Despite being rusty and regularly on a different wavelength to his new AFL teammates, Peter Everitt's first outing for the Swans was a largely positive affair.The 32-year-old played his first AFL match in eight months against a vastly understrength Richmond side on Saturday with Sydney winning the Regional Challenge match 13.7 (85) to 10.6 (66) in hot conditions in Canberra.The main talking point heading into the game was how much 252-game veteran Everitt could add to the side that lost last year's grand final by one point.And it looked like plenty with the former St Kilda and Hawthorn star showing some clever touches in the middle, even if his teammates weren't reading the ball very well off his hands.He looked short of match fitness in his first game since ankle surgery but his understanding with his teammates should improve before Sydney's opening match of the season against West Coast on 31 March at Telstra Stadium."In the first four or five minutes I was struggling big time and slowly as the game got older I got into it a little more, it was good to get the cobwebs out," Everitt said.Everitt started on the bench and didn't enter the game until the seventh minute mark with he and ruck partner Darren Jolly regularly interchanging as the temperatures topped 30 degrees in the nation's capital.The Swans looked cleaner at the clearances with Everitt in action against the Tigers' unheralded ruck pairing of Adam Pattison and Angus Graham. Sydney's brains trust was happy with their new recruit's opening hit out."He did everything we wanted him to do around the stoppages, he got his hands on the ball and all that sort of stuff. In 50-60 minutes of football I was pleased with what I saw," said Swans coach Paul Roos."I think we will learn more about Spida and Jolly working together over the next few weeks, certainly there was some really good hits around the forward stoppages that were scoring opportunities."Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes dominated the opening half of the match while Sydney small forward Simon Phillips put his name up for more senior football this season with a lively three-goal effort.It was not all good news however for the Sydneysiders with dashing defender Tadhg Kennelly suffering a bruised shoulder in the first half and Nic Fosdike reported for striking Matthew White in the final term.
Spida pleased with debut
Despite being rusty and regularly on a different wavelength to his new AFL teammates, Peter Everitt's first outing for the Swans was a largely positive affair.
Despite being rusty and regularly on a different wavelength to his new AFL teammates, Peter Everitt's first outing for the Swans was a largely positive affair.The 32-year-old played his first AFL match in eight months against a vastly understrength Richmond side on Saturday with Sydney winning the Regional Challenge match 13.7 (85) to 10.6 (66) in hot conditions in Canberra.The main talking point heading into the game was how much 252-game veteran Everitt could add to the side that lost last year's grand final by one point.And it looked like plenty with the former St Kilda and Hawthorn star showing some clever touches in the middle, even if his teammates weren't reading the ball very well off his hands.He looked short of match fitness in his first game since ankle surgery but his understanding with his teammates should improve before Sydney's opening match of the season against West Coast on 31 March at Telstra Stadium."In the first four or five minutes I was struggling big time and slowly as the game got older I got into it a little more, it was good to get the cobwebs out," Everitt said.Everitt started on the bench and didn't enter the game until the seventh minute mark with he and ruck partner Darren Jolly regularly interchanging as the temperatures topped 30 degrees in the nation's capital.The Swans looked cleaner at the clearances with Everitt in action against the Tigers' unheralded ruck pairing of Adam Pattison and Angus Graham. Sydney's brains trust was happy with their new recruit's opening hit out."He did everything we wanted him to do around the stoppages, he got his hands on the ball and all that sort of stuff. In 50-60 minutes of football I was pleased with what I saw," said Swans coach Paul Roos."I think we will learn more about Spida and Jolly working together over the next few weeks, certainly there was some really good hits around the forward stoppages that were scoring opportunities."Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes dominated the opening half of the match while Sydney small forward Simon Phillips put his name up for more senior football this season with a lively three-goal effort.It was not all good news however for the Sydneysiders with dashing defender Tadhg Kennelly suffering a bruised shoulder in the first half and Nic Fosdike reported for striking Matthew White in the final term.
