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Monday, 14th January 2013
By Greg Harding

Preliminary final day the Sharks were our nemesis and ended our season. At our early morning training session at Brighton Beach on Saturday, it was again a dirty big shark that threatened to derail season 2013.

After completing a good strength session on the beach the boys piled into the water to finish their recovery. Within minutes the SLS Chopper was circling overhead which didn't cause too much concern but when a jet ski and rubber ducky turned up, the water turned warm around me and I was off. My reckoning in these situations is that I only have to swim faster than 1 person and given my fear of these critters my 2 feet were the first to hit the sand, quickly followed by 100 others! We were missing one player at this stage as big Wes Lammie was 200m down the beach and about 50m out in the water cruising along as he knocked out a fitness session. As the shark siren blasted in the background, the big man was surprised to see the surf life saving boat pull up beside him and offer him a lift in. He declined stating " they are there all the time", and paddled his way to shore a little perplexed as to why he had to get out of the water. Further evidence that footballers at times can be extremely idiotic! Yes they are there all the time Wes, but when they get within 50m of you the odds of getting chomped rise significantly and exiting the water is a sound course of action.

We had a great week last week and we just feel that some things are starting to come together for us structurally. The boys have done a very good job taking extra control this year of the way we structure up and play our footy, especially through the midfield, and we have seen improvement already in the time we have spent working on it. Our defence looks nice and solid with young kids like Howard and Latch improving rapidly to bolster the strength we managed to build around Hams, Simpson, Blight and Ames last year. With Miles and Pratt returning and a host of players capable of cruising through half back we are looking very versatile.

The big question is how we structure up ahead of the footy. Geappen and Notte form the core of our key options up front but with Ash retiring there are opportunities for our young players to make one of those key positions their own. Our small forward power, barring injury should be one of the best line ups in the competition with Kirk Ugle, Dayle Garlett, Ryan Davis, Matthew Jukes, Brett Robinson and potentially Newman etc from West Coast giving us great speed and tackle pressure. You may even see Graham Jetta slide forward this season.

1 month to go until games so its not far away!

Greg

Wednesday, 6th February 2013
By Greg Harding

Footy season is just around the corner now with only 2 weeks until our first serious hit out against Claremont in the pre-season competition. Its a real advantage to have this game scheduled early against a powerhouse club like the Tigers. We will be able to put a solid team on the park and have a look at our structures against one of the strongest teams in the competition. It will also put pre-season behind us which, whilst vital in regard to preparation, definitely starts to drag on at this time of year when everyone is waiting for the real stuff to arrive.

Matt Rogers has come across for Perth Footy Club to give us some real hardness and drive across half forward and also the middle of the ground. Ive always liked his approach to his football and admired his aggressive attack on the football and the player in possession of the footy. He's a real beast of an athlete and if we can raise his running capacity in the next 5 weeks, we think he can pinch hit on ball as well as provide a strong target up front. Robinson, Miles and Casserly all continue to train impressively along with Wayde Twomey who looks to have put his injury worries of 2012 behind him at this point.

The excitement always comes from young players emerging out of nowhere and a number of young boys are putting their hand up for round 1 selection. Jacob Burnham has trained very well and for the first time in 3 years is injury free and able to cover the ground uninhibited. Charlie Cameron, a young rugby convert is ripping our training apart in a variety of roles and is a special talent given he has only played a handful of games. Alex Howard is using his extra size and strength to suggest that he can hold down a key defensive post in the coming season.

Interesting times ahead I believe also for all coaches, players and supporters of footy after the AFL announced the new rule changes. In a bid to reduce stoppages it looks like they are going to be savage on deliberate out of bounds and minor contact in scrimmages. The main rule change revolves around the player who dives on the footy desperately, and makes incidental contact with the lower body of an opponent. This player will be deemed to have infringed and its the one rule that I fear could cause fans the most confusion. We'll see how it gets officiated early in the season before we make any judgement I suppose but I just hope that we don't start penalising the hardest players in competition for doing what they do best! I think you'll see WAFL footy even quicker this year given the size of the grounds and reduction in stoppage situations. Its even more important our playing group is fit given that when we play against the AFL aligned clubs, they may have 10 or so full time athletes at their disposal.

