Pre-season continues and we’ve now had around two solid months of training. In my opinion I think Nathan Gordon and Alex Johnson have been the standouts of pre-season, and for an “old bloke” the 2011 Best Clubman, Rhyce Shaw, has been great out on the track too. We’ve got good numbers out at training, players are working hard, and we know a short Christmas break is just around the corner.

On the topic of Christmas I thought I’d tell you what’s on my wish list for Christmas this year:

- A head of hair like Matt Spangher
- A double-barrelled surname like Roberts-Thomson
- A pair of quads like Luke Parker
- A Sam Reid contract extension
- A sidestep like Craig Bird

However, if you’ve already got massive quad muscles, or something else from the list above and you need inspiration for some other ideas, I’ve jotted some down to help you out.

Ideas for Christmas presents:

- Swans membership … the gift that keeps on giving
- Jumper with number 25 on the back (it’s going to be the new black)
- Black football boots (they’re the new white)
- TedTV best of 2011 DVD box-set, Volumes 1-24 (note: still in production)
- Or something from one of our sponsors … perhaps a bottle of red Powerade vintage 2011, QBE car insurance for grandpa, an iPhone4s from Telechoice for dad, a Volkswagen Tiguan for mum, or money from a Citi ATM for yourself

As stated in the last report, I have a new segment this season called the ‘Canteen Award’.

Canteen award for this week: Pie and Coke from the Swans canteen this week goes to Tommy Walsh who on seeing Cyggy (our club mascot) walking around at a recent function asked a team-mate “who’s the duck?”

Tommy, it’s a Swan - he’s our mascot!

Tommy has since been called ‘duck’ on the training track for this reason.
(With Tommy being a big power forward with the nickname “Duck”, fingers crossed he might also play like someone else with the same nick-name and same physical attributes!)

Song of the week (this week picked by Jude Bolton): Was hoping Jude might partake in the Christmas spirit and suggest something like an Elvis Christmas song, but this week the ‘song of the week’ picked by him is:
Shuffle, by Bombay Bicycle Club (here’s a link to the song)

Swans memberships are coming through which is great. We’ve just topped the 10,000 mark and very thankful to all the loyal fans who have signed up again.

Merry Christmas, a happy new year… and I’ll see you next in 2012.

Ted Richards
@richards_report
www.rolex.com/richardsreport