The transition from the forward half to the back half has been warmly welcomed by Lewis Jetta.
The 26-year-old has taken on board a directive from coach John Longmire and gone about learning a backman’s craft after spending his first five seasons exciting Swans supporters as a crafty forward.
Rotating across half-back, Jetta has become an important cog in the Swans’ defensive structure and has worked extremely close with leading rebounders Dane Rampe and Nick Smith to learn the defender’s craft.
Jetta’s disposal – ranked as the Swans’ most effective after the opening five rounds of the season – is the reason why the speedster is back there on top of using the space in front of him to create and drive the Swans forward.
The move is a throwback to the Western Australian’s junior years, with Jetta telling SwansTV about his time as a back-pocket for Carey Park Junior Football Club.
“Under 16s is when I started hitting the forward line,” Jetta said.
“I do enjoying playing back there, it’s something different and I feel like I’m getting better as the season goes on.
“There’s still a lot to learn about how to play it well at this level.”
While Jetta has grasped the positional change the forward half has not been lost on Jetta with the 108-gamer hitting the scoreboard four times this season and ranked sixth for inside-50s, the highest of any of the Swans’ defenders.
The freedom to sneak forward and impact the game was on full display in the best ‘what could have been’ moments so far this season.
With the ball deep in the Swans’ forward pocket and seeing Western Bulldogs’ Stewart Crameri giving up pursuit, Jetta literally slid under the opposition’s defences to keep the ball alive.
Sliding on his knees, Jetta tapped the ball back to Jake Lloyd before the ball trickled over the boundary. Lloyd handballed the slippery football to co-captain Jarrad McVeigh who then snapped for goal, but the kick went across the face and went through for a behind.
“I figured I would try use my pace to get around Crameri and flick it back,” Jetta explained
“It would have been a good play but I’m not disappointed he didn’t kick it, if the opportunity ever comes up again I’ll take it again.”
Jetta iss looking forward to running out onto the wide open spaces of the MCG when the Swans take on Melbourne on Saturday night.
