The 20-year-old had not played since round 16, 2009, and Swans fans were showing plenty of curiosity, wanting to know when ‘Patty’ would get another opportunity.
When Rhyce Shaw pulled out of the side last weekend with a hip injury, Veszpremi got the call-up after several solid performances in the Swans reserves.
He ended the night with 14 disposals, and while he wasn’t entirely happy with his game, he was all smiles in the rooms after a fantastic 38-point win by the Swans.
“The tempo was higher than reserves and I was pretty nervous,’’ Veszpremi said after the game. “The nerves got hold of me in the first quarter and a couple of my kicks were rushed but I got my work rate up a bit more and found that I was moving alright.
“I was coming on and off the bench a lot which took me a while to adapt to, but after I while I pushed that aside and tried to play my role. I didn’t have a great game but I had a crack!’’
It was Veszpremi’s 11th senior game since he was drafted to the Swans with pick number 11 in the 2007 draft. He played six games in 2008, then just four in 2009 after a finger injury kept him out of action in the first half of the year.
Veszpremi said he had been frustrated that it took so long to get an opportunity to play seniors this year, but the coaches had told him what he needed to work on.
“For me it was about getting my work rate up. It was nothing skill-wise or my decision-making, it was just my running, so I was playing a lot of midfield in reserves, I had the GPS tracker on.
“For me to improve as a senior player I had to get fitter to adapt to the game, it wasn’t the game getting faster, it was just me getting fitter to adapt to it better.
“I was frustrated. You get down on yourself and think you’re not doing good enough and everything you do you see as a negative because you’re not getting that reward, but obviously you have to keep chipping away and eventually if you keep working hard you get a game.’’
Coaching co-ordinator John Longmire said there were some promising signs from Veszpremi’s outing against Port, but it also showed where he needs to keep improving.
“He did a few good things and a few things he needs to keep working on,’’ Longmire said. “We come out of it, both coaching staff and Patty, with the view he can still improve at senior level, and that is his challenge, as with any of the young players.’’
Longmire said Veszpremi had played a number of different roles in reserves - forward, defence and midfield - to make him more versatile.
“We are trying to give him more education in those roles and what they require and he has been improving in our reserves. So on Saturday, when Rhyce couldn’t play, we needed a player who was flexible enough to play forward and back for us and we thought Patty was the one.’’
Longmire said Veszpremi had to keep working hard. “It’s about working at senior AFL level for four quarters, and to do that on a consistent basis,’’ Longmire said.
“He has improved at that but we are trying to make sure we give him those particular roles in our reserves to develop that more. There are not many players who play less than 100 minutes of AFL football these days, and being able to play well for four quarters is any young players challenge.’’
