ADELAIDE and the Sydney Swans have shut up shop for 2015 after their semi-final defeats. So what's the first item of business as each club picks itself up and prepares for the off-season?

Adelaide - prepare for 'The Decision'

This will be the biggest announcement of a playing future since LeBron James' move from Cavs to the Heat. Nationally televised? Let's hope so, with Bruce McAvaney and Gerard Whateley as the hosts (it would be simulcast on Channel Seven and Fox Footy) and an expectant Bill Brownless representing Geelong, and Graham Cornes there on behalf of the Crows. When ready to make a call, Patrick Dangerfield will walk over to Brownless or Cornes, who will then hand him his jumper for next year. And perhaps give him a hug.

We're having a laugh, of course, but this has become the most hyped-player transfer of recent times. The hopes of two cities rest on the outcome. I can't praise Dangerfield enough for how he has conducted himself through an extraordinarily challenging year and more so, for how he has played. He has been the best player in the competition for the second half of the season and was herculean once again on Friday night against the Hawks, particularly in the first half.

If he does leave, and the strong expectation is that he will, then the Crows need to get Brad Crouch up and running again. The strong-bodied midfielder didn't play a game all year because of a foot injury and while he's no Dangerfield, he will help fill what will be a gaping hole next season.  

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The most poignant comment on Friday night came from Scott Camporeale, who said that the last three months had been such a whirlwind, that he had not yet found time to grieve the passing of Phil Walsh. The Crows need to find a new, permanent senior coach and the first order of business is for Camporeale to identify whether he wishes to be part of that process. 

With the odds of likely preferred choice John Worsfold accepting the job dwindling by the day, Camporeale surely at least makes it to the shortlist and to their absolute credit, the Crows have made no noises about appointing some lofty 'panel' to choose the next coach. From the outside, it looks like Mark Ricciuto is running the search singlehandedly. And in 'Roo' the Crows should trust.


Sydney Swans - shop for reinforcements

On Saturday night, with the semi-final on the line, the Swans' forward line comprised Isaac Heeney, Dean Towers, James Rose and Tom Mitchell. It was a point coach John Longmire made almost apologetically.

When it was time for the Bloods to be, well, the Bloods, Kieren Jack, Luke Parker and Sam Reid were watching from the ANZ Stadium stands and Lance Franklin was watching from who knows where.

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The Swans had a wretched run of injuries towards the end of the season. At full strength, they might have beaten Fremantle in the qualifying final because the Dockers were a bit scratchy, but they're now at the stage where they need to be putting their absolute best 22 out on the park most weeks to be in premiership contention. 

They must play next season without Adam Goodes. The game and the club will be the poorer for Goodes' absence – and the suggestions are he will walk away from the game complete at least in the short term - but from a football perspective, he has timed it right. He is 35, he finished up playing some fine football, but he and the club need to move on.

Hopefully he will reconsider and decide to take part in the Grand Final cavalcade because rest assured, the reception will be rapturous. 

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Rhyce Shaw was a warrior, a great redemptive story at the Swans, but he had nothing left to give and also retires at the right time.

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The Swans will remain in premiership contention next year because they boast so many A-graders with several good years of footy ahead. None of Franklin, Reid, Parker, Jack, Josh Kennedy and Dan Hannebery is pushing 30 yet. Nor is Kurt Tippett, whose second half of the season showed some overdue promise. Heeney is a jet in the making and still a teenager.

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They're also well coached and well resourced, so the Swans won't be going anywhere. And with the AFL giving them a bit of leeway to take part in the upcoming trade period, expect them not to sit idle. The Swans need some defensive reinforcements, so look for the back half to be stiffened with Ted Richards and Heath Grundy both nearing the end of their careers.

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