How did you rate the season overall?
It was almost split into three stages. I thought the start of the year was good; the middle of the year looked like it was going to be – not a disastrous year – but a poor year, and I think the way we finished off was really exciting. Overall, it was a pretty productive year in terms of where the club is going and giving a lot of game time to a lot of those young guys. In the end, we probably got out of the year more than what we probably hoped – apart from the win-loss ratio.

Are you significantly more comfortable with where your list is at, compared to midway through the season?
Yeah, I think so. That was probably the big plus of the year. Everyone had a big question mark – and rightly so. When you’ve played in finals for six years; and you haven’t had low draft picks; and you haven’t turned over a lot of players; or you haven’t given young players significant game time, that is a big question mark. As a club, we felt really comfortable at the end of the year, having seen the development of those young players.

Which of the younger guys surprised you in terms of their development this season?
Nick Smith, in the back half of the year, was really good, really impressive. I think Heath Grundy, although he’s been here a while, his back end of the year was significantly improved. Jesse White was probably similar. When he started off, he looked like he was going to paddle through his year, which normally happens with younger guys, but I thought he finished off the year really strongly. I also thought Dan Hannebery, for a first year kid living in Melbourne… if you had said to me at the start of the year that Dan would play senior footy, I would have said you were crazy. Obviously there were others who played senior game time as well who were good, and overall I thought most of the young guys improved during the course of the year.

Does Hannebery’s performance as a Year 12 student living in Victoria change your expectations of what those players can produce?
We haven’t been against drafting the kids that are staying in school. What we have done is make sure we’ve put a priority on their schooling. What’s obviously helped – although it didn’t happen as much this year – is the rule change that allows them to play with their TAC Cup team. We had Daniel Currie a few years ago who wasn’t allowed to play and it was disappointing that the rule was changed the following year for Patrick Dangerfield from Adelaide. Nothing against Dangerfield, but we weren’t allowed to do it with Currie, which was really frustrating. The most important thing for us is making sure they do complete their studies and that view won’t change. The fact that he was able to play and able to develop was really positive.

To your mind, was there anything that ‘clicked’ in the young players’ general approach this season? Was there a moment where you challenged the young guys?
I think it just comes with confidence and playing games, and Nick Smith is a really good example. His first two games in 2008 were against Geelong and Hawthorn; he was in and out and he didn’t get any continuity. If you ask him, he would say that he didn’t play well, but it is hard when you’re going in and out of the team. I think Jesse White was probably similar. When Hally left, there was a hole that needed to be filled whereas before, we didn’t have a spot for him in terms of our forward set-up. I think the main thing was that when we had a real opportunity to play them week after week, it just gives the young guys confidence.

What was your personal highlight of the season?
I thought the stretch of games that involved St Kilda and Geelong. Even though we didn’t win them, that was probably the highlight for me, playing the two best teams in the competition. At the time, St Kilda was absolutely red-hot and we lost by a point, and two weeks later, playing against Geelong and only losing by four or five points. It’s probably the first time in my coaching career that I’ve picked out two losing games, but I think that’s where we’re at. To be able to play with a young team against the two best sides in the competition was probably the highlight for me as a coach.

On the other side of the coin, what was the toughest moment of the season?
Probably the most disappointing game – and this is no disrespect to Essendon – was probably [the 35-point loss to] the Bombers at the SCG. That was probably where we felt the season was slipping away a bit and it was starting to turn a little bit ugly. We thought we could beat them… with where we’re at, where they’re at, it was a home game, it was probably the last roll of the dice from a finals point of view. It meant we were [effectively] out of the finals and the year could have spiralled out of control and been a real ugly year. It didn’t turn out that way but if I had to pick one, that was the one game.

You had the challenge this year of managing the young players into the side, but also transitioning some older players out of the team. Was that a major distraction at any point?
In a funny way, it all seemed to work out itself, which is quite bizarre. Leo [Barry] didn’t play much and by the time he was eligible to play, we really needed him to play because Teddy Richards had got injured. With Hally leaving, we didn’t want it to happen like that but he retires and all of a sudden Jesse White plays the last eight games in that position. Jared Crouch was coming in and out which meant Nick Smith could play on Alan Didak and Eddie Betts. It was quite bizarre, because it just seemed to work out. Whenever we were selecting the team, we didn’t seem to have to choose between an older guy and a younger guy at that level. Mick, Leo, Crouchy and Hally all retired of their own accord, which was all quite surreal.

Mick O’Loughlin said after his last game that he believed the Swans’ culture was such that the players wouldn’t allow the club to bottom out in the same way that a St Kilda or a Carlton or a Melbourne has done in the last 10 years. What are your thoughts?
It’s predicated on your culture but also your absolute talent level. What we saw in the last six weeks, even though we had a really tough draw with the Brisbane Lions, St Kilda, Collingwood and Geelong, I thought the level of performance was as good as what it was in the previous two years when we’d made the finals. That does give you encouragement and hopefully we will come back up the ladder. We have no interest in continuing to go down further and getting earlier draft picks – although in a strange way, pick six is good to have this year, and pick 22 in the second round. We’ve had four players retire and we’ve still got Brett Kirk and Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton and Craig Bolton, Ryan O’Keefe. There are still a lot of senior players to carry the banner for those younger guys.

It looks as though the trading and drafting period this year is going to be crucial. Firstly, what are your thoughts regarding Barry Hall and his movement to another club?
We’ve said all along that if Barry wants to go and sees footy as a priority, we’ll support him in that. Obviously, there’s a commercial value to him as well, which we understand. I’d be hopeful if a club is interested or two clubs are interested, we’ll be happy to deal with those clubs and come up with a suitable trade.

