Sydney Swans big man Tommy Walsh is trying to apply the Lewis Roberts-Thomson blueprint to his own game this season.

Like Roberts-Thomson was able to do last year, Walsh hopes to ply his trade at both ends of the ground, and has already shown promise both up forward and down back for the Swans reserves this season.

“The more versatile you are, the more positions you can play when you come in,” Walsh told sydneyswans.com.au.

“When LRT is out there for us he does very well in more than one position and I look at that and see the way he does it and the way he impacts the game at both ends and it’s fantastic.

“That’s what I’d like to be able to do and I hope that the coaches can see me do that in the future.”

In the reserves’ recent win over UWS, Walsh was named best afield and played the first half in defence before booting two goals in the second half in the forward line.

The 25-year-old, who began his AFL career as a defender while on the St Kilda rookie list, said he would feel confident playing in either role if selected for the Swans this season.

“I don’t mind to be honest and I feel comfortable at both ends,” Walsh said.

“I feel that if I was called upon I could play a role there, so I don’t really mind honestly and I’m just busting to play and wherever that is, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

“I played a lot of football down back when I was down in Melbourne, so I do feel comfortable there, but again it’s just about waiting for the opportunity.”

Walsh has been on the cusp of selection this season, and has been named as an emergency in the last three rounds.

The big Irishman, who was also an emergency for last year’s Grand Final, admitted that it was tough not to make the cut but was confident his time would come.

“I suppose the guys in my position are going pretty well, so they’ve obviously proven that they could do it last year and even years before that, so I just have to bide my time and hopefully the opportunity will come,” he said.

“Even though the defence has had injuries, you’ve got Teddy (Richards) and Reg (Heath Grundy) and Dane Rampe has come in and done really well, so it is hard for spots to open up, but you just have to be patient and play as well as you can each week in the reserves and hopefully that opportunity does come up.”

Looking forward, Walsh said he would focus on improving his game and continue to press for senior selection in the coming weeks.

“All I can control is how I play, and I’ve been happy with that over the last few weeks,” he said.

“I feel like I’m doing a lot right and the coaches are telling me I am, so I just have to keep working on the weaknesses in my game, and as well as that, just start to play to my strengths more and more.

“Every training session and every game I play I’ve got to keep working on it and hopefully the coaches can see that improvement.”