Pickering excited by arrivals, Swans' youth

SWAN Districts coach Adam Pickering is confident that with the additions of the likes of George Hampson and Josh Simpson, and continued emergence of an exciting group of young players that the black-and-whites can rise up the ladder in 2019.

It wasn’t quite the year that Pickering hoped for Swan Districts in his first season as coach with an eighth-place finish, winning just the six games and only one after Round 9, but he is optimistic of a turnaround now in 2019.

There is some more experience lost at Swans following the departures of Todd Banfield, Kirk Ugle, Jarrad Blight and Matthew Rogers, but Pickering is confident in both the senior players retained and the handful of arrivals that they will help signal a significant improvement this season.

George Hampson is a proven WAFL star both as a midfielder and forward as a fairest and best winner at both Subiaco and East Fremantle with 109 games of experience under his belt.

He comes to Swans fresh off winning the Sharks' fairest and best award in 2018 and Pickering couldn’t have been more impressed with him leading into Round 1 against South Fremantle at Steel Blue Oval.

"He has been first-class, George has been terrific. He is so professional in the way that he prepares and everything he does to the point that when he missed a session he sent me a photo of the doctor's certificate to prove he was ill," Pickering said.

"You can just see with the way he goes about his training that it's at a really high level. He engages in all the drills, he engages in all the feedback and he actually is trying to help a lot of the young guys when he sees something. 

"Part of his role is to help develop those young guys and his ability to bring those guys on will be great and he's already started to do that. I can't question George's application to our program at all."

One player who still has plenty of an unknown quantity about him coming into the 2019 season for Swan Districts is Josh Simpson.

He is an excitement machine having played two AFL matches with Fremantle but it has been a rocky road since then for the 25-year-old. 

But he wants to give playing in the WAFL another crack and now he should be in the prime of his career and ready to knuckle down, and devote himself to playing some strong football. 

Pickering is excited by what he can potentially bring to Swan Districts.

"We hope he goes well. He has really applied himself to our program since coming down from Geraldton as well. Josh has had his demons off the field over the years but a lot can improve when you grow up and mature," Pickering said. 

"You get a little bit older and smarter, and he has been terrific as well. He's obviously been out of the system for a few years so his fitness levels aren’t at the standard we'd like or he would like, but he is applying himself to get those right.

"If he keeps tracking along like he is at the moment he'll be ready to go for Round 1. You can see when we do our football drills that his knowledge and understanding of the game and skill level is first-class, it's top notch at our footy club.

"We are really excited that if he keeps applying himself he will get to where he wants to go and where we want him to go too."

Jesse Glass-McCasker is also back at Swan Districts from time in the AFL with Carlton while Leigh Kohlmann, Anthony Stephens and Aidan Clarke all return to the club.

Another new young arrival is Lachlan Riley who has made the move from Peel Thunder. While he's still only a teenager, Pickering has already been impressed by his maturity.

"I didn’t see much of him in the colts last year being the league coach, but he has slotted in beautifully as well. He's a left-footer, has a very good tank and runs really hard," he said.

"I don’t actually see him as a player who is first year out of the colts, I see him automatically as a senior player. We are hoping that he can take that step that he wants to and play some league footy.

"He has a great attitude and is a really good kid who has moved up to Perth and applied himself really well to the program so far."

It's not just the arrivals that has Pickering confident of improvement at Swan Districts though.

He's also looking for young players like Mitchell Bain, Graydon Wilson, Brad Fullgrabe, Ethan Maguire, Tristen Raynor, Patrick Italiano, Jack O'Sullivan and Jiah Reidy to all grab their extra opportunities that should present throughout the season.

"I think it gives a couple of them pretty good confidence that they can stand up. Mitchell Bain played one game in the last round of the year against Claremont and ended up kicking Goal of the Year," Pickering said. 

"Graydon Wilson also played a few games with one of them being our best player when we played a really poor game against West Perth.

"I think it gives them a little bit of a spur on over summer knowing that it's not far away for them if they are consistent in their effort and preparation that they can play at the level. 

"Then for the guys that didn’t get a chance but saw the mates go up all started to think if they are in the same team then maybe they can do it too."