The Griffith Swans are ready to go for the 2018 season with Narrandera coming Exies Oval on Saturday night.
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After a long and tough preseason coach Will Griggs said his side can't wait for the first bounce.
“I think the boys are eager to see the end of preseason,” he said.
“It has been a tough preseason we have been at it since late November but there is no fitness like match fitness so it will be good to get underway on Saturday.”
Griggs said he will be happy to see his side take the field in what has been a quiet preseason in term of preseason games only playing one trial along with a couple of intraclub games in the lead-up.
The club has also been relatively quiet on the recruitment front, but that is of little concern to Griggs.
“We said from the start whether we pick up or not we are happy,” he said.
“We had plenty of young guys do well in the voting last season and had Isaac Campbell pick up the under 17s medal as a 16-year-old last year.
“We had 8 or 9 blokes who were 18 playing first-grade last season, so we are pretty happy with where we are sitting at the moment.”
We had 8 or 9 blokes who were 18 playing first grade last season, so we are pretty happy with where we are sitting at the moment.
- Will Griggs
The club has managed to pick up some fresh faces with Alex Blissett, Theo Valeri, James Taylor and John Evans returning to the club after time away.
They decided not to continue their association with full-forward Brent Arho, while key position players Ash Verhagen and Jacob Barrington have also moved on.
Narrandera has been the opposite in the offseason and has made some handy pickups and Griggs isn’t too sure what to expect.
“We saw last year it takes a few weeks for a new side to gel,” he said.
“It will be good to get them early and see where we stack up against them.”
Griffith will head into the clash without a key component while another rolled their ankle at training earlier in the week.
“Mick Duncan still has a week to serve on his suspension from last season,” he said.
“Tom Valeri rolled his ankle at training, and I found out today that he did some ligament damage so he could be spending a bit of time on the sideline. We have one or two who are 50/50, but since we play on Saturday night, we can put them through a fitness test if we need to.”