Sydney Swans forward Logan McDonald is developing as well as expected this season, coach John Longmire says, after the first-year key forward kicked two goals in his return to Sydney's AFL side.
McDonald took on the Saints in his first game back, after playing the first five matches of the season, and again showed that he doesn’t need much of the ball to have an impact, kicking two majors from only six disposals.
The No.4 pick in the 2020 NAB AFL Draft now has nine goals from six games, while averaging eight disposals per game.
On Saturday, the 19-year-old was part of a forward line that included three talls with the addition of Joel Amartey.
Amartey impressed in his second-ever game with 14 disposals and three contested marks, looking lively and competitive in the forward line but also supporting Tom Hickey in the ruck.
"We know [McDonald] is a very smart player, he's able to find space, he's a beautiful kick and so as a key forward the more physical and stronger that he gets over the years the better he'll be. That doesn't happen overnight, that'll get there though," Longmire told reporters on Monday.
"There's not a lot of young talls that come in, ever, in their first years, play every game and just keep on going up. Development is a part of going up then you go back a little bit, then you go forward again and that's part of Logan's development.
"We haven't done it a lot this year, the three talls, but we did it on the weekend and I thought it was OK. It just depends on the mix of the forward line at that particular moment and who's our second ruck option. Other match-ups it creates on [Isaac] Heeney and [Will] Hayward also comes into it."
Second-year midfielder Chad Warner has played all 12 matches so far this season but could miss the clash with Hawthorn on Friday with a sore leg.
The 20-year-old has been a welcome addition to the Swans’ midfield as another onballer that is as comfortable inside the contests as offering run on the outside. Warner is averaging 17 disposals and four tackles per game, and has kicked eight goals so far this season.
The Swans have been quick to rest their young guns since first-year players Braeden Campbell and Errol Gulden were sidelined with stress reactions after round eight.
"[Warner] has just had a sore spot for a couple of weeks on his leg, so he may not play this week," Longmire said.
"He might be one of those younger boys that we're conscious of shielding early, with Gulden and Campbell getting those workload issues.
"One of the things about playing younger players, it's great and it's fantastic, but you've still got to be mindful that they're still growing, they're still developing."
The Swans’ thrilling nine-point victory over the Saints last week was their sixth game this year to be decided by single figures.
A 3-3 record in the close contests this season is an improvement on the 4-8 record the Swans had in matches decided by the same margin in the previous two years.
"We'd like to be able to, when we get in front, to be able to continue getting further in front. But the reality is there is an opposition out there having a crack," Longmire said.
"We've been able to change the momentum when the opposition have gained it at different times during the course of the game. We think that our ability to stay in games and hang in games right to the end has been a positive for us.
"You want to be in it up to your eyeballs right to the last minute. And we've been able to do that and that's not an easy thing to do."
