Sydney Swans Head of Football Tom Harley has joined the chorus of praise lauding a host of blossoming youngsters. 

Coach John Longmire, veteran Jarrad McVeigh and dependable backman Nick Smith have this year all sung the praises of a host of young Swans stamping their impact in the AFL.

Harley followed suit in the aftermath of Sydney’s gripping duel with Richmond at Etihad Stadium last Thursday night, praising the influence of the likes of Oliver Florent and Ben Ronke.

“A little by circumstance over the last couple of years we’ve gotten quite young quite quickly,” Harley said on SEN last Friday.

“It’s one thing to play young players and the second part is young players play really integral roles in your team – and that’s what’s happening with us.

“Ollie Florent’s footy has really evolved in the last probably six to eight weeks where he’s been a really high-level contributor.

“Hayward’s in the same boat, Benny Ronke also and Tom McCartin is the youngest player in the AFL and he’s holding down centre-half forward in Thursday night footy against the Tigers and did a pretty good job.”

Midfielders Florent and Harry Cunningham will again test themselves against star-studded opposition when Sydney meets Geelong at the SCG on Thursday night.

Quiet achiever George Hewett was last week tasked with tagging Richmond gun Dustin Martin and on Thursday could be sent to ball magnets Gary Ablett, Patrick Dangerfield or Joel Selwood.

Ronke starred on debut against Geelong at the Cattery in Round 6 and on Thursday will look to feed off the aerial work of towering forwards Lance Franklin and McCartin.

Ronke (Round 8) and Florent (Round 11) have this year both earned Rising Star nominations for exceptional performances against Hawthorn and Carlton respectively, throwing their names in the ring to potentially join Adam Goodes, Dan Hannebery and Callum Mills as the only Swans in history to have taken out the gong.

Harley said age didn’t factor at the selection table and stressed the importance of strong form.

“We’re conscious of the fact that your expectations need to be managed with young players, but John Longmire is also on the record saying birth certificates are irrelevant when he picks the team and we pick the best team available,” Harley said.

“In our instance a lot of those have been 18, 19, 20-year-olds and we think their performances to this point in the season have been really pleasing and we’ll continue to go with them.”