2021 pre-season training

[MattW]

Did Logan's family come over with him?

They came with him originally - he mentioned the club flew them over.

[Aprilbr]

I saw an article listing some players training with Clubs in the hope of being picked up. There was no names for the Swans. Does anybody know if we will have any extras like Paddy McCartin training with us in the off-season?

[wolftone57]

I saw an article listing some players training with Clubs in the hope of being picked up. There was no names for the Swans. Does anybody know if we will have any extras like Paddy McCartin training with us in the off-season?

We have a few who graduated from the Academy who will be suplimentry list players for our reserves team. I don't know if we have poached any players from SANFL, WAFL, TAFL ot VFL yet. Swans tend to be a bit closed lipped about that stuff. But I would be surprised if too many experienced ex AFL players end on the sup list. We are all about developing youth and ai think we will enlist those who have missed out on the draft. Certainly Pddy would be an option. But so will ex Academy boys, current academy boys and draft dodgers lol

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[SeanM]

I had a look at training on Friday morning. I got there around 8.45 and they had already started kicking the ball to each other in a square.

The session was just a few skill drills and seemed to finish around 10am.
- Rotated around 3 stations. Kicking high balls back and forth to practice 1 vs 1 contested marking. Picking up a ground ball and then handballing it off. Kicking a short pass to a player turning and making a lead.
- 3 attackers vs 2 defenders handball drill. Attacking team made their way forward by handballing past the defending team.
- 5 attackers vs 4 defenders kicking drill in the defensive 50. In the defensive 50 arc, the attacking team tried to keep possession by moving to space and chipping it between themselves.
- 3 attackers handball past 2 defenders and then kick to 2 attackers vs 1 defender upfield.

I saw a few senior players there. Sinclair, Ronke and Gray were just running laps around the boundary. I think Dawson was doing agility drills with a coach behind the goals. Naismith seemed to be doing some exercises on far side. He was not involved in the main session but would kick the ball back if it went near him.

Not many players in the main session. From memory I think Kennedy, Hewett, Hayward, Mclean, Melican, McCartin, Amartey, O'Connor, Bell, Wicks, Gulden, Campbell and Sheather.

[707]

Thanks SeanM, any reports through the unbiased eyes of an RWO'er is much appreciated.

Let's see what this Covid outbreak does to our resumption in the new year :-(

[Mark26]

I had a look at training on Friday morning. I got there around 8.45 and they had already started kicking the ball to each other in a square.

The session was just a few skill drills and seemed to finish around 10am.
- Rotated around 3 stations. Kicking high balls back and forth to practice 1 vs 1 contested marking. Picking up a ground ball and then handballing it off. Kicking a short pass to a player turning and making a lead.
- 3 attackers vs 2 defenders handball drill. Attacking team made their way forward by handballing past the defending team.
- 5 attackers vs 4 defenders kicking drill in the defensive 50. In the defensive 50 arc, the attacking team tried to keep possession by moving to space and chipping it between themselves.
- 3 attackers handball past 2 defenders and then kick to 2 attackers vs 1 defender upfield.

I saw a few senior players there. Sinclair, Ronke and Gray were just running laps around the boundary. I think Dawson was doing agility drills with a coach behind the goals. Naismith seemed to be doing some exercises on far side. He was not involved in the main session but would kick the ball back if it went near him.

Not many players in the main session. From memory I think Kennedy, Hewett, Hayward, Mclean, Melican, McCartin, Amartey, O'Connor, Bell, Wicks, Gulden, Campbell and Sheather.

Many thanks too Sean. First-hand updates are most welcome.

[TheBloods]

Interested to know what our leadership group will look like for 2021.

Will Buddy be included again?
Will Heeney spending most of 2020 not in the hub with the rest of the squad effect his chances?
Will Papley be named again after committing to the club?
Will there be a smokey (ie Cunningham, Hewett)?

[bloodspirit]

Interested to know what our leadership group will look like for 2021.

Will Buddy be included again?
Will Heeney spending most of 2020 not in the hub with the rest of the squad effect his chances?
Will Papley be named again after committing to the club?
Will there be a smokey (ie Cunningham, Hewett)?

It's a good question. I was wondering whether JPK would be retained as captain too. I reckon they could just keep it the same this season.

[Aaron]

I recalled reading that Llyod, Papley and Cunningham were playing leadership roles in the hub after a few leaders were injured

[TheBloods]

I recalled reading that Llyod, Papley and Cunningham were playing leadership roles in the hub after a few leaders were injured

Indeed. It would be naive to think the hub and this unconventional 2020 season wouldn't have changed the dynamics of the squad somewhat. I could see a larger than usual leadership group to best adjust to the circumstances, like COVID restrictions and the amount of younger players on the list.

[giant]

Thought all of our senior players that were able to get on the park had fantastic seasons this year, don't see any particular reason to be changing things up.

[TheBloods]

Thought all of our senior players that were able to get on the park had fantastic seasons this year, don't see any particular reason to be changing things up.

Less about replacing them, and more adding to them. The challenging circumstances of 2020 and not having leaders like Buddy, Kennedy, Rampe and Heeney at times would've emphasized how important others like Lloyd and Cunningham are to the playing group.

[bloodspirit]

I would support additional players being added to the leadership group - 5 was the smallest leadership group we've had in years. I don't think any of the current ones need to be moved on just yet but the addition of Papley and Lloyd and/or Cunningham would be cool, and a nice recognition of their contribution in seasons past, especially 2020.

[Mel_C]

Does training start back on Jan 4th or 11th?

[bloodspirit]

I attended training this morning and can confirm the coaches, and at least some players, are back. Unfortunately it didn't start until 9.30 and I couldn't stay long enough to see very much.

Pretty much all that I did see was that 8 of our most junior players emerged and then, after spending a bit of time warming up, and supervised by pretty much the whole complement of coaches (I can't say I identified them all individually but there were many of them so probably included Inness (the new performance guy replacing Rob Spurrs) and maybe our new physio - I did see Horse, Macca, and Cox for sure), they ran a time trial (pretty sure it would have been 2 km), running laps around Lakeside Oval.

The order in which the group of 8 completed the time trial was: Gulden (sprinted off at the beginning and then maintained his lead from start to finish without ultimately increasing the gap on second place he established in the first 150 m or so), Ronke, McLean, McDonald, Sheather, Wicks, Bell, and, far behind (I reckon about 300 m behind Gulden and well over 100m behind Bell), Amartey. Amartey was far behind last season also, so, despite his reported quickness over 20 m, it seems that he doesn't cover the miles quickly. I would have thought this was a concern for someone who wants to play in the midfield but perhaps not because he isn't improving and we keep re-signing him. As Ted Richards has pointed out, the 2/3km time trial doesn't really reflect the repeat sprint efforts that are more typically required in a game, and it is worth bearing that in mind when considering these results.

Great to see Gulden determined to make whatever good impression he can from the get-go. Impressive to see McLean do so well for a big man. Logan McDonald lived up to his reputation as having a good tank by finishing not too far behind first place.

None of the other players showed up while I was there. I'm curious why the two other draftees, Campbell and Carruthers, didn't take part in the time trial too.