Sydney Swans defender Will Edwards addressed the media on Tuesday, discussing the side's loss to Geelong, his start to his AFL career and the side's clash against Richmond at home on Saturday.

On the loss to Geelong

"Geelong are a very strong side, they're probably the in-form side at the moment. They defended us well, they're a very good team in the competition and to go down to Geelong, yeah, it was always going to be a tough game and we've got things to work on in our game and we know that and we've had a review today and we'll go and work on those things, which we're confident we can do."

On finding other ways to score

"Yeah, I mean, that's the nature of the game, isn't it? You've always got to have multiple avenues to score on offence, but also defensively you've got to adapt and teams are going to look at each other week in, week out. That's just the nature of the competition, so we're confident in ourselves that we can adapt and have multiple avenues to score. As a defender, you know, your job, you sort of want to clear the ball from your area, but at the same time we want to sort of get those handball chains going. But as I mentioned before, we want to have multiple avenues to score and we're always constantly working on those to be better as a team offensively, but more importantly defensively as well."

On how it feels to be consistently play in the side

"it's been a bit of a journey as it's sort of been reported on a little bit, but yeah, it's pretty special to be in the side now and see for the weeks to come and things like that. But especially at Geelong on the weekend, it's pretty cool going down there and playing. Not the result we wanted necessarily, but a lot of learnings for myself personally to come away with and have that experience under my belt, which was pretty special."

On how his body is feeling

'It's feeling really good. Obviously didn't play a whole heap last year, so just sort of trying to get those minutes into my body and things and yeah, it's feeling really good this year and I'm confident in my ability and things like that."

On the mental side of playing after injury

That's probably the thing that doesn't get talked about as much.  So yeah, I hadn't played much at all really last year. I played probably the first few games and then had my shin and then obviously the infections and things before that. So mentally, you've just got to keep yourself motivated, as you said, and I think coming into a club like this, there's so many support people around you that yeah, keep yourself busy. Obviously footy is our job and that's what we've got to do, but keeping busy outside of footy I think is really important and obviously being from Sydney. I've got my mates here, which is an added bonus and obviously my family and friends are all from Sydney. So yeah, I was fortunate in that instance that I was able to have them near and close by.

On his biggest supporters

"Oh, I mean obviously all the doctors and physios and things like that. They're obviously the ones on the front line. The development, Brett (Kirk) and Phoebe Jaego, they're the development sort of staff and obviously Coxy, he backed me in and that's the main person you want to have you on their side. So he was really supportive of me and obviously pursuing with me. I mean obviously Paddy (McCartin) he's coming to our sort of staff program now and he's always in my corner and things, obviously playing a similar sort of position, key defender with his brother Tommy. They've both been super supportive of me and I think a lot of the boys just chatting with them about how to sort of get through these sort of times because the reality is unfortunately a lot of people go through that sort of situation where you miss a lot of time out of the game. So there's a lot of people to lean on and chat about, especially Paddy and Tommy, they've been really helpful."

On the pressure to retain his spot

"Yeah, I mean that's the reality of it. You've got to play your role, that's how you get into the team. If you don't play your role you won't be in the team. So yeah, week to week sort of basis, the VFL team has been going so well that there's always pressure on selection and spots like that so you can't just assume you're going to be in week to week, you've just got to play it by ear."

On having three tall defenders in the lineup

"Yeah, having three key defenders in the team, obviously Tommy can provide a bit of ball movement and things and that's what we want to provide is more movement within the team and as keys probably traditionally you're a bit more sort of locked down defender but yeah, we want to sort of get a bit of ball movement going and I think it's been going not too bad."

On the defenders who have helped him

They've all been pretty respectful of my sort of situation and I think Ramps,Ramps obviously not playing at the minute but he's been super, super helpful in my development and he's obviously got that sort of older head about him, he's very understanding and he's been really, really helpful for me and obviously Tommy, Lewis Melican I played a fair bit of VFL with Lewis Melican a few years ago so I've played with him and yeah, they've all been really, really helpful for my development."

On staying positive

"I never really thought about being delisted or anything like that because as soon as those thoughts come into your head you probably lose the passion a little bit but there were sort of times like sitting in hospital and things, I don't mean it like a sob or anything but you sort of go like, am I going to play again, things like that but I don't think there was ever a time where I was like, oh, sort of, I'm going to leave this behind sort of thing. Yeah, you just got to stay sort of positive.

On his past job as a funeral director

"It's a bit of a random one but I mean that job requires a lot of respect, a lot of emotional awareness and things like that. It's not the easiest thing. I mean, I sort of did it at the time, you know, finish school, got to get a bit of money somehow so I have a mate that works there, that's how that job came about. But no, it was probably a bit of an eye-opening job, you know, not super easy and yeah, I guess sort of set me up for a little bit of emotional awareness and things in footy. I think I told a few of them (his teammates) in the development meetings a couple of years ago and especially Brett Kirk, he was quite intrigued by it. But I think I sort of keep that one a bit under wraps. I think they get a bit freaked out by it."

On how he has assessed his game so far

"I mean, I've been fairly happy, you know. Obviously, I think I've played five games now so it came in against the Bulldogs. But yeah, our team is so, so focused on playing your role that if you go away from that, it's fairly evident, you know. And there's boys in the VFL that are playing that role so it creates that pressure on the team. And I think I've been, yeah, I think I've been doing my role, sort of playing that key defender. Obviously, a lot of things to work on and yeah, it's my fifth game. You know, there's boys out there that have played hundreds so lots of things to work on."

On playing on key forwards

"I mean, I'm in a pretty fortunate position that I get to play on these sorts of players. Like, even on the weekend, Jeremy Cameron and Paddy Dangerfield and things like that. It's pretty special to be playing on these guys.  So, yeah, Nick Larkey, like you said, yeah, it's special to be playing on them and have the opportunity to try and defend them."

On the support of his mates

"They've been loving it. Oh, they were so loud, they were loving it. And they don't really know much about AFL, if I'm completely honest. That's just... That's what they do up here in Sydney. They're more into the NRL and rugby union. But a lot of them have said to me they've found a bit of a love for AFL. So that's good to see and hopefully they keep coming to more games, not just one-off."