On the eve of his debut as Sydney Swans Reserves coach, Henry Playfair has set his sights on developing those players on the cusp of senior selection.

Playfair will take the reins of the reserves for the first time tomorrow morning in a practice match against the East Coast Eagles, and admits to a mixture of excitement and anticipation.

“I am looking forward to it now,” Playfair said.

“I had a few nerves beforehand, but for most of the guys it has been a pretty long pre-season and we’re ready for a game. It will be good to finally stop watching training and watch them in action.”

Several Swans who featured in the senior line-up during the pre-season will play tomorrow, with the listed headed by key forward Sam Reid, ruckman Mike Pyke, small forward Trent Dennis-Lane, and forward-cum-ruckman Jesse White.

Playfair said the game would be an important opportunity for White and Reid especially, as they continue to improve their fitness and game-sense with the possibility of playing senior football in round one just nine days away.

“It’s really important that those two (White and Reid) get some game time into themselves,” he said.

“Reidy didn’t play last week, and Jesse’s missed a fair chunk of the pre-season, so it’s important for them to work hard tomorrow and put their best foot forward for round one - because obviously the focus for them is next week.”

With the new interchange rules in the AFL about to have an unknown impact on the role of the second ruckman, Playfair said that he would try and rotate his ruck division - consisting of Pyke, White, and Daniel Currie - through the forward line to give them the best chance to adapt to what might be expected at senior level.

“For those guys, it’s probably important that they have another string to their bow and not solely rely on their ruck abilities, because they might be used as the back-up ruckman and forward,” Playfair said.

“For those three, we’ll probably try and get each of them a stint up forward so they can try and take a catch and kick a goal.”

Playfair emphasised the importance of the game for Trent Dennis-Lane and Brett Meredith, who both played AFL last year, and the likes of Dylan McNeil, who played every reserves game in 2010, to keep pushing for senior games. 

“Every game is pretty important for them and for the team, but those guys in particular have done all of the pre-season and done all the training,” he said.

“We’ve worked a lot on their goal-setting and a bit of their personal affirmation which is fine, but now it’s time to put it into action - it’s easy to say all these things, but it’s harder to go out there and do it, but we’ll be looking for them to go out and do it tomorrow.” 

The game will be an interesting experience for Swans players Nathan Gordon and Eugene Kruger as they play against their former club.

The squad for tomorrow’s game is as follows:

Sydney Swans Reserves v East Coast Eagles
Saturday March 19 commencing at 10am
Lakeside Oval, Driver Ave, Moore Park

Daniel Currie
Trent Dennis- Lane
Nathan Gordon
Ben Haren
Alex Johnson
Lewis Johnston
Eugene Kruger
Jed Lamb
Brett Meredith
Chris McKaigue
Dylan McNeil
Max Otten
Luke Parker
Mike Pyke
Sam Reid
Jesse White
James Brain*
Blake Guthrie*
Nathan Kenny*
Jack Lynch*
Kane Murphy*
Jackson Potter*
Mitch Thompson*
Tim Wales*

*QBE Sydney Swans Academy players