The Swans have been renowned for tackling teams into submission but star midfielder Jarrad McVeigh says they didn’t live up to that reputation last season.
Analysis recently shown to the players was stark proof that they’d fallen down in that vital area last season.
“Definitely our tackling has been a real focus over the pre-season and our work ethic without the ball, which is the defensive side of the game,’’ McVeigh said.
“We had a look at the stats and this season we were a completely different team from 06 and 05. It has dropped away considerably.’’
McVeigh believes it stemmed from an attitude issue, which is being rectified. “You don’t have to be a talented player to be able to tackle or chase, it is just a mindset of going into a game knowing you have to stop your guy and run off him.’’
McVeigh believes the club’s emphasis on running and speed work during summer will also help. “Hopefully we’re a lot fitter coming into this year and will be able to press teams more and really hunt them up,’’ he said.
There will be a fresh feel to the Swans in 2010, with a new ruck division featuring Mark Seaby and Shane Mumford, the addition of on-ballers Josh Kennedy and Ben McGlynn, Daniel Bradshaw up forward, and speedsters such as draftee Lewis Jetta and Byron Sumner adding pace around the ground.
“There will be a different look, we have some new guys coming in who have a few tricks, but we definitely want to set out our trademark which is the hard stuff and the accountable footy,’’ McVeigh said.
The club’s elite performance manager, Rob Spurrs, couldn’t be more pleased with the way the players trained before the Christmas break.
He says the aim is to have a much better running team in 2010. “Very much so, and it is also quite a different look to the team,'' Spurrs said.
“In the past there have been a lot of older players we’ve had to manage more, but now we’ve had a big chunk of the players who can do just about every single session and do longer sessions as well.
“We’re in a really good position going into the post_Christmas period where the game plan stuff ramps right up and players start thinking about the practice matches and even round one. It is great there are lot of numbers vying for positions, making it a very competitive environment.’’
The players resume training on January 4.