Not long now. An intra club on the 16th February will be followed by the Claremont fixture (23 Feb, Claremont Oval) and then only a month away until we attack our first two difficult fixtures against competition heavyweights Claremont and East Fremantle in the first two rounds

Tuesday, 26th February 2013
By Greg Harding

On Saturday we took on a very strong Claremont Football Club on their home ground. The first game began at 8am and its been a while since players like Brett Robinson and Wayde Twomey kicked the dew off at an early time slot like this one. Both players stepped out at Reserves level to gain valuable match fitness as the season approaches and did a fantastic job. It was very exciting to see both boys regain the sharp movement that had been taken away though injury. Brett and Wayde played through the midfield and knocked up getting the footy both in contested situations and also out in space where both do their best work. A five bounce running goal by Twomes was great to watch and he looks like he has fully shrugged off the patella tendonitis that has plagued his footy career over the past few years. Brett's lateral movement was extremely sharp and after 2 reconstructions it takes a while to regain confidence in your movement. If he keeps going the way he is, I have no doubt he can retake his place as one of the premier midfielders of the competition, just as he was in 2008 and 2009.

This first game was especially pleasing because it caused coaching staff a lot of headaches as we move toward RD 1. Aidan Smith, Charlie Cameron and Dayle Garlett all showed the flair and class that makes them good players and showed they are ready to take the next step. Our two ruck men in Rory Lobb and Ricky Cary also took big steps forward and Adam McKinlay took a number of strong marks up forward. With Travis Casserly, Tallan Ames and Murray Newman coming into the mix this week it becomes harder and harder to pick our best 22.

In the second fixture Claremont rolled out a very strong side and from the outset looked like the sharp, composed side of the previous 5 or 6 years. With Seaby giving the midfielders great service it was very difficult for our midfielder to get their aggressive attacking run going and we rarely moved the footy the way we wanted to. There were however some good signs with developing ruckman Nathan Blakely doing a superb job against bigger opponents and kicking a couple of nice goals. Bluey Elari showed great ball winning ability and when Tony Notte came on at half time he gave us immediate impact in the front half. Returning defender Luke Miles, coming off 2 years out showed all of the courage and competitiveness that we love him for and he had an absorbing battle with Ian Richardson. Kirk Ugle also had some very neat touches to set up scoring opportunity and also should excellent intent to apply pressure in the front half.

Whilst some aspects of our game need work it was encouraging that even though we were rusty and Claremont were the better team, we keep plugging away and challenged for a brief moment in the 4th quarter. I would expect a great deal of improvement off that performance against Perth this week

Round 1 wrap

Monday, 18th March 2013

By Greg Harding

We opened our season with a very encouraging effort at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday afternoon in hot conditions. After an absorbing battle with the sharks we finally got over the line by 11 points in a contest that left our players absolutely exhausted.

Going into the game, our greatest challenge was to control the run of the opposition which is the strongest in the competition. Dalziel, Duffy, Dodd, Mengola, Stephen, McGough, Hadley and O'Brien are all elite athletes and we had to be good defensively! We weren't just good defensively…we were outstanding. Our players worked tirelessly to get goal side of their opponents to slow them down going inside 50 and for 120 brutal minutes of footy, to a man they achieved the task. So good was our defensive intent, that we able to restrict a very good side to only 37 forward entries for the day whilst racking up well over 50 ourselves on the way back. Tommy Roach was one player that had a great day in this regard. I can't count how many times he got back to half back to help out only to win the ball himself and drive us forward. He ended with 37 damaging disposals and I don't think I've seen him play better. His fellow wingman Shaun Hilderbrandt was equally effective, finishing with 30 possessions, 2 goals and a nice speckky early in the second quarter. These two boys lead the way in regard to work rate, with Hilda showing a heap of courage to be vomiting through the 3qt break only to come out and punish his body again in the last to get us over the line.

It was a game that turned into a war of attrition after Ryan Davis and Matt Riggio were lost by just after quarter time to ankle and head injuries respectively. We needed boys to stand up and we could not have got it done unless we had 100% commitment from the entire group and to their credit, the boys were incredibly brave to hang on and win. Robinson, Twomey and Miles showed how important they are to us, and it was fantastic to see these boys bounce back to form after long layoffs and injury.

