Wet welcome to Sydney for new Swans
SYDNEY’S fresh crop of recruits have been given their first taste of life in the harbour city and the Swans hope the adrenaline will continue to pump as the AFL season begins.
Sydney
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GETTING thrown in at the deep end is part of being a Sydney Swan and their recruits literally had a taste the harbour city yesterday on a Jetboat.
They should get ready for another dip next season. In the last two years John Longmire has blooded no less than 13 debutants and unearthed some real quality including Callum Mills, Tom Papley, George Hewett, Aliir Aliir, Nic Newman, Lewis Melican, Jordan Dawson, Ollie Florent and Will Hayward.
If this year’s harvest is half as good as the last two Longmire will be smiling from ear to ear.
At the top of the Swans draft class of 2017 is speedy Geelong Falcons midfielder Matt Ling who was taken at pick 14 in the national draft.
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If the last two years are a guide he can expect an early call up. Each of the Swans first round picks Mills, Florent and Hayward have all seen early action.
Ling is exactly what the Swans are looking for, a speedy and skilled left footer who can break the lines out of defence and hit targets.
Both of Sydney’s recent premiership teams have featured attacking backmen including Nick Malceski, Rhyce Shaw and Tadhg Kennelly.
The good news for Ling is two of those three, Shaw and Kennelly are both development coaches at the Swans.
Our new faces taking in the sights! #ProudlySydney pic.twitter.com/exa3OBokAJ
— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) November 30, 2017
“It’s awesome having those two as coaches I’ll learn a lot from them,” Ling said.
“If I end up being anywhere near as good as them I’ll be very happy.”
Heading into the draft Kennelly said the Swans needed improvement in their speed and distribution out of defence and Ling was the perfect fit.
“It’s quite exciting the way Matt plays his footy, he’s exactly what we need,” Kennelly said.
“Matt has really good ball use, breaks the line and is a left footer. We went to the draft looking for some outside run and speed.”
Sitting in the jetboat alongside Ling was his 17 year old school mate Tom McCartin who is still in year 11 at St Josephs in Geelong.
The pair were also team mates at the Geelong Falcons.
“I was very happy and lucky that Matty has come to the same club it will help me settle in,” McCartin said.
We’re living together now and it’s great fun. Same school, same team and now the same AFL club.”
McCartin is expected to do his year 12 at a school in Sydney. The last Swan to play in the AFL as a secondary school student was Dan Hannebery who was attending Xavier College in Melbourne when he debuted in 2009.
“It’s a pretty weird situation but I’m lucky that Dan (Hannebery) has done it as well,” McCartin said.
“I’ll be having a chat to him to get his thoughts on it.”
McCartin is also the younger brother of St Kilda’s number one pick in the 2014 drat Paddy McCartin.
“Paddy’s been massive for me,” McCartin said.
“I’m very lucky to have a resource like him that I can draw on if I need to. He’s told me to enjoy the whole process of what’s going on now.”
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