Exciting Sydney Swans prospect Oliver Florent is feeling “better than ever” and buzzing to test his mettle on game day.
The 21-year-old got a sniff of match-day fever as the squad split into two for a practice game at Lakeside Oval on Friday.
And the fleet-footed midfielder, who’s missed just one senior match over the last two seasons, has set his sights on the Swans’ Round 1 clash with the Adelaide Crows on March 21.
“I feel pretty good. I had surgery last year so I had a bit of an interrupted start to the year, but I now feel better than ever,” Florent told SwansTV.
“Personally, I’m just trying to get better each year. I’m trying to play a bit more on the inside, I’m still working on my outside game and I’m learning off Joey (Josh Kennedy), Parks (Luke Parker) and the like a lot more now, which is really exciting and a really important learning point for me.
“I’m super-excited for the games to roll around. These practice games are a bit of a tease, it’s really building up now and I can’t wait.”
In a gruelling end to the week, the Swans played a 60-minute practice match in temperatures as high as 31 degrees, before rounding out the session with a series of drills.
Florent didn’t miss a minute of the game and was impressive around the footy, beating opponents with his elite agility and pinpointing free teammates under pressure.
Florent, Kennedy, Parker, James Rowbottom, Nick Blakey, Lewis Taylor and Dylan Stephens all tackled plenty of minutes in the midfield, while Michael Knoll contested with QBE Sydney Swans Academy gun Sam Gaden in the ruck for the majority of the match.
“I’m pretty sore after that session today,” Florent said.
“It was a real step-up in intensity and I’m hopefully going to do a lot of recovery after this.
“The boys did really well. We really stepped it up in all areas of the game. We’re playing more minutes and it’s definitely gruelling, but that’s what we need going into the season.”
Tadhg Kennelly and recently retired Sydney champion Jarrad McVeigh are now taking charge of the midfield department.
Kennelly, who played 197 AFL games with the Swans and was a member of the 2005 premiership team, returned to the club as a development coach ahead of season 2018 and oversaw defence in 2019.
McVeigh played 325 AFL games and co-captained the Swans to the 2012 premiership, before farewelling the red-and-white faithful in Round 23 last year.
Florent is thrilled to have Kennelly and McVeigh as his coaches.
“It’s awesome. Tadhg was my development coach and I obviously played with Macca last year,” Florent said.
“I get along with both of them really well, they really know me as a person and as a footballer, they’re really smart and they help me with off-field stuff but are super with on-field stuff as well.”
