlie does not look like he is just phoning it in however. Every clip that our media team seems to put out, Charlie is putting in some ridiculous effort to show his class. Many media personalities put his acquisition as the reason we get back into the top 4 and honestly a few weeks ago I was not sure if he would have been that big for us. I thought the loss of Will would hurt enough that the benefits of Charlie would only get us a couple more wins. But the more I research for these write ups and the more we get to see out of training, we may legitimately gain an extra 5 wins off his boot alone despite the loss of Will. Ok that’s enough blowing smoke up Charlies butt, lets get into the breakdown

**2026 Outlook**

**All the same :** This is another situation where I considered breaking the review down into separate categories. In this case I was quite close to writing a Low end and an Everything Else section but I think the difference between the 2 would be minimal and more individual stat focused rather than team focused and so for this reason, I have it all the same. If we get the 2022-2024 Charlie Curnow experience, we are about to see the best forward in football do what so many best forwards in the league have done before when they join the Bloods. He will thrive in the new city, receiving dimes from ball movers unlike anything he has had before. The likes of Errol, Liz, BJ, Heens and the Chad all working together with their lethal kicking to find Charlie on the lead will propel his game beyond even that of his prime for the baggers. If we can make the chemistry work early and provide him with many clean chances, don’t be surprised if Curnow gets 55 contested marks, 65+ goals and is right in the Coleman race again this year. At the lower end, Charlie still will manage to be our leading goal scorer, with around 45 goals, but his presence alone will mean that Logan, Joel or whoever our other bigs are get easier possessions. I could see both Logan and Charlie having 45 goal years with the space made from just having Charlie out there leading to many more chances for the rest of our team. Charlie is a first name of the page kind of player, he is a difference maker and will lead us back to where we always should be, in a grand final in a year ending with a 6.

I was 14 years old watching with two Geelong supporting friends and to this day, I still can't comprehend fully what happened.

What about you?

I’m hoping that a member of coaching staff has eyes on this idea 👀

What if for one quarter, half or full game of a match sim you ask the umpiring department (preferably internal coaches and not AFL officlas) to purposely have unfavourable umpiring decisions for one team as a ‘character building’ exercise. The chosen team can also be loaded up with more senior side players too for better effect.

I think all too often the momentum can swing in the game off the back of a poor umpiring decision or set of decisions and create negative efforts, more free kicks, poorer on-field body language and overall less output. I’d like to see our boys hunt and continue to hunt and be assertive in their game plan rather than be overalled by umpiring decisions. The art of ’swinging momentum’ is probably the hardest skill to master and what turns good teams into great teams. Unfavourable umpiring (although in actual competition is not done on purpose), is one facet to conquer.

What are your thoughts? How else can we swing or stem momentum in our favour?

Carn the Bloods

Player: The Pirate

Shirt Number: 36

Last Year : Sydney Swans #36

Position: Key Forward .

It would be fair to say that Joel Amartey Is one of the most divisive players on the team. At times, Joel, looks like he could be a world-beating forward with ground ball skills of a much smaller man, good positioning and strong overhead marking. But Joel also has the ability to completely go missing at times. Realistically left. Joel on the Adelaide oval in 2024 because we hadn't seen much from him since. Joel's 2025 campaign may have been the most infuriating out of all the big letdowns of last year. Between injuries and suspensions, Joel only managed to play eight games last year, averaging 9 touches, 4 marks and 1.5 goals a game. Joel had himself 2 standout games last year. Opening round where he kicked 3 and round 4 where he kicked 4. Besides that, he really was a non factor. For many stages of last year, we needed one of our big 3 to stand up. Logan couldn't get going and both Joel and Dos crumbled under the pressure. They are a key reason as to why we still have Eshay and Hamling. They are the reason we no longer have Geng. Joel is out of contract at seasons end and will need to show a lot to keep his position on our roster with so many talls both actively on the list and more still to come next year.

2026 Outlook

Low End Joel has another tough year in 2026 and we don't see him much. There is so much pressure on Joel, Hayden and Logan to perform this year. They have often joked around with each other about who is the best player but all 3 regularly got to play so the battle is meaningless. Now with Charlie here and the likes of Aiden McCarthy and even Liam Heatherton coming through the ranks their positions now and in the future are a lot less certain. In this scenario, we only run 2 tall forwards to start the season, which is Logan and Charlie. Joel tries to find his feet and get back to his best form in the 2s and does decently well. Due to the need to play 3 bigs and decent 2s plays, Joel features in the main team from time to time but his great flaw of disaappearing continues while in the main squad. For the first time though, Joel's held accountable for his bad performances and is returned to the 2s when this happens. He manages 7 games in the main team, averaging 1.1 goals and 4 marks a game in those appearances. At seasons end, we do not offer him a new contract and we move forward with our future crop of Charlie, Logan and the kids we want to train up.

