Pre-season 2020

[rojo]

My thanks too to Blood spirit and Barra for their eye witness reports from training.. Like gold for we fellow fans. Perhaps you should send a copy to the Swans media department for their information too!

[aguy]

Numbers released.

Elijah Taylor gets 37

Notably Naismith changes to 10

[bloodspirit]

Wow! Something newsworthy. Here's the link: 2020 guernsey numbers revealed - sydneyswans.com.au.

And here are the new numbers:

1 = Chad Warner
2 = Kaiden Brand
3 = Dylan Stephens
10 = Sam Naismith
15 = Sam Gray
17 = Will Gould
28 = Lewis Taylor
35 = Barry O’Connor
37 = Elijah Taylor
39 = Brady Rowles

[bloodspirit]

I guess you're not going to get a better opportunity to put Goodsey's number back into circulation than a super-talented pick like Elijah Taylor. Quite the honour.

I'm slightly surprised they didn't give BOC Tadhg's old number but maybe Gould got first dibs as the more highly ranked player or something. Or maybe BOC wanted a locker closer to COR.

It's easy to picture Gray in Kizza's number. Curious that Naismith has changed. Warner will be rapt with No 1 I reckon. But he doesn't come across as hard to please in any event.

So vacant numbers? #40

I think McLean has #41. What about Knoll? Is he keeping #48?

[ugg]

I guess you're not going to get a better opportunity to put Goodsey's number back into circulation than a super-talented pick like Elijah Taylor. Quite the honour.

I'm slightly surprised they didn't give BOC Tadhg's old number but maybe Gould got first dibs as the more highly ranked player or something. Or maybe BOC wanted a locker closer to COR.

It's easy to picture Gray in Kizza's number. Curious that Naismith has changed. Warner will be rapt with No 1 I reckon. But he doesn't come across as hard to please in any event.

So vacant numbers? #40

I think McLean has #41. What about Knoll? Is he keeping #48?

If Knoll keeps #48, then I guess you would have to say #47 (Pink) is also vacant.

[graemed]

Managed to get to the training session on Friday and saw a fair bit before I had to leave.
Stephens led the four draftees in the running drills but Brody(?) Rowles looked to impress in the skill drills.
Foot looks interesting, quick, decisive and skilled by “foot” but his hand balling looked like it needs to improve. (No pun intended)
Rowbottom continues to impress me, there was one passage of play where he combined with Heeney that deserves to be play of the week, in traffic, he gathered the ball backed into the oncoming player, making space for Heeney and deftly slipped handpass before taking the tackle. Great stuff, and demonstrates not only his skills and decision making but also his leadership.
I think that new Irish recruit, O’Connor was either in rehab or doing extra fitness work, he was not included in the skill work but was running laps and time trials. He is a big unit. Well over six foot, whatever that is in metrics, and very tidy. Looked like KPP if he can adapt to the game as well as the other Irishmen have.
Enjoyed watching the Academy group, four were involved in the main skills sessions and two of them were amazing. One was squat and looked like Leigh Matthews below the waist, the other was a tall left footer that was defending against Sam Reid and doing very well thanks very much.

[graemed]

Naismith took no part in the main squad but was working with the rehab group. Sinclair looks super fit and I got the impression he is in no hurry to move aside. Still unless he can do better at stoppages especially boundary throw ins it is difficult to see him being ahead of a fit Naismith.

Further to KPB debate, Melican looks strangely ominous with his shaved head. He looked the best out of Brand and Gould, although Brand looked to be directing a lot of the positioning down back for his team. Gould needs to develop more fitness, he was struggling towards the end and fell off the pace during the running after the match simulation.

Heeney was a standout in match sims, whatever team he was on was on, and his marking was amazing.

[rb4x]

There appears to be more than just the heritage of the numbers in their allocation. Some mixing up of more experienced players with newbies. Brand getting 2 putting him in the locker between Warner and Stephens. Giving O'Connor 39 places him next to COR so they can chat in Gaelic and maybe overcome some homesickness. Naismith going to 10 puts his locker between Hayward and Papley. Naismith and Papley to work together at ball ups. Gray in between Mills and Foot. 3 and 37 are certainly about the heritage inherent in the number but 39 is getting the Irish together.

[dejavoodoo44]

Managed to get to the training session on Friday and saw a fair bit before I had to leave.
Stephens led the four draftees in the running drills but Brody(?) Rowles looked to impress in the skill drills.
Foot looks interesting, quick, decisive and skilled by “foot” but his hand balling looked like it needs to improve. (No pun intended)
Rowbottom continues to impress me, there was one passage of play where he combined with Heeney that deserves to be play of the week, in traffic, he gathered the ball backed into the oncoming player, making space for Heeney and deftly slipped handpass before taking the tackle. Great stuff, and demonstrates not only his skills and decision making but also his leadership.
I think that new Irish recruit, O’Connor was either in rehab or doing extra fitness work, he was not included in the skill work but was running laps and time trials. He is a big unit. Well over six foot, whatever that is in metrics, and very tidy. Looked like KPP if he can adapt to the game as well as the other Irishmen have.
Enjoyed watching the Academy group, four were involved in the main skills sessions and two of them were amazing. One was squat and looked like Leigh Matthews below the waist, the other was a tall left footer that was defending against Sam Reid and doing very well thanks very much.

Thanks for that. In regards to the academy players, the squat one was probably Errol Gulden, possibly Sam Thorne. While if the defender had dark hair, it was probably Luke Parks.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, to those having a look at training; what's Mills doing? Midfield drills, or running around in the backline?

[bloodspirit]

There appears to be more than just the heritage of the numbers in their allocation. Some mixing up of more experienced players with newbies. Brand getting 2 putting him in the locker between Warner and Stephens. Giving O'Connor 39 places him next to COR so they can chat in Gaelic and maybe overcome some homesickness. Naismith going to 10 puts his locker between Hayward and Papley. Naismith and Papley to work together at ball ups. Gray in between Mills and Foot. 3 and 37 are certainly about the heritage inherent in the number but 39 is getting the Irish together.

Interesting ideas. Makes me more curious than ever. Because they could have given BOC #39 but they didn't. They gave it to Rowles and gave BOC #35. I think players preferences have something to do with it too e.g. Heeney, Papley. And how can we tell what they want?

[MattW]

Love these training reports - thanks to the reporters.

[bloodspirit]

Yes, great report! Thanks graemed!

[Markwebbos]

Thanks for the report. It’s almost as if we’ve given up on Swans media to actually tell us anything of interest. Now we are relying on the RWO reporters!

[stevoswan]

Just up on the club website, this sounds really promising -

Hayward was a standout in a grueling session that lasted almost three hours.

Best known for his athleticism, speed and slick finishing in front of goal, it was the 21-year-old's physicality that earned him rapturous applause on multiple occasions from his teammates and coaches.

He's played 53 games over his first three seasons in the competition, but this is Hayward's first real pre-season campaign.

Hayward was ferocious with his tackling during competitive drills and when he had the footy, threw more than one fend-off that Richmond superstar Dustin Martin would be proud of.

At one stage, Hayward was physically ill after repeat efforts in a handball game but battled through his distress mid-drill to lay a huge tackle and cause a stoppage for his team.

Ferocious Swan pushes himself to the limit in gruelling session .....posts with large quotes often get removed without this bit tacked on.

[Melbourne_Blood]

That’s great to hear about Hayward training the house down. I was going to post in the other thread about Will being one I’d like to see step up and have a breakout year. With his talent he could be much more than just a 10 touch 1-2 goal player. I hope he gets a bit more on ball time this year, adds another different mix for us in there.


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