Gibbons still dirty by the sound of it.
He posted "Nick Austin is a gun lol" and then deleted it.

Of that list, only Hewett came from the ACADEMY.

Swans played in a GF in 1996 and got beaten up by North thugs. Not one Academy player in that team.
They managed to stay in Finals every year till missing in 2000, 2002,
They did get help from COLA till the Buddy deal in 2013. Buddy started playing in 2014.

Swans won the 2005 and 2012 Flags with not one ACADEMY KID.
They continued to make Finals every year since except for 2009, 2019, 2020

The first Academy kid was Heeney in 2014, Mills in 2015, Blakey in 2018 and Gulden and Brayden in 2020.
Still cost them a first rounder, everytime, which they had, except for the Carlton mad kid, Gulden pick 32, but Academy has helped, but not to win a Flag, nor make Finals, till 2021.

There's something more going on in their favour than just the Academy.

I doubt there will be an Academy kid picked this year, or next. Who knows.
I watch them. My kid is in the Academy.

Great culture. No flower. Developed to play senior footy. Unconditionally put their body on the line or they dont get picked. Great coaching lineage. Great assistants...and the Training from Under 11's is ideal development.

Other teams try and copy their culture model. I don't know what happened with all the flower at Richmond. They wouldn't last at Swans with their Chopstick episodes, nightclub brawls, rooting the staff...just wouldn't happen at the Swans. Its a great club, and they know my son and I are Carlton through and through, just as that Marcellin kid Gulden was.

Austin has been average, he was very fortunate to survive last year’s review….

I still believe our top 22-25 can beat anyone. It's our next level and depth that is the issue.

Names like O'Brien Dow Setterfield Cottrell look good in parts but don't do enough consistently and for 4 quarters. When has one been in the Top 5 on ground? We need greater contribution from our 25-35 ranked players.

I think Williamson Ed Curnow Parks Newnes Philp will be gone. Then some of O'Brien Dow Cottrell Setterfield Stocker Fogarty Cuningham Martin Hayes Honey will be moved on

We need improvement and improved fitness in 2023 from Kemp Carroll McDonald Motlop Williams McGovern Marchbank Durdin Young TDK Pittonet Mirkov to really improve

Then we need to add some drafts picks and some smart depth players. We need genuine A Grade young talent coming through. I believe we need a genuine mature No.1 Ruck and I would chase Goldstein. He could easily play for 3 years and would help our midfield. I would also look at a "Callum Sinclair" type that can be depth and come in and fill KPF or Ruck when needed

The way Voss has been speaking all year that this is a long term development program says to me they have doubts about our list and needs a "refresh"

Good post

Our squad is not good enough. Additionally, we have too many injury prone players.

Ultimately in my view it comes down to good culture and player development. Geelong has this in spades. It has the knack of turning ordinary players into good players. We rely way too much on our superstars.

Listening to Voss and the coaches I think they understand that. My feel as they have believed from the start we lack genuine depth. They have always talked about it taking time, developing a culture and game plan over time.

Every week it's that same best players for us and the same players not doing enough.

The problem I have with this line of thinking is that our top players are the only ones that are "allegedly" leading the way and doing no wrong.
And I get that you're only as good as the bottom six, however when your top six are not delivering consistently (or even on the park) than the bottom six are irrelevant.

E.g. Collingwood's senior players all know how to lead, they all know how to step up and change the game to be on their terms or at least even it out.
They all have the experience, tenacity and desire to do this and they already know how to win at all costs and the bottom six then fall inline.
It also adds to the teams depth because of the mental attitude with the senior players lifting them up during the game.
It is something that has happened all around us for years with other teams, there are always really good finds in the draft/trading everyone else misses out on, especially us.
I know a lot of it comes back to systems, development and coaching, but it is also very heavily relied on with on field leadership and action.

So with this in mind you can see why our midfield has issues when Hewett is not in there, he comes from one of these leadership/playing systems.

If we are going to trade more players in, then we need to start by adding more depth to the midfield with fringe/A grade players from successful win at all cost midfields, like Hewett was. We need more leaders with experience and durability IMO.

we haven't changed unfortunately those close wins early on the year was like a band aid,we are to slow especially from defence and our mids are slow. Silvagni recruiting really stuffed the club.

I think we are fine in terms of leadership. Difference for me is Collingwood have brought genuine young talent through the door in the last two years with good skills and talent. Daicos, Henry, Ginnivan Carmichael Poulter McGuiness Johnson etc. They have also had little injury issues apart from Grundy and Cameron has stepped up

They were also a well drilled side prior to this year. McRae has been able to build on that. We are starting from near rock bottom in many ways and are still learning

I think C.Durdin, Motlop and Boyd are all ticks (so far). Kemp and Carroll could work out.

Question:

How many draftees since Walsh in 2019 have stepped straight in and made a difference?

We have drafted

Brodie Kemp
Josh Deluca
Sam Ramsay
Corey Durdin
Jack Carroll
Alex Mirkov
Jordan Boyd
Jesse Motlop
Sam Durdin
Will Hayes

There is some young talent but we need a lot more and better. I wouldn't think any have to this point stepped up and improved our side

The question was, how do they regenerate after losing players like those named. Their academy has produced 3 of their top 10 players. Gulden and Campbell will be in that category very soon.
No one is doubting the investment they make or the great development but if you don't believe they are gaining significant benefit from their academy, you're dreaming.

Great culture. No flower. Developed to play senior footy. Unconditionally put their body on the line or they dont get picked. Great coaching lineage. Great assistants...and the Training from Under 11's is ideal development.