In this week's Game Plan, Swans football development manager, Stuart Maxfield, talks about some of the Swans improving youngsters and the opportunity they will get against Richmond this weekend...

We’ve already seen so much improvement from our younger, developing players so far this season and one of those players who has really stood out is Lewis Jetta.

When players come into a professional AFL environment, it can take time for some players to understand how hard they need to work to maximise their talents.

With Jetta, it took him 12-18 months before he realised how hard he needed to work on the training track and he also had a lot going on behind the scenes as well in his first year.

He now understands how hard he has to push himself because talent isn’t enough, no matter how good you are. The work that he’s done pre-season with assistant coaches Leigh Tudor and Stuart Dew about how to find more ball and win his own ball has really come to fruition this season.

Players with speed should be able to get to a lot of contests and make a lot of tackles and put a lot of pressure on the ball, and he’s been able to step that right up this year.
Another player who has taken a huge step in the right direction is Luke Parker.

Luke has now been pitted against some quality top-line midfielders, so he’s got the trust of the coach and the players that you can actually send him to a quality player and know they’re not going to get off the chain.

For such a young player he is a very consistent performer, this is what sets him apart from some others early in their career. They can sometimes fluctuate dramatically in terms of their best and their worst. The gap between Parker’s best and worst isn’t a great deal.

Young midfielder Dan Hannebery has also taken a big step this season to become a regular fixture in the middle for the Swans.

Hannebery and Parker are similar in that they came to the club with a great work ethic. We’ve always had reasonably high expectations of Dan because he’s a natural footballer and a great athlete. He’s had a career-high possession tally so far this year.

With Hanners, he’s no longer just trying to get a game, he now sees himself as an established player and is now playing his role a lot more, rather than trying to do too much. He is now doing what his team mates expect of him and that’s what helps with consistency.

Also, with Jetta, Hannebery and Parker, they have all taken greater ownership and responsibility for the younger guys underneath them. They’re actually role models now and accept that they need to set the example for other to follow.

With the absence of Adam Goodes due to injury, the door of opportunity opens for someone else. There are a number of players in the reserves who have been pushing hard for selection and will therefore come into contention for our match versus Richmond this Saturday.

Of the younger brigade Trent Dennis-Lane, Nathan Gordon, Tommy Walsh and Harry Cunningham have all been in excellent form.