BRETT Kirk was rested from Sydney's NAB Cup opener last weekend and followed the action on television feeling "like a dad watching their kids play footy".
The youthful Swans line-up went down by two points to Hawthorn in Launceston and 19-year-old Craig Bird was one player who really stood out.
Bird has been promoted to the senior list after playing reserves last year. The 177cm midfielder has been handed the enormous honour of wearing the number 14 made famous for the Swans by triple Brownlow Medallist Bob Skilton and fellow Brownlow winner Paul Kelly.
The number has been unused for five years as a mark of respect to the courageous ex-skipper Kelly following the Wagga recruit's retirement.
Like Kelly, Bird is proudly from NSW, hailing from Nelson Bay, just north of Newcastle.
"I got to sit down on Sunday and watch the boys go around and I felt really anxious and nervous for the younger guys," Sydney co-captain Kirk said.
"They competed really well on the weekend. Craig was fantastic.
"He moves really well, he's hard at the footy. He's everything you want in a young midfielder coming through the ranks.
"I think he is going to have a really good future and I can see him playing [AFL] footy this year.
"He goes about things in a quiet manner, similar to a Paul Kelly type.
"But as you saw on Sunday, he runs hard and works hard and can weave his way out of traffic really well.
"It's fantastic that he's a New South Wales boy," added Kirk, who came to Sydney from North Albury.
"He's one of our [NSW] scholarship holders and hopefully that gives an indication on where we can get to with the growth of Sydney."
Kirk, Sydney's reigning club champion, said Sydney's seventh placing last year, following Grand Finals in 2005 and 2006, had led to a greater pre-season emphasis on skill work.
Sydney will have several stars including Kirk, dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes, newly-appointed co-captain Craig Bolton and key forward Michael O'Loughlin back in action for their first hit-out of 2008 in Saturday's NAB Challenge match against Port Adelaide at Sydney's Olympic Stadium.
"We've done quite a bit more skill work this year. We felt our skill level wasn't up to scratch at the end of the year which let us down," said Kirk, 31.
"Having just that [extra] three or four weeks under your belt is going to give everyone hopefully a better start to this year. In previous years we haven't started that well [chalking up only six wins in the first 13 rounds of 2007]."
