FootyGoss :: All the Latest AFL and WAFL Breaking News

Back to Business

As all the clubs makes their way out of Christmas celebrations into the rigours of a New Years preseason, the high flying Swans of 2008 have their eyes firmly set on the future, rather than the past. Coach Brian Dawson spoke to footygoss about the clubs determination to succeed in his second year at the helm, “While it was terrific what we did last year, we’re into 2009 now, and the reality is we didn’t win it. We’ve got our goals to achieve this season and we definitely want to be around the mark again”.

To recapture the spirit that engulfed the club in 2008, the senior coach and a slightly modified team will have to bring on a new breed again, with the playing coffers well and truly raided by the AFL clubs on draft day. Dawson conceding a few drawbacks to the success of his young chargers, “It certainly doesn’t make it easy, but it’s a reality of the system. You need to develop your young players, it’s part of the job, and all the best to them. You know they may be gone at the end of the year.”

If there is a club well placed to cover such losses, it’s the Black and Whites, having taken out the Colts premiership on a cold rain soaked Grand Final day last September. When pressed on potentials for the senior side, the Swans coach is confident we’ll see a few new faces following the trodden path of their predecessors, “There are a number of kids that will play senior footy this year, I guess at the moment Simon Parry and Steve McKenzie are putting their hands up to be involved, and we’re excited about the prospect of Lewis Jetta when he gets his chance.”

Of the way AFL clubs are allocated to their respective WAFL clubs, short of announcing it as the greatest administration fete of our time, the ever controlled Dawson endorsed it, “It’s sort of working reasonably well at the moment, the AFL clubs will have the final say on where a player is located, but outside that it works on a reverse draw system. We may not be involved this season after finishing closer to the top, but we picked up Clayton Hinckley last season. We’ve actually put in a proposal to the WAFL so that we might be able to participate on the grounds of losing so many players in the draft, but we’re not sure where we stand at this stage.”

With such a turnover a stark reality across almost all of the WAFL clubs, Dawson says it’s important to find a balance between having a structure set in stone and making the most of the playing group that presents itself “You’ve got to get the best out of your bunch each year. While you have your game plan and philosophy’s, it’s inevitable that you’ll need to tweak a bit here and there to suit the stage you’re at. As a coach that’s you’re challenge, to ensure you’re getting the best out of each player and the group collectively, and that may well mean being a little flexible, or a change to you’re ideal structure.”

The movers and shakers of 2008, you get the feeling the Swans are likely to be nurtured through the pitfalls of success by a wise and measured mentor, whose reserved nature masks a very determined drive, if the young signets follow suit, Blue Steel Oval could once again be a very exciting place to be in 2009.

Ricky