Wrap up of Swan Districts' Inaugural Integrated Season

While the 2022 season didn’t end the way Swan Districts was hoping with the Week 2 finals loss to Kelmscott, but there was a lot to be excited about by the inaugural Integrated season and what the team was able to produce.

The Swan Districts Football Club has been working hard towards entering a team in the Integrated League on the back of a focused effort for a number of years through the Count Me In Round and the club's social impact program to provide access for people of different abilities to play sport.

Swans lodged an application with the Perth Football League back in September of last year and then received the good news that the application to join the Integrated competition was accepted for 2022 a couple of months later.

From there, plans were put in place for the team to come together for the 2022 season and pre-season training began in February with some encouraging numbers turning out on the track despite the summer sun beaming down.

The mix of players wanting to get involved showed exactly why it was so important for Swans to have an Integrated team with a lot of those turning out to train never having had a chance to either ever play previously or not since they played juniors.

However, there was a blow in preparation for the season with the disappointing news that the approval of the club's application was on the proviso that players who were playing at another Perth Football League Integrated team in 2021 weren't able to register for Swan Districts in 2022.

A host of individuals had already committed to playing for the Swans Integrated team in 2022 having longed for the opportunity to pull on the black-and-white jumper, but the club had no choice but to accept that decision and move on with preparations for the inaugural season ahead.

Swan Districts' Integrated team played its first ever game on April 23 at Steel Blue Oval against Curtin Uni-Wesley with a strong crowd turning out for the occasion with the Swans' league side providing a guard of honour as the side ran out.

While it wasn’t a first up win, there was a lot to be encouraged by in the first up showing by the Swans' team before Round saw a trip down the highway to take on Fremantle CBC. It was another competitive showing before Fremantle CBC snatched the win with a late goal to win by three points.

After those first two matches, the Swans team had a bye before resuming their season in Round 4 and it was another thriller against Kingsway at Ron Jose Oval in Midvale. Swans were able to snatch the draw thanks to a shot after the siren with that first win within striking distance.

Round 5 then saw a return to Steel Blue Oval for the Swan Districts' Integrated team and the opponent was fellow first year team, Ocean Ridge.

The Ocean Ridge team was topped up with players from the Mandurah Mustangs to ensure the match went ahead and the sunny weather provided the ideal backdrop for the first ever Swans' win by the tune of 39 points.

It was another home game at Bassendean in Round 6 with Swans this time taking on Kelmscott. It was another terrific team performance with the black-and-whites ending up winning by 18 points to make it consecutive victories.

On the back of those two victories, the next challenge was a significant one against the in-form High Wycombe, who ended up coming away with the 32-point win.

It was a big road trip next for the Swan Districts heading down to Mandurah to take on the Mustangs. The team travelled down by bus but were greeted by cold and windy conditions, and in the end it was Mandurah who ended up winning by 17 points.

Round 9 then saw Swans back to Ron Jose Oval to hose Willetton and in the end while Willetton won by six goals, they were also inaccurate to stop the result blowing out further on a tough afternoon.

Next up was an away clash against Coolbinia with this a hotly anticipated clash that had been brewing for nearly 12 months. It turned out to be a good battle too but in the end Coolbinia kicked two late goals to end up snatching the eight-point win.

It was another trip south then in Round 11 this time to take on Warnbro and the game was met with a deluge of rain making the conditions remarkably challenging. The game ended up in a draw with both teams doing their best given the conditions.

Then following another bye, Swan Districts was back in action Round 13 where the black-and-whites were in front all day to produce one of the best performances of the season to end up beating Wembley by 28 points.

That led into the final round of the season where Swans took on North Beach on the road with the home team ending up winning by seven points.

With the way the Integrated competition is set up with a conference system, Swan Districts got to play finals in its first season and the opponent was Ocean Ridge at Steel Blue Oval.

It turned into a challenging afternoon and because of the unavailable of several players and top-up players from other clubs, both teams played 10-aside with a number of players also taking turns playing for Ocean Ridge throughout the match.

In the end, Swan Districts made history by winning its first ever Integrated final with the 26-point victory to advance to Week 2 of the finals in the competition.

Next up everything came together nicely for Swans to play host to Kelmscott in the second week of the finals. The team got to play in front of a healthy crowd ahead of that afternoon's WAFL game between Swans and the West Coast Eagles as part of the WAFL's Count Me In Round.

The weather again turned out to be terrible again for the day making effective ball use difficult for both teams and while Swan Districts had its chances, it was Kelmscott who went on to win by three points to end the season of the black-and-whites.

There were plenty of lessons learned in all areas in the first season of having an Integrated team and the side will now take some time off over the summer before getting back on the track early in 2023 to prepare for the second season.

In the end, it was a case of what could have been for the season with Swan Districts suffering four losses along the way by eight points.

However, plenty exciting players were unearthed throughout 2022 including Will Brenssell, Lewis Collins, Luci Gill, Dylan Farrow, Damian de Grussa, Ben Klassen, Stephanie Pearson, Liam Trifon, Aaron de Grussa, Josh Rudd, Chad Shilling, Blair Maitland, Mark McNair, Jayson Mann and Jackson Foskett.

Brenssell is known as 'The Flash' for his blistering speed on the wing where no one could catch him while Collins showed a ferocious attack on the ball where he always put his body on the line.

Gill is another player who loved nothing more than weaving and dodging around an opponent to kick a goal or to set up a teammate while Farrow surely had the most centre clearances in the competition for his work at the bottom of the packs.

Damian de Grussa provided great strength and leadership in defence while Klassen and Pearson always popped up to kick crucial goals as the goal sneaks of the team.

Trifon grew in confidence throughout the season as did Aaron de Grussa, Rudd, Shilling and Maitland with them all improving strongly the longer the season went.

McNair might have spent a lot of the season held together by Elastoplast but he always provided a strong marking option in attack and went on to be an important goalkicker and forward.

Mann created attacking options half-back throughout the season and continued to work hard to get involved again across half-forward while Foskett battled hard in the ruck for a lot of the campaign.

There was a lot to be proud of with the team given it was completely built from scratch with 17 new players to the competition joining Swan Districts who didn’t play football anywhere at all in 2021.

Coach John Stone and team manager Kylie did a tremendous job all season long and worked tirelessly to make the season the success that it was.

They received strong support from team runner Leigh Farrow along with trainers Conor Heydon and Montana Fulton along with Ashley Mann, Dannika Mann and Richard Phan who assisted on game day.

The team wouldn’t also have been able to do what they did without the support of foundation partners, 360 Health + Community, The Vines Resort, PMG and new partners Loan Market Ellenbrook and McIntosh & Son.

The Integrated team is also grateful for generous contributions from the Swansmen and the Past Players and Officials Association.