Every year, a few kids pop up and excite and on the weekend Nathan Blakely and Charlie Cameron started their careers with a bang. Both showed amazing energy and ability to provide us with 2nd and 3rd efforts and both had a huge influence on the result. Nathan Broad also showed that he has come a long way with a composed performance off a wing. His massive running capacity really helped us all day.

So it was a good day in the end after the Colts showed great improvement on last year, but the two's got stunned by a talent laden side that boasted 2 AFL listed played in Simpson and Howson. Casserly and Garlett played well and showed that we have some quality players in the wings that are ready to go. It doesn't get any easier after the bye when we take on premiers Claremont at Steel Blue Oval. If we can reproduce the effort we showed on the weekend then we will have a great day!

Make sure you get down to watch the boys play! You couldn't help but be incredibly proud of them last week and we need everyones support to help us start building our 2013 campaign

Monday, 25th March 2013
By Greg Harding

Its not often you have a bye in round 2 and you can say that it was a well timed break, but I think that was absolutely the case for us after watching the 2 games of WAFL footy over the weekend.

I went down to watch the Falcons take on the Lions and felt that West Perth especially looked extremely flat, and then on Saturday both Peel and East Perth really battled with the fatigue of backing up a week after the hot conditions that we all faced. Even last Thursday night we weren't fully recovered off the East Fremantle game, with young and old players alike still reporting soreness after a hectic encounter on a big oval.

However, our training has been first class over the course of the week and as we prepare for premiers Claremont, we will be very close to full strength come 2.15pm on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval. Matt Riggio looks to have overcome the eye injury that had us all very concerned and will be right to play. Ryan Davis however is in doubt after scans revealed some minor damage to his ankle. After playing 23 last week due to the heat rule, one player has to drop out and it would be difficult to omit anyone after our teams performance against the Sharks but its nice to know we have players of the quality of Boekhorst, Casserly and Garlett etc who are waiting in the wings. Cass took another step forward on the weekend after playing for Swan Athletic in the amateurs as he searches for peak fitness and he showed a lot of class in that performance.

Claremont have been in solid form early in the season with Mark Seaby showing that he will be a powerhouse in the ruck for the Tigers. He provides big Wes Lammie with one of his biggest challenges in his short career as he takes on a high class and experienced ruckman. Wes is a wholehearted competitor coming off 20 possessions and a dominant display in the ruck contests and he will provide us with a rock solid effort I'm sure. Jeremy McGovern is a player who looks to have really stepped up for the opposition when we have watched them play. He's a lump of a lad with great hands above his head and his 4 goals last week were very impressive. He's going to be a handful for our defenders as he has taken the place of the departing Tom Lee and really looks to be a crucial part of their forward line. He, along with Medhurst, Richardson and Bradshaw form a dangerous front half and the Tigers scoring potential is one of the highest in the WAFL and our boys will have to be right on their game.

With no AFL on this weekend and ripping wheather forecast, this is a great opportunity to get down to the footy and watch a high standard game of WAFL action. Both teams are is great form and on the wide expanses of Steel Blue Oval, it shapes as another war of attrition. If we play with the same aggression and commitment that we showed last week we are in for a great battle with a competition heavyweight.

See you at the footy.

Gone a bit quiet. Too hard to explain dropping Twomey perhaps? Near Leading team in tackles and handball receives yet his defensive pressure is the problem?

MrTripleC wrote: Gone a bit quiet. Too hard to explain dropping Twomey perhaps? Near Leading team in tackles and handball receives yet his defensive pressure is the problem?

To be fair, Harding is pretty open. He posts blogs every week on the Swans website and fronts the Swans radio show and was happy to answer questions on Twomey amongst other things. I didn't agree with Twomey being dropped but I respected the coaches explanation

mikeh wrote:

MrTripleC wrote: Gone a bit quiet. Too hard to explain dropping Twomey perhaps? Near Leading team in tackles and handball receives yet his defensive pressure is the problem?

To be fair, Harding is pretty open. He posts blogs every week on the Swans website and fronts the Swans radio show and was happy to answer questions on Twomey amongst other things. I didn't agree with Twomey being dropped but I respected the coaches explanation

Agrre with you Mikeh. Both Harding and Twomey spoke about it. As you say Harding is on 91.3 Sports FM 7.30 pm every Tuesday.