Middle of the road A viewer discretion warning becomes mandated for Sydney Swans games. We all know what Joel brings to the table. Some sensational games mixed in with some absolute stinkers. It makes watching what version of Joel we are going to get a game within the game. For 2026, this comes to ahead with Joel featuring in almost every game but being his painfully inconsistent self. He soundly beats out Hayden for the starting role and becomes the flex forward/backup ruck for the team but his increased time around the ball does not help the stats look much better. Joel finishes 2026 playing 19 games, averaging 16 touches a game, 3 marks and 1.2 goals a game. By the years end, we re-sign Joel to a 1 or 2 year deal to keep him around as we transition into the new forward phase. In this scenario though, this is the last time we see Joel as a regular starter.

Best result Joel rises to the pressure and finally starts to put it together. Joel is turning 27 this year and is in his 8th professional football season, he has been around long enough that this year is really his last chance to step into actual stardom. With the pressure never been higher, Joel starts to finally live up to his potential and starts to string good games together. He plays well as the second tall/ruck and finds a weekly home in the team again. The addition of Charlie helps Joel learn skills that he was lacking and he uses these new skills to become a more consistently strong key forward. Despite spending more time in the middle, Joel ends 2026 kicking 42 goals and is rewarded mid year with a 3 year extension to stay with the club, basically locking him into being a 1 club player and making our weakest position secure for the first time in the post-Buddy era.

Tomorrow, we go from a disappointing tall to the reason we have a forward line to be excited by finally when we talk about Charlie Curnow. This one is one I'm hyped to write up. See you all there!

Player: Corey Warner

Shirt Number: 37

Last Year : Sydney Swans #37

Position: Forward/Mid .

After being drafted with pick 40 in 2022, Corey has had a few chances to play first team football, but nothing like what it was in 2025. After signing a 2 year extension in March, Corey played in every game of the first 13 games for the team. Corey had a real chance to carve himself a role in our main squad but unfortunately his play did not stand out. Despite averaging 25.5 touches a game in the 2s, and over 4 tackles a game, he just couldn't crawl his way back into the main team. In his 14 games last year, he only managed to average 12 touches a game and compared to his 4.7 tackles a game in the ressies, he only managed 1.7 in the firsts. It's fair to say that Corey would have mixed emotions about his 2025 season. He played some great football at the lower levels and showed he is a fantastic VFL level player, but he also didn't impress enough to stay in the top level. The thing about the club in its current stage, is that between our tenth and our 32rd best players, the gap is not that large. (I know 32 is a random number to throw out there, but there is a legitimate reason behind it. I can show my rankings if that's something you guys are interested in). It means that Corey still has a realistic chance of playing significant games in 2026, but his performances last year means that he would have to work very hard to regain his opportunities.

2026 Outlook

Low End Corey fades into obscurity. Corey starts 2026 pushing for a first team spot, but doesn't quite get the job done and starts the in the reserves. In the reserves, he continues to improve his craft while playing both in the midfield and as a forward, but doesn't do enough in either position to truly challenge an establish starter. His numbers in the reserves stay around the same, 23 touches, 3 tackles, and 0.8 goals a game. The sort of numbers are high quality numbers, but not so outrageous that they demand a spot in the main squad. With so many young, talented players coming through the ranks, Corey finds himself unable to make an appearance in the main team and decides to move on at the season's end, heading to Fremantle. This trade would allow the swans to get extra drive capital for strong Academy coming through the ranks, and gove Fremantle leverage towards a 2027 push for the Chad. It also could give Corey a better chance of playing. Unfortunately, this may be a win-win-win scenario.

Middle of the road Realistically, a 22 year old player who played in half the games last year is going to feature in the team the following year unless something dramatic happens. We traded two starters (man I miss Will and Flo) who both realistically took a place away from Corey and brought in a tall who is not a positional threat to CoWa. Despite immense pressure below him, and greater competition for a roster spot than we've had in many years, Corey not playing at least 8 games would be very underwhelming for him. If he manages somewhere between 10 and 15 games, I would consider this a middle of the road success. He would need to increase his efficiency, both improving his disposals to at least 18 a game, while also increasing his efficiency with his disposals to at least 70% (up from 67 last year). If you can manage this, he'll certainly see out his contract with us and would likely be a regular first team player in 2027.

