Sydney Swans senior coach Scott Gowans addressed the media on Friday, ahead of the game's Marn Grook clash at Henson Park on Sunday.

On the win over Geelong

"I think that's the pleasing thing with it. It's easy to play good footy when you've got the scoreboard on your side, but when you have it, that's a real test of your team, and I was really pleased with the way we were able to come back in that. Probably the first time in our history, to be honest, in our short history, that we've been able to cop a blow and keep composure, then come back and play good footy, yeah, it was really pleasing."

On coming back from being three goals down

"A combination of both. We do have some set mechanisms, we do, and so we made those moves with positional changes, and then we have a couple of things that we do from a set play point of view, but the bulk of it comes from just the maturity of the group, and you can't beat time, and the essence of time, just that fourth season, it just makes you more connected, and when you're leaders that are going to drive that high footy intelligence and be able to make decisions themselves on the field, and as I say, it's probably the first time we've had that, and really pleasing."

On Chloe Molloy

"The trick with Chloe is, if she's not kicking goals, she's giving score involvements, and the combination of both this year, so we want to run nine or ten players through our midfield group, we want to have versatility across the field so that we can have set plays and scenarios based on different game state and conditions and all those things, and I think the days of just having your four mids go through are so predictable that you're able to shut them down, and we just don't want that. We want to be hard to play against, and we want to have the versatility. If it's not going our way and we're having a bad day, we've got mechanisms to throw around that can get us going."

On Sofia Hurley

"It's a bad one from a loss point of view, but it's not a bad one from an injury point of view. She'll just be managed for a week or maybe two, and yeah, it's just her foot, and we're hoping to have her back sooner rather than later. It's by no means a season-ending thing, it's just a couple of weeks, and yeah, she's an important player for us. She can play midfield forward, and she structurally is very important, so it's a big loss, but the good thing about winning is that we've had a couple of players that have been knocking on the door and we just can't fit them in, and it's a good problem to have."

On how he wants the team to play

"We base our game off turnover, and it's important, especially if you go down in clearance. It's really important to win the ball back and then be able to go forward with the footy. At the speed we go at sometimes, it's really hard for marking forwards, which is hence the reason we went in last week with a bit more of a ground ball mentality on Geelong's ground. You've just got to be able to win your fall of the ball, but then it's the spillage, so you've got to be able to win the spillage. With the new rules as well, there's a lot more spillage in the game now, so the ball's going to be in that outer layer a fair bit. So you've got to pick a side that's able to scoop those up, and if the opposition win it, you've got to have the side that's able to, at speed, shut them down. So it's really just finding the balance, and it's a matter of looking at the weather, looking at the ground, looking at the opposition, what they do, and try and take that away from them, and then coming up with the 21 to best do that."

On coming up against Walyalup (Fremantle)

"We haven't put four quarters together, so that is a focus this week and I'm very, very well versed on Fremantle (Walyalup), you poke the bear a little bit there, and they generally come out firing. They've lost to Brisbane and North in the last two weeks, they won't be the first team to do that, they won't be the last. They've just had a really tough fortnight. Brisbane and North, when they get hold of you, they can really get hold of you. We've seen that many times. Round one, they were good against Port, and we've got a few players back that I think give them a nice balance in their squad this week. So it'll be interesting to see when they finalise their team. But we're expecting them to come out hard, players like Bowers are just wrecking balls. So it's going to be a game where you've got to win it on the inside and get the ball to the outside, and the team that does the most damage on the outside will win."

On Ally Morphett's match up with Mim Strom

"It's been the focus this week, so it's a match-up to watch. And Ally, she struck some really good form, and not so much in the ruck craft, but more around the ground, which she did in 2023 in a few games. So she's got back to that. I'm not sure if they'll shake hands and see each other at the end, or whether they'll actually stick on each other. But it'll be one to watch, and it's critical, at least from a team defence point of view, that we're able to turn that ball over, those high balls over. So Ally's going to have to adjust a little bit when they've got control of the ball, vice versa, though, we want to make them defend us. So I just said to Ally yesterday, I'm happy for her to get forward and be really dangerous this week as well. So it'll be a high-running game for those two, and we'll see how it pans out."

On the team's first home game for the season at Henson Park

"It's actually the same width as GMHBA, but the length's a bit shorter but I think it's a great size for us, particularly the way we want to play and it's a great ground to watch footy. So I'm hopeful we can get a big crowd there, it's really important that we actually get people to the game and they support us, that's the way the game's going to grow."

On the importance of attending AFLW games

"If we can get crowds there, you know, bums on seats, as they say, that'll give us more games next year. So it's really up to our supporters to get there and our supporters are fantastic. We realise we can only control what we can control with our support and usually when we put the call out to get people there, it lifts the girls. It'll be a great game of footy on Sunday. But, yeah, it's something that we've just got to get used to in AFLW that we really do need the support at the grounds and there's no better oval than Henson. You can get yourself a feed on the outside and the kids can run around on the hill and, yeah, we'll put on a good show."

Get tickets and join us for our next Sydney Swans AFLW home game at Henson Park HERE.