Justin McInerney during his Rising Star nomination-winning performance against Melbourne last year. Photo: AFL MEDIA

SYDNEY
2020 record: 5 wins, 12 losses (16th)

THE INS
Tom Hickey (West Coast), Logan McDonald (Perth), Braeden Campbell (Pennant Hills), Errol Gulden (UNSW-Eastern Suburbs), Malachy Carruthers (Sturt), Marc Sheather (Pennant Hills)

THE OUTS
Aliir (Port Adelaide), Jackson Thurlow (delisted), Elijah Taylor (delisted), Ryley Stoddart (delisted), Zac Foot (delisted), Michael Knoll (delisted), Jack Maibaum (delisted), Harry Reynolds (delisted), Brady Rowles (delisted)

THE STRENGTHS
The Swans are clearly going through a tough transition period – their first in 15 years (a testament to their sustained level of competitiveness) – and like Hawthorn, who have Alastair Clarkson at the helm, Sydney has one of the best candidates in the sport to guide them through in coach John Longmire. And you could already see last year that the green shoots were promising, the Swans very competitive in most of their matches, including some memorable wins against GWS and Melbourne. They lost five games by less than 10 points, and pushed grand finalists Richmond and Geelong right to the end, as well as semi-finalist Collingwood. The Swans’ exciting youngsters such as Nick Blakey, Oliver Florent, Jordan Dawson, Will Hayward, Justin McInerney, Tom McCartin, James Rowbottom, Ryan Clarke and Dylan Stephens are already learning how to play the right way – to never give up and always have a crack. The continued nurturing of that steely resolve may just expedite their climb back up the ladder after only 13 wins in the last two years. Sydney also has arguably the most damaging small forward in the AFL now in Tom Papley, who inexplicably missed out on All-Australian honours last year, and if the great Lance Franklin can somehow get his deteriorating body to stay out on the park more often than not this year, that can only be a good thing. Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker are still reliable pillars in the midfield, while the Swans’ back six, led by star defender Dane Rampe, still looks pretty good on paper, despite the departure of Aliir, with Jake Lloyd finishing in the top five in the AFL for disposals in 2020 and third for rebound-50s. Getting the ball wasn’t an issue for Sydney last season, as the Swans finished seventh for both disposals and marks on differentials.

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THE WEAKNESSES
However, Sydney was badly wanting in the clinches as it was second-last for contested possessions and 15th for clearances. The flow-on effect of those disastrous numbers was that Longmire’s side ranked No.13 for total inside 50s and 16th for scores per inside 50. The Swans really struggled up forward, with Franklin (hamstring) missing the whole year, Isaac Heeney (ankle) restricted to six games and Sam Reid (hamstring/knee/calf) missing seven matches. By virtue of Franklin and Reid no longer having reliable bodies, the Swans’ key forward stocks look quite shaky, which probably explains why they went after McDonald with their first pick in the draft. Hayden McLean also showed some promise in his six games last year. The Swans ended up with the fourth-worst attack in the competition and the 12th-best defence, and seven of their 12 losses were by a margin of 26 points or more. A real low point came in round 13 when they were restricted to just 2.7 by Fremantle – their lowest score since 1971. Their good was encouraging and provided hope for the future, but their bad was really bad last year, and the gulf between their best and worst performance remains quite significant – closing that gap is one of the team’s big challenges. Sydney finished last season in their lowest ladder position in club history – luckily for the sides that won three wooden spoons in a row between 1992-94, there were only 15 teams in the comp back then! It must be said that the letting go of Aliir was one of the more head-scratching developments of the trade period, although the Swans may have authored their own misfortune in this instance because it sounded like the key backman wasn’t too keen on being a back-up ruck for another year. As a result, with Sam Naismith (ACL) still not expected to be fit again until mid-year, Hickey was brought over from West Coast to provide support for Callum Sinclair.

ONE TO WATCH
McInerney might only be 10 games into his career, but he already looks all class. After being dropped ahead of round six following a modest start to the 2020 season, the 20-year-old returned to the senior team in round 14 and made the most of his reprieve in the final five games. His performances against Melbourne and Geelong in particular, with the former example netting him a Rising Star nomination, really displayed what he is capable of. He has great skills and awareness and if his finish to the year is anything to go by, the Swans may have unearthed yet another ripper.

UNDER THE PUMP
Ben Ronke is in a battle to regain his spot in the best 22, which is almost an unbelievable statement to make if you consider it wasn’t so long ago that he was the toast of the footy world. In just his third AFL game, he became the first player in history to kick seven goals and lay 10 tackles in a match. And he had a reasonable debut year in 2018, too, with 24 majors from 18 games. But it’s been slim pickings since then, with only nine goals from 16 appearances, and he only managed three matches last year. Granted, he did suffer a season-ending back injury, but he was dropped for a couple of games before then. The 23-year-old was re-signed late last year, which is a good sign that the club wanted to give him every chance to prove himself, but he now has to repay that faith in 2021.

BEST 22
B: Jake Lloyd, Dane Rampe, Callum Mills
HB: Jordan Dawson, Lewis Melican, Harry Cunningham
C: Oliver Florent, Josh Kennedy, Justin McInerney
HF: Isaac Heeney, Sam Reid, Nick Blakey
F: Tom Papley, Lance Franklin, Will Hayward
R: Callum Sinclair, Luke Parker, George Hewett
Inter: Tom McCartin, James Rowbottom, Ryan Clarke, Dylan Stephens
Emerg: Robbie Fox, Hayden McLean, Tom Hickey, Sam Wicks

The team already looks much better with Franklin, Rampe, Heeney and Hewett named after all missed sizeable chunks of 2020 due to injury. Naismith will be a handy addition, too, eventually, but because he isn’t expected back until probably the middle of the year, he’s been left out for the time being. Blakey was used in the midfield a lot last year, but this writer believes he is best suited to the forward line, although he’ll have to fix his goalkicking after last year’s underwhelming return of 8.13. And McInerney was so impressive late in the year, he’s been placed straight into the starting 18.