Paul Roos said on Wednesday afternoon that he expects Barry Hall to be selected in the team to take on Adelaide this Saturday night at the SCG.
After a well-publicised two-week absence from the game, Roos today met with the forward and Club Psychologist Grant Brecht and remains confident Hall will get the all-clear to resume playing this weekend.
“(Barry) Hally has been working now for about two and half weeks and will see Grant (Brecht) on Friday but talking to Grant today, he's confident after speaking with Barry again today of being able to tick him off on Friday and that he'll be right to play,” Roos said.
“I’ve seen a change in Barry myself and I’m confident that he's right to play.
“It wasn’t Barry Hall that was playing and for whatever reason that's out of my control and that’s not my expertise but what I have been told now is we can comfortably put him back on the field."
The change Roos sees in Hall since the game against Collingwood at ANZ Stadium is about accepting responsibility for his actions as well as reducing the expectations he sets himself.
“The big thing is, when we first spoke following the Wakelin incident; in my mind he didn't appear to be taking responsibility for that second action,” Roos added.
“He certainly did for the Brent Staker one, and what I see now is he absolutely has. Brett Kirk and Craig Bolton caught up with Barry on Monday and both their comments were he'd absolutely taken responsibility.
“And he's talking about the team and more about getting back to help the team.
“There's a lot of pressure on him as a player and I think he takes that pressure on too much and we’ve said to him we don't expect him to be the best player every week.
“He's a very valuable player for us and we want him to play not just this year but next year and the year after, but I think he now understands it's not just about him having to perform and the pressure of him having to perform.”
Hall is on the same page.
“It's totally undisciplined what I did and I was being a bit selfish in that if the team is not going so well, that I'd try and beat my man instead of thinking about what I can do for other blokes,” Hall said.
“Without realising I was being selfish and I think it’s about getting back to reality that it is a team sport.”
Hall spoke about personal issues as well as the pressure and expectation he puts on himself as the reason for his recent on-field troubles.
“There are a couple of key points and we've been working on those over the last three weeks, once again some personal, some on-field,” he said.
“My personal life is that, and it’s my business and no one else’s.
“The on-field, in terms of the pressure and expectation I put on myself is too high and I've got to be more of team man and draw other players into the game rather than beating my man to help the team.”
Roos and Hall both know the stakes are high from this point on for the Swans forward.
“I think he's aware of the consequences of doing something like that again, they are quite significant in terms of the footy club, but obviously more significant in terms of his career,” the coach said.
“I don’t think it's about guarantees, it's about him having another opportunity to play and he’s fully aware of the consequences of another action like he's done and he's worked very hard with Grant.”
Hall added, “It was disappointing and as I said then the repercussion of that were going to be big and the important thing for me now going forward is if it happens again, they are not big, they are huge.
“I'm aware of that and I wouldn’t run out there and risk that if I wasn’t right mentally.
“I'm thinking about the team rather than myself and I'm in a good headspace for that now.”
Roos is hopeful there is not a perception that the Club is rushing Hall back purely because of the ankle injury Michael O’Loughlin suffered in last weekend’s game against Carlton.
“I think that would be disappointing (if people thought we rushed Hall back) because anyone that knows me and knows the footy club and knows the way we have handled it, I think we have been as honest and open as we possibly can,” the coach said.
“I think I eluded last week that we hoped it would be sooner rather than later, so really it has nothing to do with Mick not playing whatsoever.
“When I spoke to Barry today I wanted him to make sure he was ready to go, from my point of view one of the main reasons why he wasn't playing was because I didn’t feel he was ready to go and we don't want his career to end in a disaster.
"One of the things I emphasised with Barry today was you've got to make sure in you own mind - even despite what Grant is telling us that he's happy with the way he's going - you've got to make sure.
“There is no pressure from our point of view for Barry to play because of injury or anything like that; it's about Barry and me not putting Barry in a position where he's not capable of doing things.”
Hall is confident in the changes he has made and is looking forward to making his return on Saturday night.
“I'm certainly excited, I'm not a real good spectator,” he added.
“What I put the club through, I just want to try and play some good footy now and try and put that behind us somehow, and Saturday night is probably the first stepping stone towards that."