You said at the end of the season that it was unlikely the club would go chasing a big fish to replace your marquee players like Barry Hall or Michael O’Loughlin. There have been names like Brian Lake and Shaun Burgoyne floating around. Have you changed your position on going after a big name?
Brian Lake, we’ve never really had an interest in – not because we don’t rate him as a player, but because we expected him to stay at the Bulldogs. Normally by this time of year, you’re aware of who may or may not be out and for what reasons they’re out, and whether they think Sydney might be a destination. Look, probably our position hasn’t changed. If one of them fell out at the end of trade week, clearly we’ve got enough room in our salary cap to be able to do something in the pre-season. But at this stage, like most clubs, we’re trying to work through who’s available and who’s not available. As it stands now, it’s unlikely we’ll go after a marquee player but you never say never.

You’ve just signed another Irishman, Chris McKaigue. Obviously Brendan Murphy and Kyle Coney – the last two Irish recruits – didn’t work out. Are you still committed to develop these players as an alternative stream of talent?
I think it’s something we’ve got to keep an eye on. We’ve had success with Tadhg Kennelly over there and it didn’t work out with Brendan, but Chris is really keen to come over. I’ll catch up with him [this week] when I’m over in Ireland. We certainly see it as important; how important will obviously be determined by how many clubs are over there, how much talent there is and all those sorts of things. At this stage, we remain committed to that project.

If Chris doesn’t work out, that would make three Irish recruits in a row that haven’t paid off. At what stage do you say this is starting to cost more than it’s worth?
That’s a relevant point, no doubt. It’s like anything in your organisation, particularly with footy clubs. We’re not a club that makes money hand over fist every year, so you’ve always got to be aware of where you spend your money and what your reward is for doing it. It’s certainly something at the moment that we see as valuable but we’ll continue to monitor it over the next 12 months or two years.

What are your plans to maximise the talent coming into the Swans during the impending compromised drafts?
We’ll look at everything. NSW is obviously going to be a big market, a growing market for us and West Sydney coming in is a challenge. We’ll certainly look locally, but it’s a huge year for the recruiters. It’s a massive year for all recruiters from all clubs. Trading is another avenue, our Irish program as well. It’s a time when recruiting is at its absolute maximum in terms of getting the absolute best from every player coming into your footy club. Then your development program is enormously important as well.

Are the Swans in a position to be able to ramp up their spending on talent identification in terms of state leagues and those sorts of areas?
It’s hard. We’re going to lose money again this year. It’s a very, very competitive market; extremely competitive and it’s a question I probably can’t answer at this stage. Probably not, because of where we are as a footy club. Hopefully we can get some more revenue in and those sorts of things over the next couple of years.

You’re heading over to Ireland this weekend to see Tadhg play in the All-Ireland final. If he does manage to win, are there going to be conversations about whether he’ll come back to the Swans next year?
I’ve made a commitment to myself and loosely to Tadhg, through his girlfriend, that it’s not something I’m going to bring up. I want him to have a successful game and to really focus on his games and his dreams. The game’s on Sunday and I head out at 9.30 on Monday to get back here as quick as I can. It’s unlikely, because that’s not the purpose of the trip. If at some time in the future he wants to bring it up, I’m certainly happy to talk and see where he’s at and where his body is and what he’s thinking.

Given he’s spent the year out of AFL football and he had a chronic shoulder problem in 2008, would he still be able to play a role at AFL level?
I guess that’s part of it. People automatically think that if he wanted to come back that he’d slip right in. Part of the process is just making sure that if he does want to play, that he’s fit and his mind’s in the right space and all those sorts of things. He’d want to do that as well. I know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t want to come back and play AFL footy if he’s not physically and mentally up to it. There’s going to be some discussion and if it takes place – hopefully he does win, hopefully we can have that discussion but we’ll wait and see.

It’s your last pre-season in charge of the Swans coming up. Has it struck you that this is the last time you’ll be going through list management discussions and fronting up in late October for the first session?
No, not really. You start to think about life after footy but I hope I’m involved in this footy club and obviously in AFL footy, whether it be media or whatever it might be. But at the moment, there’s a real excitement, based on our finish to the year. It’s actually an exciting time when you look at your list and you look at who might be available, and you look at the draft and you see the kids in the draft. It’s probably more excitement than anything else at the moment.

Looking at 2010, does John Longmire’s role have the potential to develop any further before he takes the reins for 2011?
We’ve got a good setup here now where most of our assistants take up a role on match day and John’s got the headset on and I’m either on the bench or overseeing things in the box. There’s probably no point in changing it any further. Everyone’s got their role to play, everyone’s very involved and I think John’s development is to the point now where he could take over the team at the end of next year without having to do more than what he does now. The danger is that if we get him to do more, he won’t be able to do the job that he’s actually doing really well at the moment.

Finally, who’s going to win the flag and why?
I think St Kilda and Geelong will make the grand final, because they are the two best teams. I think St Kilda’s best this year is probably better than Geelong’s best but if you look at Geelong’s best over the last three years, it’s probably been better than St Kilda’s best. I’m going to have to go with my heart and my mate Rossy Lyon and say the Saints.

If Rossy gets up, that will make two of you who have broken the premiership drought at AFL clubs.
It would be great. Nothing against Geelong or Bomber Thompson, but I’m leaning towards Rossy because he means a lot to this footy club because of the players that he developed and his role in our premiership. I’d love to see him win the flag with the Saints.