Armstrong can’t fault Swans’ Grand Final preparations

Swan Districts have been the standout team in the Reserves all season long ahead of Sunday’s Grand Final against West Perth at Optus Stadium with coach John Armstrong glad to be going into battle with plenty of players he helped developed through the Colts.

Armstrong is no stranger to taking Swan Districts teams to Grand Finals having won a premiership in the Colts back in 2021 and then getting to another decider in 2024 before taking over as Reserves coach in 2026.

Now in his first year in charge Swans went on to win the first 12 matches and ended up with a 14-2 record to be clear in top spot as minor premiers leading into this Sunday’s Grand Final against West Perth at Optus Stadium.

Given Swans started the season in the Reserves winning their first 12 games and ended up two games and percentage clear in top spot, his first year in charge could have hardly gone better to script now ahead of Sunday’s Grand Final.

“Obviously we had a very good start to the year and I think we were 12-0 and then we dropped a couple of games towards the end but we secured top spot with about a month to go,” Armstrong said.

“So for us going into finals and getting back a few guys back who had qualified has been real big for us, pretty similar to West Perth as well who we’ll be playing.

“It’s been a good month for us in regards to being able to get a lot of training in having only played one final and getting straight in. That allows us to make sure we are as prepared as we can be come this Sunday.”

Staying sharp through the finals

By finishing the home and away season in top spot, Swan Districts earned the week off to start the finals before then beating East Perth in the second semi-final to earn another weekend off while West Perth beat the Royals in the preliminary final.

While that means Swans have only played one game in a month coming into Sunday’s Grand Final, Armstrong does see plenty of positives to that and feels their preparation couldn’t have gone much better.

“We are fortunate enough that we’ve had a few of the league boys also join in for some sessions, Erc (Brandon Erceg) and Seb Bright just to name a couple, and they make a big difference,” Armstrong said.

“We’ve also had a few colts train on because there’s the young guns game on this weekend as well so we’ve had enough numbers, but we can also use that to really fine tune anything we want in regards to game play with the smaller numbers.

“We’ve kinda trained as normal and we have still trained every Saturday that we’ve had off and we’re feeling fresh, and hopefully ready to go for this Sunday.”

Having a familiar core group

From the Colts Grand Final team that Armstrong coached at Swan Districts back in 2024, Lucas Andrews, Tom Cathcart, Blake Kelly, Otis Harvey, Luke Cotellessa, Jai Debono, Chayse Martinson, Ned Reiger and Finn Taylor all played in that game against Claremont who will be out there this Sunday against West Perth.

Armstrong couldn’t be happier to have seen that group take the leap to senior football and is just hoping the result goes their way now this time around.

“I think our midfield going into this game will be pretty much the same one as that colts grand final and when you think that we’ve got a number of guys who finished the year in the league team too, and they’ve really developed in the senior program,” Armstrong said.

“All of them should be playing every league game next year now and lucky enough we have them this weekend in the reserves final, but for them moving forward they should be setting themselves on playing consistent league footy because they’re all extremely talented.

“We’re fortunate enough to have them in the grand final, but hopefully we can change the result from a couple of years ago.”

Coming together as a unit

Two things have stood out to Armstrong about why he’s had no issues with bringing his Reserves group together in 2026 even with the usual combination of having players in and out of the League side, and then that group stepping up from Colts to learn how about playing at senior level.

The first is the obvious that he has already coached the vast majority of the players in the Colts so they have that connection with one another, but then there’s the bonus of how close the entire senior group of players are.

“I think the whole senior squad is a real close group and the league boys, the reserves and everyone that comes in,” Armstrong said.

“The leaders of the league boys do a great job and Pruey does a great job getting everybody on the same page in regards to game style and the general feel of the senior program.

“So that hasn’t really been something that’s been a challenge for us, they’ve played together and last year I think about 40 of them went on the end of the season trip together.

“So they’re a tight group and I think they have been over the last couple of years so they just do that naturally a lot of the players who get around each other. I haven’t had to do much there to bring them all together.”

Coaching at senior level

Having previously enjoyed tremendous success in the Colts getting Swan Districts to two Grand Finals and winning the premiership in 2021, Armstrong was looking forward to the new challenge in 2026 of coaching at senior level for the first time.

Having so many of his Colts players in the team at Reserves level has obviously helped, but he has enjoyed the transition and especially what he’s learned by getting to work more closely with League coach Andrew Pruyn.

“For me it’s been a big year of learning and being under Pruey who I did spend time working with in previous years when I was with the colts too, but I’ve done that more than ever now this year,” Armstrong said.

“I’ve always really enjoyed his game style and just learning more about the whole ins and outs about what a senior pre-season looks like, a senior season and how that looks is something that I’m extremely grateful that I’ve had a chance to do with all the coaches.

“Just being able to learn from them is something I’ve really enjoyed and hopefully it makes me a better coach in the long run, but for me I’m looking forward to Sunday and coaching men compared to kids has been something I wanted to see how I’d go with.

“But the fact that I’ve already coached so many of these guys in the colts before has made that a lot easier and that transitions so there hasn’t been that period of having to get to know each other, and building that chemistry.

“I’ve really enjoyed just learning this year and in selection, Pruey is a smart coach with the way he sees the game so I’ve just tried to learn as much as I can this year from him.”