Swans wait on Hall`s call over future

As Sydney sharpshooter Michael O'Loughlin prepares to ride into the AFL sunset,
Sydney are waiting to find out if his long-term accomplice Barry Hall will saddle up
for one more season.
One half of the club's prolific key forward combination will definitely not be
around next year after 32-year-old full forward O'Loughlin announced on Tuesday he
was retiring at the end of the current campaign.
With the imminent retirement of O'Loughlin, Sydney's all-time leading games record
holder and second highest goal-kicker, it would appear Sydney need to secure the
other half of their key forward combination for the 2010 program.
Centre half-forward Hall, who has dominated Sydney's goal-kicking charts in recent
seasons, has suggested he could play for one more year before possibly embarking
upon a mooted boxing career.
Sydney coach Paul Roos doesn't expect O'Loughlin's announcement to have any effect
on Hall's decision whether to play beyond this season.
With O'Loughlin and 32-year-old fullback Leo Barry declaring 2009 will be their last
year, the Swans still have Hall and midfielders Brett Kirk and Jared Crouch as the
other members of their over 30 contingent who have yet to decide their future beyond
2009.
Asked if O'Loughlin's departure put more onus on re-signing 32-year-old Hall for one
more term, Roos said "not necessarily".
"The first thing we need to find out from those players towards the end of this year
is do they want to keep on playing and how their body is and then you make the
decision after that," Roos said.
"You don't know what Hally is thinking, you don't know what Kirky is thinking, you
don't know what Crouchy is thinking."
There are few obvious replacements for Hall and O'Loughlin among the emerging Swans
group, with versatile dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes the only other player on
the Swans' roster with more than 200 career goals.
Goodes has been successfully used as a pinch hitter up forward in the past and could
be used there more frequently towards the end of his career.
One option could be tall youngster Jesse White, who O'Loughlin thought performed
well in last weekend's loss to Collingwood.