Where is Schneider?

[bigcarl]

Good grief. The kid has fantastic attributes that we badly need.

agree. he's a highly skilled goal-kicker in a team that is short on them. like milne his best position is near the goals.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Have we all magically erased the fact that Adam Schneider denied this club a premiership in 2005?

Good grief. The kid has fantastic attributes that we badly, badly need.

I look at him and I see something similar to Guerra; but the supporters nailed him too. Talented players are talented players. You have to give them every opportunity. That they've played in premierships is no mistake.

Give Schneids time; he'll make it. He may take a little longer because of his injuries, but I believe we can get him right.

I can see him becoming a 20-possession, 3-goal flanker each week for this club easily.

He's worth the risk and I have no doubt he's the type of player who can help us win a premiership. We need those players.

The Swans have clearly been on a downhill slide since early in 2007.

So, given that he was still relatively young and - according to you - has such "fantastic attributes" - why did they decide to trade him at the end of 2007?

Because Paul Roos and the Sydney Swans simply don't subscribe to the general "you must bottom out to reach the top" philosophy that the draft has inspired. They're retooling and redeveloping their list... but they're not rebuilding it in such a way that an Adam Schneider becomes a building block.

In 2002 they missed the finals (11th). In 2000 they missed the finals (10th), prior to that you've got to go back to 1995 (12th) to find them out of finals, and the only remaining players from that team are Leo Barry and Michael O'Laughlin.

While it stunned me (and most Swans supporters I know), I would suspect that the Swans identified Schneider's position as one where they could blood kids, and Schneider as having more return that Buchanan (due to age)... in the end, the move offset the acquisition of Martin Mattner, a move that worked well for them through '08, and with the news of Kennelly's retirement, now appears wonderfully foresighted.

The Swans may not be in the same place in the regard of the footy world that they were in 2005-06, but their "downhill slide" is probably something we should enjoy while we briefly have the chance. If past performance is any indicator, they'll spend the next few years fighting to stay in the 8 before having "rebuilt" into a dark horse contender without ever having bottomed out.

I don't think the Schneider trade says a thing about Scheider's quality, I think it comes down to asset management.

[vacuous space]

I don't think the Schneider trade says a thing about Scheider's quality, I think it comes down to asset management.

Roos made comments at the time that he felt Schneider's production had reached a plateau. There was also a lot of speculation that Sydney were having cap problems. Either way, the performance of Jarred Moore pretty much cancelled out Schneider. A lot of people had Sydney down in the 'losers' column of the 07 trade period. I think hindsight has shown that they knew what they were doing.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

I don't think the Schneider trade says a thing about Scheider's quality, I think it comes down to asset management.

Roos made comments at the time that he felt Schneider's production had reached a plateau. There was also a lot of speculation that Sydney were having cap problems. Either way, the performance of Jarred Moore pretty much cancelled out Schneider. A lot of people had Sydney down in the 'losers' column of the 07 trade period. I think hindsight has shown that they knew what they were doing.

Schneider's '08 certainly wouldn't go against the plateau idea. He scored a similar number of goals in a similar number of games. It's not exact (2 games less, 1 goal more '08 v '07, which was up from his '06 production), and the disposals were somewhat down... but most of that would be variation due to changing teams.

Like everton, I think that if Schneider gets healthy he'll give us plenty, and I don't think the Saints "lost" the deal by any stretch, but I do think Sydney traded wisely.

The hypothetical ideal "give me the problem" scenario for St Kilda: Heyne and Stevens rip up the VFL this year is small/mid forward roles, while Schneider and Milne are both productive in the AFL - what do you do? Sydney handled it well, and it should be considered an excellent example of list management for teams trying to extend the upward curve.

[the shadow]

Schneider is being handled very conservatively because of his history of soft tissue injuries. He's had calf, hamstring and quadriceps problems in the past 12 months. I think it's a sign that Dave Misson's regimes are highly individualised and designed to get the players "cherry ripe" for when it really matters. I'd be most surprised if he's not ready to go when the real action starts.

As for his place in the side, I think the coach really rates him as a player and with some justification. He is a goal kicker (something we're not exactly flush with ATM) and has good general skills. He's still relatively young in terms of his career and the best years should still be in front of him. Handled correctly he should be a good contributor for years to come.

[evertonfc]

The hypothetical ideal "give me the problem" scenario for St Kilda: Heyne and Stevens rip up the VFL this year is small/mid forward roles, while Schneider and Milne are both productive in the AFL - what do you do? Sydney handled it well, and it should be considered an excellent example of list management for teams trying to extend the upward curve.

Hey, if Jack Steven fufills his potential and becomes the new Paul Chapman and Nick Heyne blooms into a gun midfielder-forward, and they make Schneider redundant, I see that as a great thing.

...but even better would be if Schneider could reach his potential, not get injured and show us what he's made of.

Would be a great addition.