The Sydney Swans are preparing for a scorcher on the SCG this Saturday when the side clashes with Brisbane in Round 1. On Friday ahead of the game, defender Lewis Melican spoke to the media.
On the Lions
"They’re obviously a great side; they showed that last year and even in their pre-season game against Adelaide this year. So, we're just preparing for it like any other game, we obviously want to bounce back after our loss last week and get a win on the board."
On learning from the Hawthorn loss
"We really went into the review and just wanted to learn from it, make sure that we got everything out of it. I think it's all right to have a loss this early in the season as long as we learn from it, if we go out and make the same mistakes, that's a problem and we'll have to address it again. But I think we just went into it really wanting to learn from that game."
On Tom McCartin
"It was a bit of a change, but we've practiced it all pre-season and he's obviously gone down forward for a reason. He's a big presence in the air, so I think the benefits of that we'll hopefully see over the next few weeks."
On Sam Wicks
"Again, it's one of those things, he's been training it all pre-season but you never know until that first game. To see him come out and do what he had been doing all pre-season and really shut out a key forward for them, it was really, really good to see."
On Riley Bice
"He's showed a lot over the pre-season, I think his speed with and without the ball in defence, the speed he has to sort of come over and cover and help out his teammates but then on attack to really get after him and make his defenders work."
On Joel Hamling
"He's a very good player, he obviously would have loved to have got a game a bit earlier, but he's done his time. He sees the game really well, whether he's up forward or down back, I think his ability to get in a position to mark the ball and come across and support if it's down back or out-work his opponent down forward."
On the backline
"My workload is pretty similar, me and Lizard (Nick Blakey) down there working on the talls, and then Ramps can be a third tall if we need him, or he can play small depending on their forward line. It hasn't really changed too much for us down there, and as I said, we've been doing it all pre-season, even if it is against ourselves, we've been working on that."
On playing Hawthorn, Brisbane and Fremantle in the first three rounds
"These first three games are sort of our first stage of the year, so obviously we didn't get the first result we wanted, but we've got two more against, as you said, good opponents, so we'll be looking to put our best foot forward."
On if Logan McDonald could do a job in defence
"I think it'll be an option, he's been doing some work down there over the pre-season. Again, he hasn't been able to do as much as he would have liked out on the track, but he's been doing the vision and stuff off the track to try and get that down. So hopefully, another string in his bow, see what he does when he gets back."
