The Sydney Swans stepped up their pre-season program on Wednesday with the team taking part in a modified intra-club match at C.ex International Stadium in Coffs Harbour.
It was a tough, contested hit-out between the players as they battled it out over four, 10 minute quarters.
One of the standouts in the match was speedster Lewis Jetta who played as a rebounding defender.
Jetta’s skills were on full display as he racked up plenty of the footy and created scoring opportunities.
Jetta was joined in the defensive end of the ground by versatile tall, Sam Reid.
Reid lined up on Lance Franklin throughout the match and used his strength, speed and agility to great effect.
Coach John Longmire said he was pleased with the hit-out and to see players developing their games in different areas of the ground.
“Lewis is such a good kick and such a good decision maker,” Longmire said.
“Last year we thought we increased our flexibility of our team a fair bit and we want to go again.
“Part of this pre-season is to be able to keep developing the players in different positions whether that’s Sam Reid down back or Lewis Jetta down back, we don’t want to be too stationary in the way we line up every week.
“We want to make sure our team continues to be flexible and keep educating those players in certain positions and we thought Sam and Lewis today certainly showed some terrific signs in the back half.”
The Swans coach was also pleased with the performance of the club’s new recruits and second-and-third year players who stood out during the intra-club match.
Rookie Lewis Melican was particularly impressive down back while Dan Robinson found plenty of the ball in the midfield and Brandon Jack made an impact in the forward line.
“We’ve been really happy with the young kids who have come in, Lewis Melican and a few of those guys, in particular the first year draftees, have picked up the game plan quickly,” Longmire said.
“To their credit they’ve been able to implement that at a pretty fast rate and they’ve been doing a pretty good job.
“The second year players have developed again and those guys will no doubt get an opportunity in those early NAB Challenge games.”
Tough hit-out in Coffs
The Swans stepped up their pre-season program with an intra-club hit-out in Coffs on Wednesday.