For many of the Swans reserves players, Saturday afternoon’s opening round against UWS was their first full game since the end of last season.

After limited minutes in the NAB Cup and the cancellation of a practice match against Ainslie the week prior, the side could have been forgiven for being a little sluggish out of the gates.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth, however, as the reserves piled on 11 goals in the opening quarter-and-a-half before their opponents registered their first score, building up an unassailable lead in the process.

In his debut game as coach of the Swans reserves, Jared Crouch said he was happy to see his team gel so well after such little match practice in the build-up, eventually running out 118-point victors.

“I was just happy for the boys to finally get out onto the field and have a game,” Crouch told sydneyswans.com.au.

“I know for a lot of them it’s been frustrating with the lack of game time, so it was just nice for them to get out there and put a lot of the practice we’ve been doing over the pre-season into work.

“On top of that, normally we use a lot of under 18 top-up players, but the Swans Academy took on the GWS Academy on Sunday, so we had a lot of players from local Sydney who helped us out and we were certainly very thankful to them.

“The way the senior Swans players embraced them into the team was very pleasing as well because sometimes when you have guys you don’t know playing with you it can be a bit distracting, but they definitely gelled well.”

Crouch pointed to players with senior experience such as Mark Seaby, Mike Pyke, Jarred Moore and Trent Dennis-Lane as setting the early tone for the victory. He said although they probably would have preferred to be tested against more ‘mature’ bodies, the Swans were professional in their approach to the game.

The reserves will get their chance against more experienced campaigners when they face the Gold Coast Suns reserves in their next NEAFL game on Saturday April 7 at the SCG.

Crouch said the work the Suns have done in the gym over the off-season should see them as a tough proposition, especially considering they beat the Swans reserves by 79 points in the last meeting between the two sides.

“All their younger players have another pre-season under their belts,” he said.

“They’ll definitely be stronger physically and they would have improved their running base - I think they beat Brisbane Lions reserves in a practice match - so they’re going to be very competitive.”

In the meantime, the Swans reserves will get another chance to build up their playing time with a practice match against GWS at Blacktown this Friday morning.

“We spoke to GWS about getting some more match fitness into the younger guys so on Friday we’ll have a hit-out out at Blacktown,” Crouch said.

“What’s important for these young guys is to continue a nice build-up of game time into the season. You don’t want to overcook them too early, but at the same time, playing one week, having a week off, playing one week, having a week off, can be just as detrimental to them.”