Whilst the rain kept their first night of training off the deck at North Sydney Oval, there was still plenty of work done in the depths of the Duncan Thompson Stand as players from the Sydney Swans visited the AFL Sydney umpires on Tuesday to help kick off their season as a part of the 2017 Australia Post AFL Community Camps.

One of season 2016’s break out players Aliir Aliir and 84 gamer Jeremy Laidler took the men and women of Sydney’s community umpires through some challenging core work whilst joining in for a theory session on the Laws of the Game and a bit of general footy trivia.

Not only did Aliir and Laidler give some vital tips when it came to helping the group with their exercise technique and casually nailing some answers in the Laws quiz, they also took part in a Q&A session, with topics ranging from injury recovery, season 2016 and how their preparations for 2017 are tracking.

Aliir also shared some advice on how community umpires can assist with players new to AFL, sharing some of his experiences playing junior football in Brisbane.

“It was absolutely terrific to have both Aliir and Jeremy as our guests on our first night of training for the year,” said Pierce Field, AFL Sydney Umpiring Development Coordinator.

“The guys were friendly, engaging and provided some great advice to both our up-and-coming and more experienced umpires.

“The players’ visit is a great example of the Swans commitment to all areas of community football here in Sydney, showing that umpiring is a great way to get involved with our game.”

Both AFL Sydney and AFL Sydney Juniors are currently recruiting umpires for season 2017. If you are interested in having one of the best seats in the house and getting paid for it, please visit either www.facebook.com/aflnswactumpiring or www.getinthegame.com.au to get involved.