From Coach Crouch

Up until I was about four years old, my parents lived in the Adelaide Hills and every weekend mum and dad would play netball and football for the local town. Some of my earliest childhood memories were of spending the morning cheering on mum on the netball court before heading over to cheer on dad at the footy. There was nothing like being on the boundary at a local football game where you truly do get to hear everything that’s going on on field.

It was great to have so many of those memories come rushing back to me this last weekend when we ventured to Drummoyne Oval to take on the NT Thunder, who are a team we have enormous respect for and a team that we had never beaten in the two years of this competition.

One of the great challenges for AFL in Sydney has always been the availability of grounds. It was then with added excitement that we were able to take our game to Drummoyne Oval. There is no doubt that Drummoyne Oval  has everything needed to be a great suburban ground: good facilities for the players and officials, fantastic hills surrounding the ground allowing great viewing of the game as well as a couple of grandstands for those who preferred to take a seat. It really was a perfect setting for the match.

I mentioned the respect we have for the NT boys. They have been playing great footy all season and are a side we were yet to beat. We wanted to make sure that when the match was finished we had earned the respect of our opposition. We also knew that there would be senior players and coaches in the crowd, and we wanted to show them that we too could play Swans football, and we wanted to earn their respect.

What we got from the opening bounce was a team committed to each other. We worked hard in numbers to defend the opposition and when we managed to turn the ball over, we worked hard to work the ball forward quickly to give our forwards the best opportunity to score goals. At half-time we had a lead but we certainly needed it given that we had a late withdrawal the morning of the match which meant that we only started with 21 players. By half-time the number of fit players had dropped to 19, leaving only one player on the bench. We had to rotate our players on the field rather than through the bench meaning everyone really had to share the load. The boys had to lift the level of communication so that they knew not only what they were doing, but also what the players around them were doing.

The boys showed great determination and worked together to record a good win. We hope that by the end of the game we had come close to achieving our goal of earning the respect of both our opposition and of our senior teammates in the stands. We also hope that the fans that came along to cheer us on also got to see a little sneak peak of some of the next generation of Swans’ players.

It was fantastic to play at Drummoyne Oval and I hope we can continue to use that ground in the future. The players would also like to thank all the fans that came along on the day to help create what was a great atmosphere. Your support helps bring out the best in the boys.

Player Focus:

Each week, the Sydney Swans development coaches, Josh Francou, Jared Crouch and Nick Davis will highlight the performances of some of the Swans’ NEAFL players.

These players are those who contributed well on game day, made improvements or played a significant role for the Swans.


NEAFL Player of the Week – Dan Robinson

Dan played in the midfield with some time forward this week. He was able to find plenty of the ball and use it to advantage. He marked the ball well overhead this week and is proving to be a handful for opposition defenders having five shots on goal. He was awarded best player on the ground as voted by the NT Thunder’s coach.

Key Stats: 21 kicks, 10 handballs, eight marks, three goals

Tim Membrey

Tim continues to improve each week and is now a reliable, consistent contributor to the side. He played mostly forward with some time on-ball on Saturday. The big improvement in Tim’s game has been his two-way running and his ability to apply forward pressure and lock the ball in our forward half. As we have seen many times this year, his trademark finishing skills were again on display with four majors for the day.  

Key Stats: 13 kicks, 12 handballs, five marks, four goals

Jordan Lockyer

Saturday’s game was the best game for Jordan for the year. He found plenty of the ball and was able to have a physical presence with three tackles and three blocks. He provided run off the half-back line and was involved in numerous forward 50 entries. This game should provide a good springboard for Jordan moving into the second half of the year.

Key Stats: 11 kicks, 19 handballs, nine marks

Zak Jones

Zak defended strongly and was able to read the play well with some terrific spoiling and intercept marking. He showed plenty of composure when in possession of the ball and made good decisions by hand and foot.

Key Stats: 7 kicks 9 handballs 1 mark

Brandon Jack

There was a lot to like about Brandon’s game this week. He spent more time on-ball and did some terrific work inside. He was clean below his knees in traffic and his finishing in front of goals was a real positive to take out of the game, with Brandon kicking three goals.

Key Stats: 9 kicks 19 handballs 3 marks