Round 1 WAFL Preview v East Perth

Swan Districts is now creating an annual tradition of playing East Perth on Good Friday with the black-and-whites determined to make a winning start to the 2023 WAFL season at Leederville Oval.

It's the second straight season now that Swans will have played the Royals at Leederville Oval, and after a narrow four-point loss on the occasion to open 2022, Swan Districts will be determined to make a winning start to the 2023 season now this Good Friday.

East Perth and Swan Districts both enter the 2023 WAFL season with ambitions of dramatic improvement and the work they've put in over the pre-season will be put to test on Good Friday at Leederville Oval.

Both the Royals and Swans showed encouraging signs at times in 2022, but ultimately neither played finals and now with each of them having new coaches at the helm for the new season, they will be hotly motivated to make a winning start.

Swan Districts played finals in 2021 and then for most of 2022 appeared well on track to make it back-to-back finals appearances.

Swans still finished with a solid 10-8 record by the end of the season, but it wasn’t quite enough to make it to finals and in the end, Adam Pickering was relieved of his role of coach and has since been replaced by long-time assistant Andrew Pruyn.

There are now great expectations at Steel Blue Oval for what Swan Districts will be capable of achieving in 2023, but getting off to a good start against East Perth at Leederville Oval on Good Friday will be crucial.

Meanwhile, at one point of the 2022 season, East Perth was sitting at 6-6 and was right in the finals mix. However, the Royals went on to lose the last six matches to end at 6-12 to miss finals for a fourth straight season and ultimately part company with coach Jeremy Barnard.

Since then, East Perth has appointed Ross McQueen as its new coach and the Royals will attempt to begin their climb back up the ladder with a strong showing at home to Swan Districts on Good Friday.

There's mixed news on the selection front to start the new season with Swan Districts with the black-and-whites welcoming back former Carlton big man Jesse Glass-McCasker to lead the ruck in Round 1 while Jarrod Cameron will also make his return as a small forward.

Exciting youngster Riley Hardeman will also make his league debut for the black-and-whites but returning experienced pair Nathan Blakely and Frank Anderson won't be out there to mark their returns in Round 1, and nor will former Geelong VFL co-captain Jackson McLachlan.

Defensive pair Will Collins and Tony Notte are also among the Swans players who won't be out there to take on the Royals but there's still great expectations over the black-and-whites to open the new season.

Among the new faces in the Round 1 East Perth squad are key recruits Tom North, Mitch Crowden, Alex Pearce and Liam Tedesco while former Carlton midfielder Harrison McCreadie isn’t quite available to open the season with the Royals.

Swan Districts coach Andrew Pruyn is still adjusting to life now as a senior coach, but as such a proud and loyal Swans person, he can't wait to make his official debut in charge on Friday.

"It's certainly different now being the senior coach, there's nowhere to hide that's for sure but it's good," Pruyn said.

"I've been fortunate for being exposed to some really good coaches as an assistant with Greg and Adam so for me to now have the reins, I'm very fortunate to have a really good network of coaches around me. The club has been very supportive of me so it has been really good so far."