In this week's 'The Game Plan' column, Football Development Manager Stuart Maxfield talks about the positive impact of blooding young players...

After just 10 rounds of the season, it is already clear that this has been another terrific year of development for our team.

After blooding five debutants last year, we have given senior experience to another five players already this season.

It has been a year where some of the younger players have really exceeded our expectations. In the preseason, we would never have thought Alex Johnson would have had the impact he has had this early in the season. Luke Parker is similar, and when the opportunities have arisen, those guys have been there and been ready to step up.

From the day he walked through the door at the Swans, we saw that Sam Reid goes about his business in a no fuss fashion. He is a guy that drives his own career. That has transferred on to the field now and we see, that though he is really talented, the basis of his game is formed on hard work and competitiveness.

With our young players and debutants, the expectation from the coaching staff isn’t for them to come in and play 15 games. Sometimes it’s just to come in and play one game, or three games and then go back to the seconds and really work on the things they've learned at senior level. That is just part of the development process.

This week Lewis Johnston will come out of the team after making his debut last week, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be back this season.  Coming into a senior team and playing as a forward is one of the harder jobs to come in and play, particularly on debut. Lewis handled himself very well and he will learn a great deal from playing on quality defenders at senior level. 

We won’t play players until we think they are physically ready, and are they mentally prepared to deal with the challenges that are going to be thrown up during a game. All of the guys that have debuted this year, have shown that they are equipped to play at senior level.

One of the great things about giving young players their chance is the enthusiasm and excitement it injects into the entire group.  The older guys thrive on it as much as the young guys do. Our senior players love it because they see how hard the young players have worked and see how much they’ve improved. The senior guys have actually helped them improve as well. They sit there and go through their tapes on a weekly basis, critique them and then go and work with them on the training track. 

From a team point of view, it just gives us a new dynamic. If you’re just playing the same players over and over again, obviously the opposition gets used to it. It’s good to be able to bring in guys like Lewis Jetta and Gary Rohan and this year, Nathan Gordon, Luke Parker, Alex Johnson and Lewis Johnston.

We’re probably not too different to the Brisbane Lions, who we play this Saturday night at the Gabba. They’ve got some really seasoned campaigners and premiership players, and at the same time they’ve blooded some really good young players too. Guys like Daniel Rich have been blooded and now form a really strong young midfield group.

When both teams have that mix of youth and experience, one of the key’s to winning the game is just your competitiveness on the day. It also gets back to who is better drilled and more disciplined in terms of the game plan and structures. This Saturday night will be a really good test for both teams. We need to be more competitive and more disciplined to get the four points.