Sydney speedster Gary Rohan will look to bank quality game time in the Swans’ clash with the Giants at Spotless Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The lively forward returned from a fractured hand to face the Canberra Demons in the NEAFL last week, but he finished his day early after his hand copped a knock.
Ruckman Darcy Cameron, forwards Dean Towers, Robbie Fox and James Rose and defenders Colin O’Riordan and Ryley Stoddart also await key opportunities to shine in the Round 20 NEAFL fixture.
While they’re set to test themselves against AFL-listed quality, development coach Tadhg Kennelly says his troops always confront games head-on.
“Our boys relish the challenge whenever they pull on the red-and-white guernsey,” Kennelly told SwansTV.
“It doesn’t matter the opposition. We focus on ourselves and what we’re going to do as a football club and that’s not going to be any different this weekend. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing – you want to hold yourself accountable and play some strong football as an individual when you play NEAFL football to push your AFL case. That’ll be no different for our AFL-listed boys playing this weekend.”
The Swans left it late but stormed home to grab a 13-point win over the Demons in Canberra last Saturday, running in six goals to the opposition’s zero to arrest a 23-point deficit at the final change.
The win saw the Swans edge from fourth to second on the ladder and the top rung could on Saturday become their own.
In an incredibly tight run to the finals, the top five teams are locked on 40 competition points ahead of the last two rounds of the regular season.
But the Swans will be solely focussed on the ensuing chapter of the cross-town battle on Saturday, a rivalry Kennelly says is well and truly alive.
The Irishman played 197 AFL matches for the Swans between 2001 and 2011 – the Giants entered the AFL and NEAFL in 2012.
“You look at the showdown (Port Adelaide versus Adelaide), or the derby in the west (West Coast versus Fremantle) – they’ve got a bit of a head-start on us,” Kennelly said.
“But there certainly is a rivalry in Sydney now because there are two AFL clubs in the town and you want to get one over the other.
“It’s great for the competition having two clubs in Sydney because it gives more exposure to the game of AFL. When I came to the football Club in 1999 there wasn’t much talk about AFL.
“You look at the game now and you look at the papers and you look at the coverage that the game is getting up here in Sydney – the Swans have obviously spread the word. But in the last few years having the Giants here has helped a lot.
“There’s a game on TV every weekend, a home game in Sydney, there are articles written regularly, because there’s another football club here."
GWS sits in seventh on the ladder and last week cruised to a 70-point over the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium last Saturday.
Kennelly said the Swans were set for a great challenge.
“The Giants are fighting for a finals spot and every time you play an AFL club they’re not dissimilar to ourselves – they want to play a high level of effort and contested football,” Kennelly said.
“The seniors have obviously turned the corner in the way they’re playing their football but also in the NEAFL. They’ve been really fierce at the contest and some of the stoppage stuff has been elite.”
Who: GWS v Sydney Swans
Where: Spotless Stadium, Sydney
When: 1:10pm
Round: 19
Sydney Swans team:
B: 51. Connor Flanagan 57. Michael Carroll 53. Kyle McKellar
HB: 52. Josh Stern 39. Heath Grundy 1. James Rose
C: 22. Dean Towers 45. Angus Styles 33. Ryley Stoddart
HF: 41. Jake Brown 42. Robbie Fox 16. Gary Rohan
F: 55. Bailey Stewart 58. Mitchell Rogers 56. Joey Reinhard
Foll: 17. Darcy Cameron 32. James Bell 38. Colin O’Riordan
Inter: 54. Kyle Veerhuis 59. Zachery Cameron 50. Sam Wicks 49. Cooper Kilpatrick 8. Max Ries
Emer: 47. Sam Thorne 60. Luke Parks 14. Matthew Kannan
In: 38. Heath Grundy 22. Dean Towers 8. Max Ries
Out: 46. Joel Amartey (injured) 27. Daniel Robinson (AFL)
