Sydney Swans assistant coach Jeremy Laidler says Sydney's mix of young and experienced players will make for an exciting forward line in 2026.

Laidler returned to the club ahead of the 2026 season, as an assistant coach. Looking after the side's forward line, Laidler will get a chance to see his new line up in action when the team plays a pre-season game against the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne on Thursday February 19.

"Games are really exciting, they're probably sick of playing against each other, so, to play against opposition in a couple of weeks will be really exciting," Laidler said. 

"But a lot of the pre-season has been about how we want to move the ball and how we want to defend it as well, but more about our roles and what we want to be known as as a forward group, but then as a football club against the opposition as well. 

"So, really exciting, I think we've got a great group of young and old forwards. We've got a couple of new forwards as well, which is exciting and they've all just fitted in really seamlessly and made my job a lot easier."

Laidler first joined the red and white in 2014 as a player, following previous stints at Geelong and Carlton. After retiring at the end of 2017, he remained at the club as a development coach before being named Sydney’s VFL Head Coach, a role he held for five years.

Laidler said the opportunity to return to the Swans and learn from coaches Dean Cox and Simon Goodwin was too good to pass up.

"It's just a great club, with great people involved and I spent a little bit of time with Coxsy when I was here last time," Laidler said.

"Just to learn off someone else, I thought my time on the other side of the bridge was really effective and great for me personally, but to come back here and be wanted back here, I thought was unbelievable, so, I grabbed those chances and I'm here.

"I'm loving it, it's an honour to be back, everyone's made it really easy to fit back in. There's still a lot of people that I knew, but there's a lot of new faces around too so really enjoying my time here and can't wait to see how the year unfolds."

Watch Laidler's full interview, which includes who has been standing out at training in the forward line and who fans should keep an eye on in pre-season matches, in this week's episode of Inside Sydney, dropping on Friday.