Sydney Swans co-captain Josh Kennedy addressed the media ahead of training at the SCG on Thursday morning.
Sydney is set to face Carlton at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in Round 3 on Saturday afternoon.
Here are some key quotes from the press conference.
Bouncing back
“The 0-2 start to the season is something we need to work hard on to turn around. It is still pretty early in the season and I’m confident we can get back to basics and make amends for the 0-2 start. There’s still a lot of footy to play and there’s no science to it; we’ve just got to put our heads down, backsides up and grind away.”
Analysing the Adelaide Crows clash
“If you look at the game on the weekend, Adelaide was able to execute the basics a lot better than us across the course of the game. We were able to rectify a lot in terms of our contested ball and hit around the midfield, which were areas where we were beaten the week before, but we need all those facets of the game working together to get the win.”
Facing Carlton’s Patrick Cripps
“He’s one of, if not the best, contested-ball winners in the comp. He’s very good around the contested ball and particularly at the stoppages. It’ll be a very big task for our midfield group in trying to nullify his impact on the game, and we’ll have to work together to make sure we can match it with him.”
Evolving Swans midfield
“Tom Papley was fantastic on the weekend. He was awesome and particularly with the centre clearances. Callum Mills is in the midfield, Isaac Heeney, Oliver Florent, Zak Jones – it’s about building chemistry with those young guys coming through. I thought we were really good on the weekend in terms of our work on the inside and outside of the footy.”
Kieren Jack’s progress
“Kieren’s going really well. He’s had a couple of hit-outs in the NEAFL and he’s looking sharp. I played on him at training last week and I thought he was back to his best in terms of how he moved. It’s just a matter of time now before he can get his game time up, feel confident in his body and feel confident in his match fitness. I’m not sure if he’ll be playing in the seniors this week; I think there’s still a bit of time yet for him to get his match fitness up. But from that point it’ll be in the coaches’ hands.”
