Windy Wellington a test
Jude Bolton says Wellington's flukey winds could make field kicking a challenge in Thursday night's match against St Kilda
The Swans trained at Westpac Stadium for the first time on Tuesday and Bolton said the breeze could be a factor in Thursday night’s Anzac Day match.
“It’s an interesting oval and it’s certainly a high quality stadium,” Bolton told sydneyswans.com.au.
“It’s just interesting with the wind because it’s right on the water here in Wellington and it’s a bit of a circular breeze which is in a sense a little bit like the MCG where it can come in one side and go out the other way.”
Bolton has been in fine form in front of goal this season, booting 9.1 to sit second only to club co-captain Jarrad McVeigh (10.2) on the Swans goalkicking list.
Looking ahead to Thursday’s match, the Swans veteran says he doesn’t believe ‘windy Wellington’ should have an influence on the Swans accuracy close to goal, but suggested delivering the ball into the forward line could pose some added difficulties for both teams.
“I have obviously been down forward a little bit, but when you’re closer to the goals it is a little bit more protected, but certainly with some of the field kicks, it can be a little bit fluky in terms of marking the footy,” he said.
Thursday’s match will be the first time a regular AFL match has been played outside Australian shores, and Bolton said he and his team mates could not wait for the opening bounce.
“It’s just really exciting that the boys are part of playing the first game for premiership points outside of Australia,” he said.
“We’ve been involved in exhibition games, I remember playing in LA, and we’ve played overseas in the national series, but this is for real premiership points, so it’s really exciting.”
Bolton added that Thursday’s historic match was a great opportunity for new fans to the game to get a taste of a fiercely contested match of Aussie Rules between two sides who are keen to get back on the winners’ list this week.
“Our guys are just really excited to hit back hard after a pretty disappointing game last week,” he said.
“Hopefully it will be a hard, physical game. We know St Kilda’s game plan and they know ours pretty solidly, so we hope it’s just a really hard fought contest and a bit of a spectacle as well.
“There is not a bad seat in the house so hopefully it’s just jam-packed and we get a really good buzz over here.”