Harley puts Swans' AFLW push at No.1
Ben Horne
Daily Telegraph, July 26
SWANS chief executive-in-waiting Tom Harley has declared that establishing a Sydney women’s AFL team stands as his No.1 priority when he takes over the reins next year.
The Swans announced that Geelong premiership captain and long-term general manager of football Harley will take over from current CEO Andrew Ireland, who is to step down at the end of the 2018 season.
Harley made a secret vow to Swans chairman Andrew Pridham to take on the CEO job at the end of last season, but the club has only now decided to publicise the appointment as they begin to cast the net for a new football manager.
Coming from the Geelong Cats where he captained the super club to two flags, Harley exudes the class, professionalism and discipline that the Swans brand is built on.
He has already been a big part of the Sydney culture, but he hopes that one of his first acts as CEO may be to unveil a women’s AFL team wearing the red and white.
Sydney have held off on blooding a side into the AFLW due to a belief they need to improve their facilities and infrastructure first, and Harley is committed to seeing the plan through once his personal mentor Ireland moves on.
“That blueprint has been put in place now. We announced our intentions for a new girls academy through the swans academy so we’ll start to build a talent pipeline through there,” said Harley.
“We’ve been on record as saying that we need to find and development a new training and admin facility and that’s a priority for the club because that’s the fundamental reason as to why we were unable to tender an application (already).
“But we’re committed to doing it and importantly committed to doing it well.
Harley's promotion to CEO a sign of Swans' stability
Andrew Wu
SMH, July 26
Sydney did not look outside the club in its hunt for Andrew Ireland's replacement with Tom Harley's appointment part of a succession plan hatched last year.
Harley, currently the head of the Swans' football department, will take over the reins at the end of next year when Ireland steps down from the role he has held since 2009. Ireland had informed the Swans board of his intentions to leave last season and endorsed Harley to be his successor.
While the Swans board believed several members of their executive were capable of taking the top job, Harley was considered the standout with his experience in football, both as a player and an administrator.
The decision to promote from within is a sign of the confidence the Swans have in their own system.
Harley will become Sydney's third chief since 2004, replacing a man who has been at the Swans since 2002 – also when chairman Andrew Pridham and coach John Longmire joined the club.
The appointment continues Harley's rapid rise through the ranks of football administration. The 39-year-old, who retired after 198 games with the Cats and Port Adelaide in 2009, was AFL NSW's general manager for two years before replacing Dean Moore as the head of the Swans' football department after the 2014 season.
"Andrew informed us of his intention to retire in early 2016, and after due consideration from the board we determined a succession plan with Tom Harley was the best fit to take our club forward," Pridham said.
Injuries slow Swan's ascent
Sam Landsberger
Herald Sun, July 2
THE kid who outplayed ageing St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt has been awarded Sydney’s first Rising Star nomination for the season.
Lewis Melican, 20, polled coaches’ votes from both John Longmire and Alan Richardson as the key defender now prepares to take on Hawthorn’s goalkickers at the MCG on Friday night.
The 193cm Melican missed 16 weeks with a broken pelvis in his first season and again battled injuries last season, including a torn hamstring.
But after winning a third season on the Swans’ rookie list, Melican debuted in Round 5 and has missed just one game since — against Richmond, due to the Tigers’ lack of key forwards.
Melican and backline buddies Dane Rampe, Heath Grundy, Nic Newman, Jake Lloyd and Nick Smith are all rookie success stories drafted by Swans recruiter Kinnear Beatson.
In the past three weeks the Birregurra boy has kicked his first AFL goal, earned a three-year contract extension and now won a Rising Star nomination.
“I was lucky enough that they gave me another chance and I was able to get a full pre-season in this year and be fit enough to show them what I can do,” Melican said last night.
“Not knowing what’s going on for the next year, you don’t know if you’ll be hanging around, was pretty tough.
“I had to just bide my time until I was right to play. When I did get back I didn’t have too many games left in the season to prove that you should be keeping me and this is why I’m here.”
Buddy and co help Rising Star Melican
Adrian Warren
AAP, July 25
BANGING bodies with superstar Lance Franklin and Sydney's other big forwards has helped latest AFL Rising Star nominee Lewis Melican contain St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt.
Melican, 20, who recently earned a contract extension, kept Riewoldt to a season-low 10 possessions in the Swans' 42-point win last Saturday.
"I was a little bit nervous, but at the same time I get to play on Buddy (Franklin), Tippo (Kurt Tippett) and Reidy (Sam Reid) all through the pre-season," Melican said.
"So being able to play on some of the best in the league at training, it wasn't too much of a shock for me going into Nick Riewoldt."
Melican made his debut during the Swans' disastrous start to the season, playing his first game in the derby against the Giants and his second in the loss to Carlton, which left Sydney languishing at 0-6.
He wasn't scorched by that torrid start, earning selection for all but one of the last 13 games.
"I think the exciting thing for me is that I've been improving week in week out," Melican said.
"I come back and do a review with (backline coach) Henry Playfair after each game and there's always little things I can work on, even from this (St Kilda) game, probably the best one I've played so far."
Sydney and Hawthorn set to renew hostilities at MCG
Ben Horne
Daily Telegraph, July 25
The glory years might be over for Hawthorn, but Alastair Clarkson will be preparing his troops as if Friday night’s blockbuster against Sydney at the MCG is the 2017 Grand Final.
If there was any doubt over what being pitted against the Swans means for Clarkson, it was all laid bare back in Round 10, when his side silenced the SCG with a passion-fuelled win for the ages.
Hawthorn poured so much energy into that epic triumph that they could barely get out of the garage the next week against Port Adelaide, mustering an all-time low three points by half-time and ultimately slumping to a 51-point hammering.
It was then that Clarkson conceded his team were no longer premiership contenders but perhaps the epic fall was worth it for the size of the scalp the week before.
There is so much history between Sydney and Hawthorn that some have even speculated whether the grand final battles and the Lance Franklin transfer have strained the longstanding friendship between former teammates Clarkson and Longmire.
The Swans coach flatly denies that’s the case, but he knows to be wary of Hawthorn.
Even if it’s only between the lines of battle, it would appear beating Sydney is personal for Clarkson.
If the once mighty force are to fall short of finals this year, thwarting the Swans fairytale march to September at the MCG would surely be a second prize to savour.
Longmire knows it will be hard to stop ex-Swan Mitchell
Adrian Warren
AAP, SMH, July 25
Sydney coach John Longmire concedes former Swans player Tom Mitchell will be hard to stop in Friday's AFL clash with Hawthorn at the MCG.
Midfielder Mitchell leads the competition in disposals and seems to have gone up another level since being traded to the Hawks late last year.
Mitchell played 65 games in four seasons with Sydney and is only just over 100 touches short of his entire total for last year despite having played nine less games.
Thriving in a side that has slipped from their previously lofty perch, 24-year- old Mitchell is averaging 36 possessions a game and hasn't logged less than 27 in a match this year.
"No matter how hard you work to try and shut him down, it's almost a given he's going to get the ball," Longmire said on Monday.
"He's just so good at finding the footy, so we'll try and reduce his influence on that when he gets the ball.
"But because he's such a good contested ball player that's really, really difficult to do.
"Our players know what he can do, but stopping him is another challenge for us."