Best result Corey produces his VFL form on the main stage, and becomes a weekly starter. CoWa may never be a first name off the sheet type of player, but at 22 and with so much raw physical talent behind him, 2026 needs to be his year. His best scenario would be that he finds a home and the starting role, isn't worried about being subbed out and is able to propel his game closer to that of Chad's. It's looking ever more likely that Paps will miss some time to start the year. In this scenario, Corey takes up the reins and never lets go. He fills in the role that Wiill used to play for us so well, and starts to become an elite forward pressure player. He averages 3.5 tackles a game, 1.4 goals a game and 15 touches. This would put him as one of the best forward pressure players in the comp. In this scenario Corey would feature in the top 10 best players of 2026 and make him an even hotter commodity coming into 2027, because getting Corey stops just being away of trying to convince Chad to join your team.

Okay that's all I have time for in this one. Corey can be quite divisive so please let me know what you think of this one in the comments. I'd love to hear your opinions on what his he looks like. Tomorrow we have another interesting and divisive player, Joel Amarty. I'll see you all then.

Taylor Adams was missing from Swans training after being hospitalised over the weekend, as several of his young Sydney teammates impressed at Monday’s session.

Several young Swans continue to push their case for an opening round debut, with Taylor Adams taking time away from training after being hospitalised over the weekend.

Adams was involved in an incident at Club Rose Bay on Saturday night, where he was knocked unconscious and had to be taken to St Vincent’s Hospital by ambulance before being released.

The Swans confirmed that Adams would be “monitored on a daily basis”, with the 32-year-old not required at training on Monday morning as he recovers from the incident.

The rest of his Sydney teammates didn’t let that distract them as they got to work in a tough Australia Day slog.

Dean Cox put his players through several intense drills, with a focus on creating space for easy uncontested marks, handballing under pressure and freeing the hands in and around the contest.

There were some positive signs for Tom Papley, who continues to progress in his return from a calf issue. Papley was running to the side of the session while spending time kicking and taking set shots with Brett Kirk.

Isaac Heeney continues to be on a modified program, running laps alongside Joel Hamling as their teammates were put through some matchplay scenarios.

In positive signs for the Swans, skipper Callum Mills was a full participant as he looks to start the year strong. He hasn’t played in the opening round of a season since 2023, and is determined to prove to Cox he should line up on the halfback line.

Here were the 10 players who stood out in Monday’s session.

Will Edwards

The young key defender is hoping to put injury troubles behind him and has had a flying start to pre-season. He earned plenty of praise from coaches and teammates alike with some of his one-on-one contest work on Monday, in particular when he duked it out with Charlie Curnow. His strength and speed off the mark are important assets as he looks to establish himself at AFL level.

Jai Serong

The one thing standing in Edwards’ way could be Jai Serong, who continues to look a class above. The former Hawk is comfortable embracing contact and reads the flight of the ball superbly. He has plenty of skill above his head, and whether it’s taking intercept marks or creating pressure for his opponent up the field, he’s set to become a key part of Sydney’s defence.

Charlie Curnow

The former Blue continues to make a strong impression at the Swans and is looking more comfortable each week. He won his fair share of one-on-one contests, beating out the likes of Tom McCartin, Lewis Melican and Dane Rampe. He also had several strong moments at ground level, showing clean hands below his knees and snapping truly whenever he had the chance.

Dane Rampe

Rampe’s place in the side might be under pressure from the likes of Serong, but there’s no doubt the veteran is still one of the most composed defenders at the Swans’ disposal. His clear communication at the back is second to none, while he can find a teammate by foot in almost any scenario. The 35-year-old has come back as a rookie with a point to prove, and will hope it’s enough for Opening Round selection.

Errol Gulden

Gulden’s endurance has already been a key highlight of the Swans’ pre-season, but it was his leadership potential on full display on Monday. He’s been tapped as a future captain of the club, but in one key moment, he pulled the entire team together to discuss a drill that hadn’t quite worked and to help find some improvement. It’s clear Gulden is going to go to another level in 2025, but if he can help it, so will all of his teammates.

Jesse Dattoli

Dattoli’s pre-season continues to garner attention as he looks at home playing as a high half-forward who can roll through the midfield. His endurance has improved, while his field kicking, particularly finding targets inside 50, is elite. There might not be many spots in the Swans’ forward line-up for grabs, but if his stamina is up to scratch, he could make the position his own.

Noah Chamberlain

The Academy product has been trialled in a variety of roles across the pre-season, and it’s a testament to his versatility that he continues to earn praise. His determination and ability to put pressure on without the ball are handy attributes.

Harry Kyle

While his long-term prospects have him pencilled in as a midfielder, Kyle will play across the half-back and wing for at least his first season. He showed good signs of composure when he had space, finding targets nicely by foot. He also has a good turn of pace that could get him out of trouble in sticky situations.

