The 25-game former Adelaide player, now the club's fitness coach, had to come up with a plan to keep the Crows well-fed, well-rested, well-hydrated and occupied during the hour-plus break between games at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.
The Crows opened the NAB Cup with the 40-minute clash against Melbourne, sat out while the Demons and Port Adelaide played their match, then were back in action to finish the evening against the Power.
"It was a long day at the footy," he said on Saturday morning as the Crows went about their rehabilitation.
"The guys were here at 5pm and were still playing at 10.30, but they handled it really well, particularly the second game."
Schwerdt is one of the best fitness guys in the caper, but didn't have to search far and wide for some guidance as to how to handle the lay-off between matches. Over the summer, Adelaide had brought in Bill Millard as a tackling coach and Scott Wilson as a physiotherapist. Both have rugby union backgrounds and worked with the Australian Rugby Sevens team, so both were familiar with the requirements of going at full speed for a period, then resting for a considerable period before going at it again.
They devised a plan for the Crows to hit the swimming pool straight after the Melbourne match, followed by massages, re-strapping and even a round of sandwiches. The hour flew by and the Crows were ready to go at it again. Their strong finish against Port suggests that Schwerdt and the one-time rugby boys got their planning right.
"We prepared them for a new match, not as if it was half-time," he said. "But it was as much a mental challenge for the boys as it was physical. It wasn't the ideal situation, but they came through it well."
Helping the Crows was the fact that they were playing at home and had use of all their training facilities. No doubt by design, four of the six teams who have the break between matches in the NAB Cup round-robin, Adelaide, West Coast, Greater Western Sydney and Geelong, were drawn at grounds where they have access to all their facilities.
"We have everything we need at the Westpac Centre," Schwerdt said. "It would have been a much tougher exercise had we been anywhere else."
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The AFL couldn't have been too disappointed in the 'to-and-fro' between Eddie McGuire and Kevin Sheedy this week, sparked by McGuire's "land of the felafel" jibe about the western suburbs of Sydney, the heartland of the Greater Western Sydney Giants and soon to be home to the AFL's newest club.
Anything to drum interest in the new team and to sell tickets for Saturday night's NAB Cup triple treat featuring the Giants, Gold Coast and Sydney is fine by us.
This column only learned on the weekend that the western region of Sydney has its very own NSW government minister, David Borger, and when he takes to the airwaves to claim that only five per cent of the eateries in the region actually sell felafel, then chalk another win to the AFL in the "publicity that money can't buy" department.
Of course, the genesis for this entire discussion was McGuire's claim on Triple M earlier this week, in his guise as a breakfast radio host, that rising Melbourne star Tom Scully is a huge chance to join the Giants next year on a multi-million dollar deal.
The debate that followed largely centred around how the rules allow the Giants to make a play for Scully after just two years in the AFL system. What there hasn't been enough of a discussion of is why Melbourne didn't make the retention of Scully the club's biggest priority over the summer.
The trip to China was great and the new logos (all three of them) are impressive enough, but if the core business at Melbourne is about building a team to win a premiership, then surely the retention of its very best players (of which Scully will be in 2011) is the most important thing on the club’s off-season to-do list.
Equally, if you barrack for Collingwood, why haven't Dale Thomas, Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury signed their contract extensions already?
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Gold Coast makes its official AFL debut on Saturday night at Blacktown and the eyes of the football world will be on Guy McKenna's side.
So too will be virtually every football photographer in the country.
The Suns only took possession of their official playing gear in the last few days, which means next to no action shots of the Suns in uniform have yet to be taken.
And it's a problem. Not just for the club's marketing staff which presumably has magazines, brochures and other publications waiting for pictures of the likes of Gary Ablett, Nathan Bock, Campbell Brown, David Swallow and the other big name Suns, but the various media outlets and AFL licensees are also desperately short of Gold Coast player images.
Footy cards, a huge industry in Australia, can't be printed in 2011 until the AFL photographers get some action shots of the Suns.
