Swans To Have State 16s, 18s Hit Outs During Double Bye

SWAN Districts will use the double bye in the WAFL to help prepare the WA State 16s and 18s teams for the upcoming National Championships.

Since playing in Round 6 of the WAFL against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, Swan Districts had last week off due to the State game and now in Round 7 as the competition resumes the black-and-whites have the bye.

Following Round 6, Swan Districts have a 3-3 record to sit in fifth position on the WAFL league ladder while the reserves are 2-4 in eighth spot and the colts are 4-2 in third position.

Now this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval, Swan Districts will play games against both the WA State 16s and 18s teams as they prepare for the upcoming National Championships while the Swans players get some match fitness under their belts as well.

Joe Hinder, Graydon Wilson, Jake Pasini and Riley Garcia are the Swan Districts players included in the WA State 18s squad to be selected to play in the AFL National 18s Championships starting on Sunday June 3 against South Australia at Adelaide's Alberton Oval.

Ayden Cartwright, Zane Trew, Jamieson Ugle, Lewis Evans-Thomson, Ty Sears, Jack Allen, Denver Granger-Barras, Jermal Daly and Chad Montgomerie have all been named from Swan Districts in the WA State 16s squad as well.

The campaign for WA in the AFL National 16s Championships begins on Sunday June 24 against South Australia also at Alberton Oval.

Swan Districts' Football Operations Manager Phil Smart is looking forward to this Saturday for Swans to both help the WA State 16s and 18s teams gear up for their upcoming championships, and for the club's players to get a run under their belt.

"We'll play the State 16s and State 18s this weekend in the second week of our bye," Smart said.

"The 16s we'll play a colts group against them and the 18s we'll play a strong side against to give the boys a good hit out before the carnival starts.

"We'll play quite a lot of our league players in that game against them. It's not ideal to have a double bye but it is what it is."

Swan Districts' colts are again coached by Greg Harding in 2018 and the relatively young and new group, but they have started well winning four of six games so far and Smart has enjoyed what they've been able to produce.

"We are very happy with the colts. Our colts have won four of the six games and we are sitting in the top two or three," he said.

"It's a very young group and they are probably a little immature physically compared with a lot of the other teams that they play against.

"So I think once the players get used to the tempo and playing against the bigger bodies in the latter part of the season they should improve further. We've got quite a number of players there who will play senior WAFL footy for our club."

Things haven’t been quite as positive for the reserves at Swan Districts' but Smart is also confident they will improve as the season rolls on.

"The reserves on the other hand have been a little bit disappointing," he said.

"They're not in the top five at the moment so we have a little issue there with the bottom end of that group in terms of depth which we need to work on over the next few weeks and see what we can come up with."

Swans' league team has started with wins against Perth, Peel Thunder and East Fremantle while suffering losses to West Perth, Subiaco and South Fremantle.

There's been plenty of good signs, though, in Adam Pickering's first season in charge as coach and Smart is looking forward to them building some momentum after the break with games against East Perth, Perth and Claremont.

"I think we are tracking along OK. The game against West Perth was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t get across the line in that game but on the other hand we beat Peel," Smart said.

"We are reasonably comfortable but obviously you always want to be higher and better than a 50-50 win-loss ratio.

"The next three games against East Perth at Leederville, Perth and Claremont will be a real key. If we can win two, or even three, of those that will put us in a good spot for the second half of the season."