Former Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos believes the Swans are currently ruing the massive contract handed to key forward Lance Franklin at the end of the 2013 season.
Franklin signed a heavily back-ended nine-year contract worth around $10 million following the 2013 grand final, which has subsequently seen the Swans dip in form due to a skinny list, according to Roos.
“If you go after a player like Buddy your list becomes skinny,” Roos told the Daily Telegraph.
“The implications are if you go for a big star your back end of players is going to be skinny with a lot of rookies. If you look at GWS and Melbourne they have more depth. Melbourne has Lewis and Hogan out but still has talent in reserves like Kent and Brayshaw.
"They haven’t got a marquee that gobbles up a lot of the salary cap. Whoever goes after Fyfe if he does leave Freo will have the same problem.”
Over the past two seasons the Swans have had their list exposed, as Sydney have blooded 13 debutants since round one last year, which is a league-high for that time period.
Sydney has also lost their Cost of Living Allowance, and spent the past two seasons unable to be involved in the trade period following a two year trade ban.
“There are a lot of young players trying to make their way and some young players starting out in the game,” Roos said.
“It can turn very quickly, we’ve seen that with the Swans and Hawthorn this year and Fremantle last year.”
Roos also said the Swans have struggled because of their pre-season injuries in the past, which has hurt them in the early stages of the season.
“A full pre-season is vastly underrated,” Roos said.
"If you’ve got 10 guys who don’t have a full preseason which is what the Swans did with Franklin, Parker, McVeigh, Aliir, Naismith, Rohan, Jack, Heeney and then players get hurt like your best defender in Rampe.
"Suddenly you’re eating into your ability to put a strong team on the ground. Sydney’s best team is still very good, if you put them all back in and give them pre-seasons then they are a very good team.”
