Swan Papley adds AFL value in two areas

Young Sydney forward Tom Papley is also expected to have an impact in the midfield this season at his AFL club.

Sydney Swans AFL player Tom Papley

Sydney Swans AFL player Tom Papley (AAP)

He's become one of Sydney's most-reliable sources of goals, but livewire small forward Tom Papley is set to get some more midfield time this AFL season.

Papley was Sydney's second-highest goal-kicker in 2016 with 29 in his first season and was joint second with Sam Reid last year with 30.

The 21-year-old added some midfield minutes in 2017 to his time in the forward line and looked lively in last Friday's practice match against Greater Western Sydney.

He's one of a number of players the Swans will look to rotate through midfield to assist their established on-ball champions, Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker.

"There will be different times where we might have a Dean Towers or a Will Hayward, someone from a forward perspective, come through and spend a bit of time there," Swans assistant coach Brett Kirk said.

"I think Tom Papley spent a lot of minutes there last year and will probably spend a bit more this year, because we've found that he can have some real impact."

Some of Sydney's other young guns have been called up for their first pre-season hit-out in Saturday's match against Brisbane.

Hayward, Isaac Heeney and Callum Mills have all recovered from off-season injuries and will line up against the Lions.

"We definitely think we'll see really strong things from them this year," Kirk said.

"All three of them had a little bit of an interrupted pre-season, but their last three or four weeks on the track have been super."

The squad contains most of the Swans' stars with the exception of injured quartet Heath Grundy, Dan Hannebery, Jarrad McVeigh and Zak Jones.

The strength of the squad is underlined by Ryley Stoddart being the only 2016 draft pick chosen.

Kirk foreshadowed tweaks rather than any radical overhaul to Sydney's established game plan.

"I think you have to evolve a little, you can't stand still in this game, but we've tinkered with a few things," Kirk said.

"But I guess what we stand for in terms of being strong, contested and being elite in defence, that will be something that we're still going to be really strong on."


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Source: AAP



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