Pressure on for finals spots at Swans
By Chris Pike
Swan Districts had up to nine likely finals players out in its loss to Perth on Saturday, but one defender returned and grabbed his opportunity while coach Brian Dawson now weighs up who his best key forward options are.
Swans went down to Perth by 10 points on Saturday stopping the club's best winning streak since the premiership year of 1983 in the process, but there were some pleasing signs from those out there and the knowledge that it was far from the strongest team the black-and-whites can field.
Ruckman Llane Spaanderman, key forwards Justin Simpson and Ashley Hansen, defender Luke Pratt, the skilful Clint Garlett and Clancee Pearce, hard running wingman Brett Wolfenden, goal kicking midfielder Brett Robinson and the experienced Ben Colreavy were all missing.
However, that opened up some doors for others with Paul Richardson playing his first game since the 2008 grand final, Simon Parry his first since Round 23 last year, Shane Fleay his first since Round 8 with Matthew Outridge and Roderick Manton making their debuts.
All showed signs that they were up to league football as well with Fleay only having six disposals but working hard to lay five tackles, Manton looking good with his nine touches as did teenager Outridge with Parry also picking up nine and kicking a tremendous running goal.
Coach Brian Dawson was disappointed in the loss and expects Swans' to bounce back this Sunday against Peel, but saw good signs in all the players that received opportunities.
"Both debutants deserved their chance and weren’t our worst players. All the players that came into the side tried really hard and it wasn’t them that caused the result. It was more the senior players who just didn’t do enough of what they had been doing," Dawson said.
"Every team needs their best players out there as often as possible, but it was a great opportunity for some of the kids to get a look in. Some have been starved of opportunities so it was a chance for them to experience league footy, a couple of them for the first time, and that's all positive. It's important how we respond because we can cop the loss as well as we bounce back next week."
The standout was Richardson who was a key member of Swans' defence in 2008 when they made the grand final. Work has made it tough for him to play since and he missed all of last year, but showed he is a class WAFL player again in an enthralling battle with Perth captain Steve Armstrong.
When opportunities present there's always a chance someone will grab it and keep hold of it and based on Saturday's performance Richardson will be part of the black-and-whites side even when all of those nine players return.
"He is a quality player we know that and that's why we've been keen to get him back into the team. This was an opportunity to do that and his game was very solid," Dawson said.
"He worked up north last year and he's still working away this year in Boddington, but he's doing his best to get up for training once a week and training down there once a week too. This was a good chance to re-introduce him into the side and he acquitted himself well."
While Richardson has added more depth to the defence, the forward-line remains a work in progress. Dawson expects Hansen to return from a hip injury and he will be a key to Swans' finals chances having kicked 33 goals in just six games this season.
Tim Geappen's spot is also safe with 39 goals for the year and then there's a battle between Simpson, Josh Pullman and Tony Notte for either one or two spots.
Simpson has had a terrific year before a three-week suspension that he's now served while Pullman has kicked six goals the last two weeks, leaving Eagle Notte as the one likely to lose his spot as he continues to struggle.
"Hansen will play again, we just aren’t sure when. He will be back. We've run with four on occasions and it's worked OK, but the key is our speed of ball movement and hitting up our targets," he said.
"We didn’t do that well this week so we just need to get that better. It's not impossible to play with four so we just have to decide that each week and it will also depend on who's available at the time."
