Swans Understrength Again

[RWO News]

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Swans will take on Carlton in a practice match at Coffs Harbour this weekend with an understrength side, resting senior players Stuart Maxfield, Daryn Cresswell and Adam Goodes.

But coach Paul Roos is looking forward to giving his younger players some playing time.

"If Carlton beat us, they beat us," he said. "It's no great drama for us. It's important for us to just prepare for the season."

Roos reported that Michael O'Loughlin is still recovering from a knee injury.

"He's actually feeling really good, but it will be touch and go if he will play round one. He's one of the few players who could play without a practice game."

"It can be frustrating from a coach's point of view," he said. "You hope to have your best team playing ... it puts a lot of pressure on your senior players. It's harder to run your game plan and team strategies, but we've got to take it from a positive point of view: that we are playing a lot more younger players, which will help their development along."

"The pre-season is just too long. From a player's point of view, three games, three practice games is plenty, three full games is enough to get you right for the season proper. It's about making sure players don't do too much."

"Guys like Nick Malceski and Jarrad McVeigh, that's three more games than they would otherwise get."

"We are mindful of really juggling players so they are not playing too much. It's a long year, it's a big juggling act. I always felt as a player, we didn't play too many practice games, and that was not detrimental to my season," Roos said.

"No team likes to go straight into the Wizard Cup unprepared, but maybe the AFL could say clubs aren't allowed to play any games before the Wizard Cup."

The full story is at

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/27/1046064165985.html