Sydney Swans reserves coach Henry Playfair is looking for his side to make an immediate impact in the round two game against Belconnen on Saturday afternoon at the SCG.

In the past three weeks - practice games against Belconnen and GWS, and Sunday’s round one game against Eastlake - the Swans have trailed their opponents at the first change, with Playfair telling sydneyswans.com.au that he was particularly unhappy with the latest effort.

“I gave them a bit of a rev up (at quarter time),” Playfair said.

“It was really disappointing given that we’d made the start a bit of a focus for our players. The week before against GWS we were a bit slow, so to do that again was disappointing.”

Playfair said he was encouraged by the way the team responded after quarter time, kicking 12 of the game’s last 14 goals to put themselves second on the Eastern Conference ladder after the first round.

“I guess the good thing was that they came out of it (the slow start) and did something about it after quarter time and played a lot better,” he said. 

Playfair was pleased to have the services of Trent Dennis-Lane at his disposal, with the small forward making the most of his surprise return from injury to finish with three goals.

“We thought he was going to be out for a lot longer,” Playfair said of Dennis-Lane’s ankle injury.

“He did well to get back in such a short space of time and it was good to see him back out there. He got through pretty well, kicked the three goals, and played pretty well all day.”

Jarred Moore and Tadhg Kennelly also gained some important playing time on Sunday in their recovery from pre-season injuries, with Moore (ankle) playing 60 minutes and Kennelly (knee) 90 minutes.

“(Jarred) started pretty slowly but played a lot better in the second half,” Playfair said.

“Tadhg, it was his second game back… he looked a bit better than last week as well, so he’s certainly starting to put his name forward for senior selection.”

Playfair paid tribute to midfield duo Nathan Gordon and Dylan McNeil who were again amongst the Swans best players, while he said the form of top-up players such as Kane Murphy and James Brain was testament to the success of the QBE Sydney Swans Academy.

“It’s been fantastic just to have the one squad of top-up players,” he said.

“Last year we sort of pulled them from all different sources, but this year with the QBE Swans Academy we’ve got them all for the whole year.

“We use eight guys pretty regularly and they understand the way we want to play, and the big thing is they all have a crack. All eight of them have been super over pre-season and they certainly attack the ball hard.”

After a slow start against Belconnen in last month’s practice match, Playfair is excited about playing the Canberra-based team in the reserves first game on the SCG this year on Saturday afternoon.

“It will be good to get back on the SCG, and for some of our young players it will be their first hit out so I’m sure they will be excited,” Playfair said.

“Hopefully we get off to a good start, that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Saturday, April 16 2011
SCG

3.35pm Gates open
3.40pm Sydney Swans Reserves v Belconnen
7.10 Sydney Swans v Geelong Cats

Click here to purchase your ticket.