Seeing the club’s new draftees pull on the red and white guernsey for the first time will be the ultimate reward for new Sydney Swans development coach Marty Mattner.
After spending last year as an assistant coach, Mattner has changed roles for the upcoming season and will oversee the development of the club’s new recruits and younger players in the reserves.
It is a move he’s really excited about and something he was keen to take on after getting a taste for it in 2013 following his early retirement from playing due to a debilitating hip injury.
After hanging up the boots after 222 matches midway through the 2013 season, Mattner spent the rest of the year working with the reserves team and thoroughly enjoyed seeing kids develop from young draftees to bona fide footballers.
“It’s good because you see them from when they first get to the club and hopefully get to play an AFL game, it is really exciting and really enjoyable watching the kids develop and become AFL footballers,” Mattner said.
“I’ve learned a lot in the last three months with the different role and I’m really looking forward to the season ahead in the NEAFL and hopefully we have a really good year.”
Marty Mattner looks on at training at Centennial Parklands on Tuesday
One of the first tasks for Mattner was working alongside Jared Crouch, the other development team and welfare manager Dennis Carroll to make sure the new recruits felt right at home the moment they walked into the club.
It’s not an easy task for an 18-year-old to pick everything up and move interstate to an AFL club away from family, friends and familiar surroundings.
But Mattner said the club does everything possible to make sure players feel welcome and part of the club from the outset.
“When they first get here, it’s just making sure they’re settled in their homes, and everything is right and their families are happy, mum and dad are happy and the kid’s happy, and they know how to cook and clean and those types of things,” Mattner said.
“The biggest thing is moving interstate, moving away from family and friends and relocating.
“There’s a lot of nights where the boys will go out for dinner and there will be 15 blokes at dinner and they try and make them as welcome as possible.
“The other thing is everyone else is in the same boat as well, we’ve got a lot of players from interstate, so everyone gets along with each other really well.”
Jordan Foote, Isaac Heeney and Lance Franklin enjoying a laugh at training
While the young players are well supported off the field, it’s the relationship they form with the senior players that can be the biggest benefit.
After learning the history of the club and being presented with their guernsey number, the new recruits are teamed up with a senior player who becomes their mentor for the upcoming season.
Mattner said it’s a great initiative that helps the new recruits develop as people.
“There is a little bit of footy involved in it and watching games and vision but it is a lot to do with the outside, giving them an option to talk to someone if they have issues, or just to go and have a coffee or lunch and just make sure that everything’s going all right,” he explains.
“The players do form a good bond with their mentor and I think it’s a good way for young kids to learn some stuff off field, not just footy.”
Even though it’s early on in this year’s pre-season training program, Mattner has been really impressed with the way all of the club’s new recruits have found their feet and attacked training.
Mattner has been particularly pleased with the efforts of the three Academy recruits who had the benefit of knowing each other and their teammates before they were drafted.
“Abe Davis and Jack Hiscox have been training with the main group and doing a lot of the sessions,” Mattner said.
“Jack’s running ability has impressed the coaches and players and Abe has been able to train the whole program so that’s been really good and he’s learned a lot so he’s looking really good.
“Isaac has been training really well too but all of the guys have really impressed the way they’ve settled in and been accepted into the group and the boys have done really well.”
