Collection of cracking Reids
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, July 13
This is the story of two Sam Reids, two Ben Reids and one very perplexed photographer.
Confused? Well, read on.
Sydney Swans forward Sam Reid will face GWS Giants utility Sam Reid in Saturday night’s Sydney Derby XIII at Spotless Stadium.
Remarkably the pair had never met until they got together for The Daily Telegraph’s photo shoot this week, even though the Swans’ Sam Reid has been in Sydney for nine years and the Giants’ Sam Reid for six.
It’s a pretty good effort at avoiding each other for a city which has just two AFL teams.
While they’d never crossed paths they certainly knew about each other.
Especially when the Swans’ Sam Reid was woken up by an early morning phone call reminding him he had an appointment for scans.
The scans were for his Giants namesake.
It wasn’t the first mix-up. Only a few months earlier the Giants’ Sam Reid scored an exit row seat when checked onto a Sydney flight.
“I thought this was all right jagging the exit row with the extra leg room,” he said.
“Then I saw all these Swans players boarding the plane and I realised I’d scored Sam’s seat. I wasn’t playing at the time so I did the right thing and changed my seat.”
Shiel expects fiery derby clash
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, July 13
GWS midfield gun Dylan Shiel says the gloves will be off in Saturday night’s Sydney Derby at Spotless Stadium against the Swans.
Shiel has noted their cross town rivals have targeted opposition players in their recent run of wins and is expecting the Swans to target some of his team mates.
“They seem to be targeting opposition players,” Shiel said.
“We will expect nothing less. It’s something we’ve spoken about but it’s only a small part of the bigger picture for us. The Swans will be coming in very hard and we expect a tight contest.”
The Giants have just one win from their last four outings after losing to Carlton and drawing with Geelong and Hawthorn.
Shiel says it’s no secret they are struggling but is hoping to get a lift from returning stars Toby Greene, Zac Williams and Steve Johnson who all completed training at Spotless Stadium.
“They got through training really well so hopefully they recover well and play,” Shiel said.
“You don’t have to be Einstein to realise we’re not playing the best footy we’re capable of at the moment. We’re working as hard as we can to rectify that.
“It’s hard playing in back-to-back draws. You could argue we weren’t playing our best football and we were lucky to get away with those results.
“It’s an interesting time for our footy club we’re coming up against some fierce competitors so hopefully can rise to the occasion and get through it all.”
Building the trust and finding a place - How Dean Towers has found his groove at Sydney in 2017
Sarah Olle
Fox Sports, July 13
HE MAY not be the greatest footballer to come from Colac.
And in a week where Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge has announced his retirement, he’s certainly not the most topical.
But Dean Towers is beginning to reward the faith the Swans showed in him when they drafted him with their first draft pick in 2012.
The lithe utility has played nine matches on the trot and had a breakout game against the Suns on Saturday, booting two goals from 21 touches.
“It’s definitely been my most consistent patch,” Towers tells foxfooty.com.au.
“Previous to this I think I’ve only played eight games in a row.
“I’m just really enjoying playing some consistent footy and playing my role week in, week out and getting some trust from the team that I’ll do that week, in week out.”
GWS are ready for swarming Sydney
Courtney Walsh
The Australian, July 13
Greater Western Sydney midfielder Dylan Shiel says the emergence of the “unsociable Swans” has been noted by the Giants ahead of Saturday night’s season-shaping encounter at Spotless Stadium.
As the Swans have surged back into September contention, a trend has emerged of their players converging on a rival footballer. Bulldog Jason Johannisen springs to mind. Last week the creativity of Jarrod Harbrow was curtailed.
Zak Jones also made mention of a need to be more aggressive earlier this year but while the Giants are aware of the tactic, Shiel said it had scarcely dominated discussions ahead of the match.
“The media have highlighted that they seem to be targeting opposition players, so we will expect nothing less this weekend,” he said. “It is something that we have spoken about but it’s only a small part of a big picture for us.”
Giants’ gun trio in line to take on arch-rivals
Rob Forsaith
AAP, SMH, July 13
Confidence is building that Greater Western Sydney’s Steve Johnson, Toby Greene and Zac Williams will return for Saturday night’s local derby.
Johnson, Greene and Williams all completed GWS’s main training session on Wednesday.
Gun midfielder Dylan Shiel says the injured trio should be in the mix to face Sydney at Spotless Stadium.
‘‘They got through training really well,’’ Shiel said. ‘‘To my knowledge they’re going to put their hand up for selection.
‘‘Hopefully they recover well from training today and they’ll be right for the weekend.’’
All-Australian small forward Greene (ankle) and rebounding defender Williams (hamstring) missed GWS’s recent draws with Geelong and Hawthorn.
Johnson, whose chronic knee injury continues to be carefully managed, didn’t make the trip to Tasmania last week.
AFL set to create development committee to tackle mental health
Sam McClure
The Age, July 13
The AFL and the players' association are joining forces in a concerted effort to develop footballers as fit in mind as they are in body.
With millions of dollars being spent across the league on sports science and high performance, the game is set to take a momentous step towards understanding a footballer's mental wellbeing.
Although the likes of Alex Fasolo, Travis Cloke and Tom Boyd have shone a light on the prevalence of mental health issues among footballers in recent weeks, it's generally accepted across the league that the majority of players feel apprehensive about taking the first step and reaching out for help.
Only two clubs (Gold Coast and Fremantle) have a full-time psychologist. Around half a dozen have no psychologist at all, while the rest have only part-time employees.
Two of the game's biggest names, Patrick Dangerfield and Bob Murphy, believe there needs to be more emphasis placed on mental health. "You need to have four or five people that you can contact because everyone views things differently and everyone creates relationships differently," reigning Brownlow medallist Dangerfield told Fairfax Media.
"From my point of view, I don't think just having one full-time employee is the way to do it.
"Every single player on every list has talent. It's just accessing that on a consistent basis and a lot of the time it's between the ears that you get that performance improvement," he said.
