Swans have Wright man for the job in 2024

PLAYER CHANGES:

INS: Mark Kovacevic (West Preston Lakes), Matt Perry (Waverley Blues), Jack Threlfall (Dookie United), Luke Davies (Lancaster), Hugh Mason (St Kilda City)

OUTS: Isaiah Jones (Congupna), Diesel Batey (Myrtleford) Bowen Calogero (Myrtleford) Zac Banch (Werribee) Rylen Damianopoulos (Congupna)

After spending the last couple of seasons in the bottom half of the ladder, Shepparton Swans are looking to soar back to life in 2024.

To help the Swans push for finals, ruckman Mitch Bell will return from an ACL injury, while midfielder Max Clohesy will play full-time after a stint in the VFL.

But coach Jedd Wright believes it’s the Swans’ key position signings that will hopefully see his side rise back up the ladder.

“We were really selective with our recruiting,” he said.

“We knew that we are a young, really fast team that moves the ball really well. But we did lack (last year) four or five talls and we have certainly addressed that with our recruiting.”

In terms of in-house development, Wright said he is excited to watch the Swan’s young core of midfielders develop.

“Our whole midfield group Max Clohesy, Zac Alderton, Will Dwyer’s really fit and firing and just how those ‘mids’ are going to work with a couple of really decent ruckman,” he said.

“Luke Davies off half-back I’m sure will also be pretty impressive.”

Wright doesn’t want to be over-optimistic regarding what the Swans can achieve this season, but the second-year coach does believe that the club is well set to be a competitive force for the next few years.

“We laid a pretty solid platform last year, and we are really looking to build on it, as I am sure the other teams who missed out on finals are, with the goal of sneaking into fifth or sixth and seeing how we go at the end of the year,” he said.

“We are excited to get out there and show that we are really looking to improve this year.”