In this week's Game Plan, Swans football development manager, Stuart Maxfield, gives an the players who have developed their game further in 2012...

After 11 rounds, we’ve reached the midway point of the season.

If we were told at the start of the season we would be 8-3 at the break, we would have taken that any day of the week.

The first half is so important to set up the second half of the year, because otherwise you’re left chasing your tails to catch up.

It’s a pretty even year in terms of what’s happened so far, but we know we still have a lot of improvement within our group.

This week we’re going to take a look at some those players who have already showed signs of improvement in the 2012 season.

Tony Armstrong is a player who we traded for in the off-season. He’s got some great attributes in that he’s a really smart decision maker and ball user.

He had a bit of a slow start to the season because he had an ITB injury, but in the last two matches he’s really added to the team in terms of our ball movement and his ability to create scoring opportunities.

He’s added something and has really taken his opportunities over the last two weeks. It was his first start in the 22 this week and he had 12 possessions in the first quarter.

Craig Bird has played an important role for us this season, and has probably been one of the most consistent midfielders in terms of playing a role in the team.

Often he gets marked against one of the opposition’s real name players and he’s been able to nullify their influence during key games.

Trent Dennis-Lane has worked really hard to get his game up to the senior level. He got back in the senior team and has played five games now and has kicked a couple of small bags of goals.

In the absence of some key players up forward in Adam Goodes and Benny McGlynn on the weekend, he’s been able to step up to the plate and give us another avenue on goal.

Increasing his pressure on the opposition is something Trent has really focused on this season, and he is developing into a good small pressure forward.

Andrejs Everitt has played an important role when he’s come in. He was another one who in the absence of other players was able to step up.

Also, Andrejs’ speed is one of his attribute because he’s able to put a lot of pressure on the opposition.

In the modern game, you need players with versatility to come into your team and that’s what Andrejs provides for us when he comes in.

Dan Hannebery has probably elevated his game again this year. He’s one our young players who has the ability to gut run in games, which is really impressive and he’s a real role model for the young guys as well. His ability to play under duress is also outstanding.

Kieren Jack is certainly a guy who is able to give a bit of pace on the outside as part of our midfield group. He’s got the ability to crack in and put on pressure, but also the ability to produce some real outside speed, which has been really handy in the first half of the season.

Lewis Jetta is another one who has elevated his game. He’s just learnt how to work hard in games and is finding out about how hard he can push himself and is certainly a key play maker for us this year. He is also another guy who in the absence of Goodsey has been able to break the game open at different times.

A player of the future to keep an eye on is young Alex Brown. Brown has played the last two games in the reserves and has had a really impressive debut in that team.

We’re just finding out a bit about Alex and how he plays. We’ve obviously seen his tapes in terms of a recruiting point of view but he’s had two hip scopes, so we hadn’t seen much. But what we’ve seen over the past fortnight has been a pleasant surprise and in his first game he really gave us some drive off half back.

He’s only played two half games at the moment but we’re really encouraged with what he’s got to offer.