In this week's Game Plan, Swans forwards coach, Henry Playfair, talks about facing Hawthorn's tough defensive unit...

Looking back at last weekend’s win over the Western Bulldogs, we thought the forwards were pretty good for the most part. They shared the load a fair bit, which was represented in the fact we had 14 goal kickers. Generally the boys played their part in the forward structure and it really came together well on the day.

It was pleasing to get a good return out of our talls. For the most part this season, we haven’t relied on one key forward kicking a bag, so it was great to see the team effort the forwards produced last week. It was also pleasing to see them spread the workload amongst the group, including both our ruckman in Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke who have been getting forward, and last week they managed three goals each.

Pykey probably played his best game yet last week. He did a great job and took a number of contested marks, which was great to see. Contested marks up forward is something we haven’t produced a lot of this year, and is an area we are keen to improve on, especially going into finals. So for Pyke to take five marks inside 50 and a couple of them were contested, it was a pretty good effort. I think Pykey has been slowly building into his year and has contributed as a forward each week he’s been there, but it was great for him to have an even bigger contribution against the Bulldogs on the weekend.

Last week we were also able to bring on a new forward in Mitch Morton, if only for a short time in the final term. He was pretty impressive in his debut and got involved in a few touches and kicked a goal, and has a lot of class and talent. We’re still trying to work with him on a few other things, but hopefully he can maintain his spot and play a role going forward.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s game, taking on Hawthorn is no doubt going to be a tough challenge. The Hawks defence is the best at restricting inside 50s and all the stats say they are a really good team, not only in defence, but across the park.

It’s going to be a real challenge for the forwards, but I think it’s one that they are ready for. The good thing is that the forwards have played a fair bit of footy together now, so we’re hoping that as a unit, not as individuals, we can get a good result against their defenders.

The Hawks boast a lot of talent across their defence, including Josh Gibson who looks set to be in for Saturday’s match. They also have a number of other smart defenders in Brent Guerra, Grant Birchall and Matthew Suckling who cut the angles pretty well and generally get to the right spot. They are all pretty good at playing that role, so we will need to be at our best and be smart against them.

This week’s game is going to be a huge clash for the Swans and we’re really looking forward to getting out on the SCG in front of a packed crowd. All the ticket sales are through the roof, so the boys are starting to get really excited about playing on Saturday in what is a big opportunity for our club.