Win the focus as Pickering returns home as Swans coachFriday, May 25, 2018 - 11:14 AM - by Chris Pike

ADAM Pickering will be excused for having a couple of think-twice moments this Saturday at Leederville Oval as he leads Swan Districts into battle against East Perth, but the Swans coach is only focused on what could be a season-defining win.

Pickering will coach Swan Districts up against East Perth for the first time this Saturday in Round 8 of the WAFL and it will certainly lead to the odd strange moment at Leederville Oval for him.

Aside from a couple of years at Perth, Pickering has made Leederville Oval virtually his second home ever since arriving in Western Australia back in 2004 to begin his WAFL playing career with East Perth following time in the AFL at both Richmond and Carlton.

Pickering went on to play 111 games with the Royals up until retiring following the 2010 season, which ironically was after the preliminary final defeat against Swan Districts at the ground he now calls home, Steel Blue Oval.

His connection to the Royals certainly didn’t stop there. Aside from spending the 2012 and 2013 seasons coaching Perth's reserves to back-to-back preliminary finals, he has been with East Perth for the five years.

That included two years as reserves coach with the Royals and then the last two seasons he led the East Perth colts to a Grand Final and preliminary final finish respectively.

So having spent 12 of his past 14 years in East Perth colours and calling Leederville Oval his second home up to four or five teams a week, it will understandably be a strange feeling for Pickering rocking up in Swan Districts colours and going to the Subiaco end of the venue on Saturday.

Coaching against East Perth and being in the opposite end of the grandstand, the opposite rooms and coaching box he's accustomed to might take him a while to get used to, especially when his first experience this year against Subiaco at Leederville Oval saw him use East Perth's rooms and box.

However, Pickering has fully embraced everything about being at Swan Districts since being appointed coach ahead of the 2018 WAFL season and there's no doubt the club, its supporters and playing group have embraced him back as well.

While Saturday is a day that will provide some strange moments, for Pickering he is focused at the job at hand and he couldn’t have been happier with the way things have gone since he arrived at Swan Districts for his first senior coaching opportunity.

"It has been very enjoyable so far but certainly full on as well and testing at times. It has been enjoyable overall and it's great to be in charge of a program and have a good group of guys to work with," Pickering said.

"Especially the senior guys have been really supportive and that's guys like (Matt) Riggio, (Tony) Notte, (Kirk) Ugle, (Alex) Howard and (Corey) Gault. They've been really supportive of the new coach coming in and that's made the transition a lot easier."

While Swans did lose some experienced quality players heading into 2018 in the form of Tallan Ames, Jamie Bennell, Ryan Crowley, Ricky Cary and even Xavier Ellis, Pickering was always happy with the lend of core senior players and young talent he would have at his disposal.

And he has since been happy with the way that has eventuated with those experienced players like Rhys Palmer, Matt Riggio, Matthew Rogers, Steven Payne, Corey Gault, Nathan Blakely, David Ellard, Tony Notte, Kirk Ugle, Alex Howard and Todd Banfield strong contributors.

But Pickering has been just as pleased with what he's seen from the emerging group at Swan Districts including Mitch Mackenzie, Levi Ridley, William Reidy, Ben Holman, Brayden Hackett, Tobe Watson and Jesse Turner

"The boys have been really good so far this season most weeks and been in the games apart from against Subiaco who seem to be mauling everyone at the moment," he said.

"They've been really good the boys, especially a few of the young boys who are fairly early on in their careers. It has been very pleasing.

"We have lost some experience and talent from last year, but that can always be a positive on the other side of things as well with the young kids coming through getting an opportunity. 

"That's allowed us to be able to play and give a lot of responsibility to guys like Tobe Watson, Jy Reidy, Brayden Hackett and Ben Holmen early on in the season. 

"You do lose some experience and talent, but some new talent always comes through and there are always those opportunities that open up."

It's now a big game for Swan Districts on Saturday against East Perth at Leederville Oval no matter what personal feelings it brings up for Pickering.

Swans come into the contest in fifth position with a 3-3 record while the Royals are 4-2 in fourth.

Pickering is under no illusions that it could be a season-defining contest and the difference between going 4-3 or 3-4 could end up significant in the bigger picture.

"We go in pretty confident that if we play our best we'll be right in the game," Pickering said.

"It will be a really good challenge and I think they'll have a couple of guys come back in from above as well. 

"They've been in really good form up until last week against South so we are really looking forward to it. It can really shape the five and our season this game so it's a really big one for us."