NEW Sydney Swans Development coach Henry Playfair was a keen onlooker today, as first to third year Swans players commenced their preseason training at Centennial Park.

In his new role, Playfair will play a crucial role in the development of the Swans younger brigade, and admits it was a little unusual watching on as some of his former teammates sweat it out during an intense morning running session.

“It’s a bit of a different feeling this time of year, I’m usually out there with the boys, slugging it out in the heat,” Playfair said.

“I’m really looking forward to working with the young guys this season and helping them take some further steps forward and getting some more of those guys playing senior footy,” he said.  

A squad of 12 young players including new recruit Andrejs Everitt, Lewis Jetta, Trent Dennis-Lane, Dan Hannebery, Sam Reid and Brett Meredith, along with some of the Swans draft year Academy players, were put through their paces with a series of timed running efforts, focusing on building aerobic endurance.

Assistant Conditioner Matt Pine said it was important for the Swans younger group to hit the track before their more senior teammates.

“These young players haven’t done as many preseasons and haven’t built up that base level of fitness that the more senior players have over the years,” he explained.

“The aim early on is really to focus on volume, so doing quite long sessions, longer running efforts and gradually becoming more specific as the preseason progresses,” he said.  

Playfair admits preseason training has taken on a new look since he was a young player, and that he was impressed with how many of the players had returned to the Club after their break.

“Lewis Johnston ran really well today, Daniel Currie looked good, Brett Meredith, Dan Hannebery and Nathan Gordon, all those guys looked in pretty good nick and look ready to go,”

“It’s a bit different these days. My first few years we just went away and didn’t think about footy that much and then came back and just jumped into it.  

“These days they’ve got pretty intense programs on their break, so they have a couple of weeks off and then start running again. So by the time they get here they’ve already done a fair bit of work.

As a former key forward, Playfair said he was looking forward to the challenge of helping the Club’s key position prospects, Lewis Johnston and Sam Reid, become regular senior players.  

“I’m looking forward to getting both of those guys playing senior footy next season,” he said.  

“I think the key during preseason is building up their size and fitness initially, and once we start getting a little more technical, it will be things like positional play and teaching them where to run on the ground and helping them with their body work, so there is plenty of work ahead for those guys,” he said.

The Swans squad will return to training over the coming weeks and the full squad, with the exception of those who competed in the International Rules series, will be in preseason training by Monday, November 22.