Building colts group at Swans pays off for Armstrong

What John Armstrong envisioned the Swan Districts colts could build on from a development year in 2023 has now all come to fruition with a Grand Final berth 12 months later and he urges his young group to embrace the occasion this week.

Armstrong took Swan Districts to a premiership in the colts back in 2021 before winning just three games in each of the two seasons since, but coming into 2024 he was always confident with the players on board who had just finished school and made the move from the south west.

That ended up in Swans qualifying for finals in fourth position and then scoring three stunning finals victories coming from behind in each of them to beat Perth, West Perth and Subiaco.

That has the Swan Districts colts into Sunday's Grand Final at Optus Stadium against Claremont and Armstrong couldn’t be more excited for his players.

"Excited is the best way to put how we're all feeling. When you finish fourth and you have to win every game, you do think if the boys can do it," Armstrong said.

"And they have played some very good football and been behind at three quarter-time in every final, but credit to the boys for doing very well when it's mattered most and here we are."

Confidence coming into finals

Even though Swan Districts finished fourth by the end of the home and away season, Armstrong had confidence in what they could do because they had pushed Claremont twice, and then beaten fellow finalists Subiaco, West Perth and Perth.

Swans had won seven of nine matches before a dead rubber to close the season in Round 21 against Perth so he liked his team's chances.

And while he might have preferred an easier path than the three heartstoppers in the finals so far, he couldn’t be prouder of the fighting qualities his group continues to show.

"We had beaten those teams during the regular season and apart from the slow start to the season when we were 2-4, we won seven of nine games before the last round so we did come into the finals feeling good," Armstrong said.

"We just kept focusing on what we were doing well, training that, watching vision on that and teenage boys are naturally pretty confidence within themselves. You get one win the way we did and it can just keep rolling over, and that's what has happened.

"You could say we've been lucky, but it's so much fun being around these boys and you can see how big their smiles are this week looking ahead to a big challenge on Sunday."

Seeing plan come to fruition

Going back to the end of last year and even though Swan Districts won just three games for the 2023 season, Armstrong could see the building blocks were in place for potential success in 2024.

He knew that with a whole host of players finishing school and also moving up from the south west would enable him and his coaching staff to help them fit in and develop rapidly, and he couldn’t be happier with how it's panned out to now be in a Grand Final.

"Proud of those boys would be the best way to sum up how I'm feeling. Colby McDonald has moved closer, Chayse Martinson has moved away from home, Cody Ryan has moved up from Bunbury and then there's the PSA guys who finished last year Otis Harvey and Max York," Armstrong said.

"When you're able to train with them it can make a massive difference to last year when we were only seeing them on game day.

"It's not only those boys that are playing, but there's so many south west boys who came up to almost every pre-season session and that commitment is the difference.

"Chayse Martinson is a great example, he had to find a house with Cody and Jai Cahill, and that's a massive move for an 18-year-old. I'll be honest, if they weren’t able to do that then we wouldn’t be playing this week because their improvement is what has fired us along as a team."

Coaching moves that prove masterstrokes

Sometimes as a coach you can make moves that have no impact on a game, sometimes you can have an idea that you never quite end up implementing, or sometimes you can go to a plan that ends up being a match-winning one.

That's exactly what happened in the first semi-final against West Perth when Armstrong pushed regular defender Tom Cathcart forward for him to kick his only two goals of the season to win the game for Swans.

"We planned it on the Wednesday because we don’t have a lot of height in our forward-line," Armstrong said.

"We just spoke about a lot of different scenarios and then I put in our PowerPoint before the game that if we can't take a mark in our forward-line, we'll move Tom Cathcart forward.

"Then at three quarter-time we were thinking about it and then when they kicked the first goal of the last quarter, we decided to pull the trigger.

"Tommy did play all his 16s as a forward so when I spoke to him on Thursday I gave him confidence if we did, and in the end it was him who kicked the goals not me so good on him."

Experience to play at Optus Stadium

While Armstrong is comforted somewhat from having coached at Optus Stadium once before back in the winning 2021 Grand Final, only three of his players have ever played at the venue before.

While Claremont is the reigning premiers, the Tigers do only have five players who will be there on Sunday from that Grand Final last win too, but Armstrong will be just wanting his group to take in their surroundings and then focus on the job at hand.

"We have spoken about it with the boys and I asked who has played there before, and we've only got Blake Kelly, Anthony Hansen and Tylah Williams who have," Armstrong said.

"But being there in 2021 probably just helps you as a coach be able to talk to the boys about what it's going to be like and what the emotions will be like, and what it will be like walking out for the first time and seeing how big the stadium.

"In the end though, it is just a football game on an oval so we will just focus on the process of what we need to do and the rest will take care of itself. But for my nerves it does help having been there once before."

What it means personally

Even though Armstrong already is a colts premiership coach from 2021, there's nothing like providing opportunities to a whole new group of teenagers like his Swans team will have to play in a Grand Final on Sunday at Optus Stadium.

"I just love coaching these boys and I also get to do it with Tommy Martin who is one of my best mates, and we talk to each other every day about how excited we are to be coaching at this last point of the year," he said.

"Colts is about developing, but when it gets to finals if you're able to go all the way and get into the Grand Final, it means a lot and ultimately it's what we play and coach for, and we love it."