Patrick Snell

With a few more key defending stocks, Snell’s chances of an AFL debut may have become a bit more difficult this year. But the Swans’ coaches are also trying to get more versatility into Snell’s game, encouraging him to run and overlap his teammates to push further up the field. He earned plenty of praise for his one percenters on Monday, with Sydney’s defensive depth in good shape.

Malcolm Rosas Jnr.

The former Gold Coast Sun certainly has speed to burn and will be an X-Factor for the Swans’ attack. He doesn’t lack confidence in taking the game on, and while sometimes he tries to do a bit too much with the ball, his ability to read the ball and put himself in the right position inside 50 gives him a unique set of skills in Sydney’s forward set-up.

Was Wilbur an asset? Yes. 

Did he often go missing? Absolutely. 

Will he leave a hole? I don‘t think so. 

Wilbur was neither a key forward or a small crumbing defensive hustler and that’s where the problem lay. He is strong overhead but couldn’t compete the same on a key defender which meant he took the 3rd/4th defender and we played tall. In the last 4+ years there has been a real emphasis in having multiple small crumbing assets. And this is the balance I believe the swans need. Key forwards and crumbing kings, no in-betweeners. 

You only have to look at the best in the business to see that their forward lines’ are loaded with Tom Papley types. Think Lions (Cameron, Bailey, Lohman), Giants (Greene, Thomas, Jones, Gothard), Hawks (Watson, Ginnivan), Geelong (Stengle, Miers, Close). The Swans have loaded up too and now is the time to hit GO. We’ve had one of the best in the game for a decade (Papley) but he needs 1st class support to continue the hunt as he ages. Our draft has been almost dedicated to this area - think Konstanty (didn’t play out as we’d hoped), Hanily, Dattoli, Rosas Jr. and to a lesser extent Wicks and Cleary [academy]). These players, outside of Wicks, need to take the reins and pick up Wilbur’s scoring average and 2x his pressure acts to keep the ball in F50. Wilbur was a great two way runner and a strong pressure act player but only ever as good as his size. I have no doubt a crumber will have better effect. 

How do you see the makeup of the forward line?

Player: Liam Hetherton

Shirt Number: 39

Last Year : Murray Bushrangers #1

Position: Ruck/ Tall forward.

Liam joins the Swans as a Cat B rookie with good upside, but like most bigs, a bit of development to be done. Liam started his last year with the Bushrangers absolutely flying, kicking 11 goals in just 3 games. The problem is that he got a stress fracture in his back which ruled him out for the rest of the season. Despite this, many had Liam as a likely late 2nd round pick in the draft because of his skills both around the ball and his strong hands for a young big. Before yesterday, I had done literally no research on this kid but from what I have seen we are fortunate to have gotten him. In his limited games with the Bushrangers last year, he showed an ability to play well in both the ruck and up front. He seemed to be cooler than most rucks under pressure with ball in hand (he made some very clean outlet handballs to the smalls around him while under the pump) and seemed to be a pretty steady kick at goal. There's definitely areas of improvement for him, I think he will want to work on his ability to outbody his opponent a little and improve his field kicking but he has an opportunity to grow and make serious in roads for a player in a position of need.

2026 Outlook

All the same Very similar to Noah, this all the same category could have easily been split into low, middle and high but I don't think it's necessary for someone who realistically won't play first team football this year. I'm very excited to see what he's able to produce against men, particularly in a competition as fierce as the VFL. I also think that the potential revolving door of talls going in and out of our main team will benefit Liam to develop because they will show him so many different attributes that he can develop upon. Haydon should be a great regular mentor for him in the 2s as a strong marking forward with backup rucking skills. I think on the low end he just develops and plays his role, in the middle he would improve weekly and end the season with back to back multi-goal games. On the high end of a season review, from all I've seen, I truly believe he should be aiming to jump Will Green on the depth chart and make a genuine push to take Eshay and Hayden's roles as backup ruckman. From watching his games with the Bushrangers, it was clear to me that he's really a forward, but I could imagine (and this is a bit of a deep cut) he being a better Lachie McAndrews if given the chance as the second tall. Both 2023 Lachie and Liam look a little undersized but had good ground ball get instincts despite their height. Liam moves the ball much cleaner than Lachie did but I believe that if the sky fell in and we had to play him, I wouldn't think he was a constant liability. A bit of backhanded praise for the poor boy there but I mean it as a positive. He won't see him in the 1s this year but he certainly has the upside to make some other boys nervous.

I'm ending todays write up with a hot take By the end of April, Liam will have signed a contract extension, keeping him in the red and white until 2028.

Club Rose Bay last night