The Swans have made just one change for Saturday’s match against West Coast, bringing young key tall Alex Johnson into the team to replace midfielder Brett Meredith.

Coach John Longmire says Meredith is unlucky but the coaching staff felt it was important to have another tall player this week to counter West Coast’s height in attack.

“As well, Brett was our substitute last week and only played 20 minutes, and he was emergency in round one, so as part of the new sub rule we have to manage players’ game time,’’ Longmire said.

Longmire said Johnson would add versatility as he could play on a tall or small player.

“Alex is an excellent athlete and he competes really well. He is quick and has great endurance which is important when we’re playing in Perth on the biggest ground in the country,’’ Longmire told sydneyswans.com.au.

Johnson was taken at pick 57 in last year’s draft and has developed more quickly than Longmire expected.

“When I first looked at him when he arrived last November I thought it would be 12 months before his body was ready for senior football.

“But Alex has put on six kilograms since he arrived and jumped right in and embraced everything on offer. He’s thrived in the professional environment,’’ Longmire said.

“Against West Coast all we’re asking is that he competes consistently.’’

Longmire said he was expecting a tough contest against the undefeated Eagles.

“What we’ve seen this year with the Eagles is that their best players are really in form. The likes of Embley, Cox, Kerr and Priddis are all playing really well and then the  next generation players like Shuey and Kennedy have been very good too,’’ he said.

“For us the focus is two-fold. We  have to improve on last week and make sure we win the contested footy, and then use the ball well.

“Last week we could have made some better decisions going forward so that will need to be better this week.’’

Round 3, West Coast Eagles v Sydney Swans
Saturday April 9, 6.10pm (local time), Patersons Stadium

Sydney Swans team list:

B: P.Bevan, T.Richards, M.Mattner
HB: R.Shaw, H.Grundy, A.Johnson
C: B.McGlynn, K.Jack, N.Smith
HF: J.Bolton, S.Reid, A.Goodes
F: R.O'Keefe, J.White, D.Hannebery
Foll: S.Mumford, J.Kennedy, J.McVeigh
Interchange: C.Bird, G.Rohan, L.Jetta, A.Everitt
Emg: J.Lamb, B.Meredith, M.Pyke

In: A.Johnson
Out: B.Meredith

New:
A. Johnson (Oakleigh U18)