Are Sydney missing a key piece to the premiership puzzle?
SEN’s David King believes they may be, in the form of a quality midfielder that can win the ball inside the contest and burst or link with outside players.
King says clubs simply can’t win it all without one of those players as he named several around the competition that fit the profile of the midfielder he believes are a must-have.
“If you haven’t got a player that takes the game from inside to out, you are miles behind the competition,” King told SEN Mornings.
“I don’t care where you sit on the ladder, what your magnets look like or if you have lovely players or in-form players in there.
“You watch what Dangerfield does to games with sheer brutality to take the game from inside to out, whether he steps out, bursts out or handballs out – the ball goes from inside to outside in a heartbeat.
“I see (Scott) Pendlebury do it, I see (Tom) Mitchell do it, I see (Marcus) Bontempelli rip the heart out of Fremantle on Friday night.
“Brisbane now have four or five players going through their midfield that can do it. It used to just be Lachie Neale, now it’s (Will) Ashcroft, it’s (Hugh) McCluggage, it’s (Josh) Dunkley.
“Even (Matt) Rowell and (Noah) Anderson have become a terrific pairing in going from inside to out.
“(Rory) Laird does it, (Darcy) Parish does it for Essendon, (Stephen) Coniglio does it for GWS … I can go through the competition, but who is it for Sydney?”
King believes that not having that dynamic midfielder is costing the Swans at the contest as their clearance numbers appear troubling so far this season.
“It is the same problem at Sydney in these sorts of games every time,” King said.
“They don’t really threaten, they don’t come out by handball – they’re 18th in the competition at leaving a stoppage with handball, they just surge kick and dump kick and it’s a problem for the next contest.
“That’s why they’re 14th in clearance and 14th in return from clearances.”
“Unless you’ve got one, you’re not competing
“Come the big games at the end of the year when you’re looking for moments to separate games, stack your moments and then you build some scoreboard pressure.”
Given that King can’t find one of those players on Sydney’s list, he feels the Swans should look to trade one in from a rival club.
King highlighted Fremantle champion Nathan Fyfe as a player that could be targeted to fill the role the Swans may desperately need.
“If you haven’t got one, you’ve got to develop one, you’ve got to trade to get one or you’ve got to do something unique to get one,” King said.
“That’s why I keep coming back to (Nat) Fyfe for Sydney, that type of player is what’s missing at Sydney.
“It’s not Luke Parker – I haven’t seen Luke Parker do that for a while, it’s not (Chad) Warner – he’s the first receiver and then maximum damage and it’s not (Errol) Gulden – he’s too small.
“They don’t have an inside/out player, and that is the game.”
Sydney will hope to bounce back from last Saturday’s disastrous performance against Geelong when they host GWS at the SCG on Saturday afternoon.