SYDNEY coach Paul Roos has singled out new signing Martin Mattner for particular praise after the Swans' 68 point thrashing of Port Adelaide at the SCG.
“Today Marty (Mattner) was able to run and certainly his first two games have been extremely impressive and he was really important for us today,” Roos said after the game.
“Imagine if we had Kennelly, Malceski and Mattner?
“That's why we brought him in, to add that bit of run from the back.”
With mobile defender Nick Malceski's season-ending injury, Mattner's form has been both welcome and timely as he picked up 23 disposals against a disappointing Port.
Aside from the former Crow Mattner, Roos said he was pleased with the form of both the older and younger players in his squad after some had questioned his veterans following last week's two-point loss to St Kilda.
“We've got five young kids in against a side that played in the grand final (last season) but the mix was really terrific. The older guys did well and did the younger guys.
“The young guys, we weren't going to hand them games. They had to earn it but during the pre-season those guys played well and today we tried to get a bit more run into the side.”
Youngsters Kieren Jack, Jarred Moore, Ed Barlow and Craig Bird all continued their promising form against Port today.
“We've got some faith in Kieren. Obviously last week I think he did really well and he gives us another option.
“And with Heath Grundy going back it released Craig Bolton too. And Bevo (Paul Bevan) going forward was really good too. So yes, some of the younger guys really stepped up today,” Roos said.
Overall, Roos was a satisfied man.
“I thought generally we played better. There were some good signs last week, so we weren't too disappointed with last week. We felt we played a really tough team in a really hard game.
“But today was really good. We kept up the intensity and we were able to use the ball better today which was probably the difference between last week and this week. And our run was certainly a lot better.”
But the free-moving Barry Hall brought the biggest smile to Roos' face after the game.
“I think we knew with Hally it was going to take a little bit but you can see today he stepped it up again with I think nine shots at goal and he worked his way nicely back into the game in the second half and started to look really good.”
The Swans coach hinted that there wouldn't be too many changes for next week's clash with Brisbane. But he added that dropped goalsneak Nick Davis would be back in the team at some point in the future.
“Nick's accepted it really well and he understands. His fitness is good and I'm sure he'll be back in the team.”
Mattner with a neck problem and Jack with slight concussion were the only injury concerns, Roos said.