McKenna has long indicated he will be playing his best side on Saturday night against the Giants and Swans. And not just for football reasons.
CLUB BY CLUB
1. Collingwood: Every premiership team needs to turn its side over over by two or three players to win it again. Andrew Krakoeur is one obvious change for the Pies.
2. St Kilda: Can’t wait to see to see whether Ross Lyon has delivered on his pledge to open up his forward line. To that end, where will Sam Gilbert line up?
3. Hawthorn: A fruitful trip west. The Hawks appear to have found some emerging talent and more importantly, leg speed.
4. Geelong: Let’s hope the Scott v Scott angle is left alone until the home and away season.
5. Fremantle: Tendai Mzungu. Fine footballer, better Scrabble score (with apologies to Dennis Cometti).
6. Carlton: Not sure that big Setanta will get a game if Carlton has a full list of forwards to pick from. He needs a massive NAB Challenge Series.
7. Sydney: if only every game was an intra-club game for Trent Dennis-Lane. Five goals in 2010, seven last Friday.
8. Western Bulldogs: Mitch Wallis has Bulldogs fans just that little bit excited.
9. North Melbourne: Where's the improvement going to come from? How about a fit Drew Petrie.
10. Adelaide: With Kurt Tippett and now Shaun McKernan, Adelaide would appear to have two really good options to take a big grab close to goal. Neil Craig just has to make sure the Crows can get it in there quickly.
11. Melbourne: Lost among all the excitement of Melbourne's pair of wins on Friday night was that it was the first time since 2001 that the Demons have had a win of any description at AAMI Stadium.
12. West Coast: Andrew Gaff’s debut was promising, but the Eagles would be delighted with the verve and passion Jack Darling brought to the side in his first-up effort.
13. Richmond: Saturday night offered us absolutely nothing when it comes to assessing where the Tigers are at in 2011.
14. Essendon: Mark Williams is working harder to make an impression in his second year at Windy Hill.
15. Port Adelaide: On a night where the Power didn't show all that much, Daniel Motlop appeared to have the hunger and radar back to where it used to be.
16. Brisbane Lions: So Josh Drummond reckons Michael Rischitelli and Jared Brennan won’t be missed. Let’s revisit that statement in July.
17. Gold Coast: Gary Ablett is talking finals for the Suns in 2011. It won't happen this year, and probably not in 2012, but with the talent Gold Coast would appear to have stockpiled, who wet bet against a Grand Final appearance within five years.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Liam Jurrah lost nothing over the summer when it comes to pack-marking and goal sense. A couple of his efforts on Friday night were top-shelf and enlivened an otherwise scrappy affair, Melbourne could rise on the combined coat-tails of Jurrah and Jack Watts all the way into September.
THE TWITTERATI
“Great 2 see the young boys go so well last night also props to the ground staff at the dome, was in the best nick I've seen it in!” - Collingwood’s Dale Thomas (@DT_13) sends some love to the Etihad Stadium surface after Saturday night’s NAB Cup clash.
“Just a stab in the dark but I don't think we will see much more of the last person to touch the ball out of bounds rule!” - Gold Coast big man Josh Fraser (@jfraser17) shares a widely-held view in AFL circles.
“Been a big day, surgery went well, back at home resting up now. Finding life a little tough one-handed early on but hopefully get used to it” - Melbourne’s Cale Morton (@CaleMorton) reports on the finger surgery that will sideline him for the next two months.
GAME TO WATCH
All three NAB Cup engagements this weekend have genuine marquee appeal. The Suns debut on Saturday, Chris Scott’s Cats on Sunday. But three clubs dominated the headlines this off-season - Essendon, St Kilda and the Brisbane Lions - and they meet at Etihad Stadium on Friday night. Three clubs who will be overjoyed just to get back on to the paddock and playing footy once more.
The views expressed by author are not necessarily those of the AFL or the clubs.
You can follow Ashley Browne on twitter at twitter.com/hashbrowne.
