Sydney Swans assistant coach says Aliir Aliir will have a major role to play for the club in 2018, as the 23-year-old looks to overcome a challenging 18 months with knee injuries.
The defender played a key role towards the Swans march into the 2016 Grand Final, however a knee injury suffered in the preliminary final, not only ruled him out of the decider, but set him back in his preparation for 2017.
“I’m sure he’s going to play a big part for us at some stage this year, because he’s such a talent,” Shaw told SEN Afternoons.
Aliir played just three games at senior level last year, spending most of his time under Shaw in the NEAFL, and the former Swans premiership player feels it was numerous factors, including the form of the back line, after a disastrous 1-6 start to the season, that ultimately meant the year was a long, tough slog.
“I was the 2’s coach last year, so I got to spend a bit of time with Aliir, and after the year before, where he hurt his knee, he had an interrupted pre-season, so that put him on the back foot a little bit,” Shaw said.
“Leading into 16’ he was flying, gave himself every chance, (2017) a couple of things went wrong for him, took another couple of steps back and it was just long haul to get back into the side.
“Once he got fit, we actually got onto a bit of a run, it was a bit of opportunity as well.
“The guys who were in the senior team were doing a good job, and he needed to work his way into the side, but it didn’t work out the way we might have expected.”
Sydney begins its season on Sunday against West Coast at Optus Stadium.
To hear Rhyce Shaw's chat on SEN Afternoons listen in the player below: