Harding hopes Reserves players get cherry on top

The Swan Districts’ Reserves have had two weeks to prepare for this Sunday’s Grand Final against West Perth at Optus Stadium and coach Greg Harding hopes his players get rewarded for all the work they’ve put in for 2023.

Swan Districts’ reserves side started the 2023 season in terrific fashion winning the opening four matches to set the stage for what was to come.

Following a loss to Peel Thunder in Round 5, Swans then went on to win the next five matches and remained on top of the reserves ladder until being replaced by West Perth in Round 18.

Swan Districts would go on to finish second on the ladder by the end of the home and away season with an 11-5 record before going on to beat Subiaco by 23 points in the qualifying final at Leederville Oval.

That set up a second semi-final battle with West Perth also at Leederville Oval and Swan Districts prevailed in that game a fortnight ago by 26 points to advance straight to this Sunday’s Grand Final to be played at Optus Stadium.

It turned out it will be West Perth the opponents in the decider with the game to get underway from 9.20am with Swan Districts attempting to win a first reserves premiership since 2006.

What would it mean personally to win

The Swan Districts reserves earned the week off last weekend to prepare for the Grand Final while West Perth and Subiaco did battle in the preliminary final in Mandurah to determine their opponents.

In the end, the Falcons prevailed by 37 points to set up the Grand Final match up with Swan Districts and for coach Greg Harding, he hopes a playing group he’s tremendously proud of gets the ultimate reward of a premiership.

For someone like Harding who had his own outstanding 78-game AFL and 74-game WAFL playing career, and has now built a tremendous coaching resume including being colts premiership coach at Swan Districts and spending seven seasons as senior coach, it’s all about helping young players achieve their dreams.

That’s why he has embraced the reserves coaching role so fully to help players in their hopes of either playing senior WAFL football or getting drafted to the AFL, or just continuing to develop, and now he’d love nothing more than see his playing group rewarded with a premiership.

"I think it will mean a lot more so because I’ve really been impressed with how the boys have improved across the course of the year," Harding said.

"I just think of someone like Lawson Humphries who has just developed his game really nicely. Bailey Jenkin has really come on in leaps and bounds from where he was at the start of the year.

"A little kid called Henrick Alforque that Tommy Edwards got to the club, a kid like that is just like an energiser bunny and with how he’s improved his game has been great to see by getting some junior footy habits out of his game.

"Tom Smith has been injured and sick late in the year, but seeing how he has come on from the start of the year to be one of our very best players for a lot of the year.

"The cherry on top would be to win it now and I’ve been so pleased with how they’ve actually improved their games individually, and really proud of how they’ve performed once the team was put together for the finals.

"I think they deserve to go through and win it, and that would be the most pleasing thing to just top off that really great year of development with winning it, and putting the cherry on top."

Feeling heading into grand final on Sunday

Now that preparations for Sunday's Grand Final is almost complete and there's that natural excitement there any time your club is in a Grand Final, Harding can't help but reflect with pride on what this reserves team has achieved.

While there is a definite focus on developing players in the reserves team whether it's giving opportunities to colts players, getting players ready for league level or just helping them get better on a number of fronts, Harding is proud that at Swan Districts winning is a focus too.

"It’s good fun. The twos is a bit of a different beast and it’s a bit of a transient sort of group with kids going up and down all year, and so forth, but it was probably halfway through the year when we thought the team was going pretty well," Harding said.

"That’s when the goal was to certainly to try and get to the point where they get an opportunity to play on Optus on grand final day.

"That was the No. 1 priority and it just gives the kids another opportunity to learn and to have to perform at their best on one really cut-throat day at a really great venue against good opposition.

"The reserves is about developing kids and getting them to the point where they are playing league footy sooner rather than later, that’s the No. 1 priority for our club and the coaches that are involved.

"But the other thing we try and do as well is to win. It has been a goal to get to the last day and now that we’ve got there in pretty good shape, we’re every chance to win it and we’re looking forward to playing in great conditions with a lot of our supporters getting along to support us."

The occasion of playing at Optus Stadium

Two of the last three grand finals have been played at regular WAFL venues with Fremantle Community Oval the host in 2020 and then Leederville Oval last year, but it's back to Optus Stadium this year.

Harding is glad that's the case because he has no doubt the players will get a real boost from the excitement at playing at the premier venue in the state. Quite simply it just makes playing in a Grand Final feel that extra bit special to play at such a spectacular venue.

Harding knows from personal experience from his own playing days with his last game being the 2004 Grand Final for Claremont at Subiaco Oval, that the biggest day of the season deserves a special venue.

"It's like Subiaco used to be our premier venue back when I was playing so you always wanted to play the big games there, and now it’s the same with Optus," Harding said.

"It’s a 60,000 seat stadium and obviously when we roll out at 9.20 there won’t be 60,000 in the stands, but it’s still a great occasion.

"A couple of years ago when our colts kids rolled out in the grandy it was a great experience for them because the grand final should be the pinnacle and should be played at your premier football venue.

"That is Optus Stadium and for some players it may be the only time they get to play there so it will be something special for them and it’s a great opportunity for them to play on a venue that’s hosted an AFL grand final. That’s a great thing for our kids."

What’s the feeling like around the club this week

Whether some of the Swan Districts players preparing for Sunday's Grand Final were there in the colts deciders back in 2018 and 2021, or whether it's their first experience on the big stage, Harding has felt a definite air of excitement as the day has got closer this week.

What he's looking forward to now as a coach to find out is how his players handle the occasion of playing on the big stage, at Optus Stadium and with a premiership on the line.

"The boys couldn’t be more up and about. The majority of these boys if you go back through it, there must be 10 of them who played in that 2021 grand final and they had such a great experience whether they ended up winning or losing," Harding said.

"They were good enough to end up getting over the line just in that game, but it was just an amazing experience and now this team wants that again. It’s different to play at a great venue, it’s the last game of the year and there’s a heap of excitement that comes out of that.

"And there’s excitement that as they’re getting older and pushing for senior selection, there’s excitement about having to play your best and produce a great performance in the last game of the year.

"There’s some excitement and a challenge around that which gets you up and about. I’m really looking forward to watching these kids play and how they handle the scenario, and more so for their longer term development.

"But if they do get it right, I’ve got no doubt we can get across the line and they win themselves a flag."