Pruyn's take on WAFL season after first 11 games

Swan Districts come into the bye this weekend having won three of their last four WAFL matches with their more recent performance the most complete of the season which has coach Andrew Pruyn proud given the growing injury list.

After the opening 11 games of the 2023 WAFL season, Swan Districts sits in seventh position with a 4-7 record, but it could so easily be different and considering the horror injury run Swans have had to deal with, everyone involved deserves a lot of credit.

Swans have scored wins against South Fremantle, West Coast, Perth and West Perth, with that win on Sunday against the Falcons a tremendous 15-point victory considering it was at Joondalup and against a desperate reigning premiers celebrating the 250th game of their captain Aaron Black.

Throw in that Swans were missing Jackson McLachlan, Brandon Erceg, Jesse Glass-McCasker, Sam Fisher, Chris Jones, Will Collins, Lawson Humphries, Seb Bright and Brayden Spackman, and it was all the more meritorious performance to take into this week's break.

"It's probably our best four-quarter game for the year. We've played some other good footy in patches, but that was easily our best four-quarter performance which is really pleasing for us," said coach Andrew Pruyn.

"To have the bye after it, I probably would prefer to play this week to be honest but you have to have it sometime and it is good to have a break to get to savour that winning feeling for a bit longer."

Swan Districts will now resume the season after the bye with four consecutive home matches against East Perth, Subiaco, West Coast and South Fremantle before a couple of away games to Claremont and Perth, and then at home again to Peel Thunder in the last round.

Considering Swans have won their last two home games this season and 11 of the past 14 at Steel Blue Oval dating back to last year, and there's good reason for optimism from Pruyn about the way the season could still finish off for the black-and-whites.

"We've got five of our last seven games at home and we only play two more games away from Bassendean so hopefully that turns out to be a positive for us," he said.

"There's no one in the competition that we don't think we can beat. We know that if we get going and we're playing our best footy that we should be able to take it up to anyone that's out there.

"I think we're progressing and our trajectory is in the upward direction with our footy so as long as we have the belief then I definitely think that we can give ourselves a shot. Then I think if we can get there then you never know what could happen."

Reflecting on the first 11 games of the season and despite the run of injuries Swans had to deal with, it's still a case of missed opportunities with heartbreaking losses by seven points or fewer against East Perth, East Fremantle, West Perth, Claremont and Subiaco.

Even just winning two of those five nail-biting games would have Swan Districts sitting in the top five right now and while there's a degree of frustration with that, Pruyn also feels the lessons he's learned as a coach from them, and his players have picked up too will only be beneficial.

"I'm disappointed that we weren’t able to pick up a couple more of those wins, but at the same time we've learned a hell of a lot," Pruyn added.

"I wonder had we won a few more of those if we would be in the same position we are in terms of our mental application and our hunger and desire.

"There's so many things we've learnt and even me as a coach I probably don't think I would be on the path I am now if I had have won three or four of those games.

"You just learn so much from what we went through and I'm quietly looking at the other side of it and thinking it was a blessing in disguise in that sense. Obviously I would have much preferred to win the games though."

For Swans to have won four games this season and lost five by seven points or fewer considering the players who have been missing through injury is a terrific sign of the depth at the club, and that players are coming in and ready to play their role.

The players missing have been among the best and most important players at the club though. Swan Medallist from 2021 Frank Anderson didn’t manage a game and has now retired while 2020 Sandover Medallist has been sidelined since Round 3 with a hamstring injury.

Brayden Spackman has also managed just three games, Seb Bright four, Will Collins four, Chris Jones seven, Tony Notte six, Jesse Glass-McCasker nine, Brandon Erceg seven, Josh Cipro seven, Aidan Clarke seven and Jackson McLachlan eight.

Considering that, there has been an enormous amount to like about the first 11 games on the most part that Swan Districts has produced despite the 4-7 record.

"I think we had 11 of our best 22 out on the weekend and when you take stock of it, and look at it then you can't help but be proud," Pruyn added.

"It sort or reinforces that the club is on the right path because injuries can easily be used as an excuse for you not being able to perform as well as you'd like.

"So we could easily be doing that and making excuses for losing with the injuries we've had, but instead we've just gone out there and been strongly competitive. The boys certainly go in every week regardless of who's available with a real belief that we can win.

"That's a credit to the program and the boys in the club that they are in a position to play good, consistent league football and we're able to be competitive."

A big reason why Swans have been able to remain so competitive despite the key players missing through injury is because the number of players who have stepped up to be playing the best football of their careers.

While experienced players Jesse Turner, Tobe Watson, Brayden Noble, Nathan Blakely and Anthony Stephens are showing the way, the next group of players are stepping up impressively and doing so in a variety of roles.

Nathan Ireland is fresh off a standout defensive performance on Tyler Keitel from West Perth, Jehb O'Donohue just shut down Luke Meadows and then there's Jarvis Pina giving great run off half-back and Aidan Clarke has been brilliant on return from injury.

Lachlan Riley, Tom Edwards, Mitch Bain, Jiah Reidy, Ben Hewett, Lawson Humphries, Cian Ehlers and even last week's debutant Brad Lynch have all made their marks this season which Pruyn has been delighted to see.

"That's through a combination of a lot of things and all of those guys who are now playing at a high level work really hard on their game themselves," he said.

"All we're doing is providing the environment to succeed in and making sure they get what they need in terms of some guidance and direction. All those guys have a real hunger to be the best that they can possibly be, and we're just making sure we're providing the environment for them to be able to do that.

"Every week we look at our players and we feel that they are all playing really good footy, and I think the key to a lot of those guys is that they do get thrown around a little bit. Last week even though Greg (Ottaviano) had done a hamstring, that was only the second game where we finished with a full bench this year.

"In every other game, we've had to play players out of position or ask them to do things they weren’t planning for in that particular game. I think it's a real credit to all of them the way they have taken that on.

"At one point Jiah Reidy was playing on Ben Sokol when we lost Spackman, there's just been so many things thrown at these players and they've handled it so well. That's a real credit to them."

As for the players who were missing from last week's win at Joondalup against West Perth, the only guaranteed return at this point from Pruyn would be McLachlan who missed the game against the Falcons after copping an errant knock against East Fremantle the week before.

The positive is, though, that these key players will start pressing for selection and it's going to be tough to lock down spots given how well those that have replaced them have been performing.

"Probably Jackson McLachlan would be the most likely one for us to get back because he missed with a concussion," Pruyn said.

"He's been symptom free so I think that he would be one that I would say that would be a definite to come back. Jones with a hamstring will be touch and go, Jesse Glass-McCasker will be touch and go with a concussion and Sam's probably a bit further away.

"He'd probably still be four weeks away I would have through, along with Seb Bright. They will be coming back in late July. So we're not getting a whole heap back immediately, but Will Collins will be getting close too. We'll just touch base with the doctors and make sure he's OK, and he started training again last week with us."