Swans at home in the South-West: Hodyl

Swan Districts Football Club President Peter Hodyl is delighted to have football back in the South-West, after the WAFL confirmed that the club would host the West Coast Eagles reserves side at Hands Oval in Bunbury on Sunday May 17th.

It makes up a double header at the venue, with the WAFLW match between Swan Districts and Peel Thunder to be played as a curtain raiser to the men’s game.

Hodyl, a former Swans premiership player in 1990 and President since 2014 was excited to bring the club back to play in Bunbury for the first time since his first year at the helm.

“It’s tremendous, we love our country zones whether it’s our Bunbury zone or in the Pilbra, we’re really excited to get back there,” Hodyl told Sports Drive on Monday.

“We try to have a game in any one of our regional areas once every few years, and the opportunity to play West Coast down at Hands Oval in the South-West is something we’re really excited about.”

Hodyl said it was important to the club to have the women’s team also part of the day, coming off a Grand Final appearance in 2019.

“Women’s football has taken off in leaps and strides over the last few years, last year with the inaugural WAFLW which was a tremendous first season, Peel have come on board to make this a real showcase of what we can provide to our regional areas in the best girls and best men playing the game.” He said.

The club was hopeful of having more matches in the region in the future, having played four games at Hands Oval dating back to 1984.

“Certainly it would be a great thing to do, there’s a lot of logistics involved and it’s not an easy process to get happening, but we are committed to trying to get somewhere within our region once every few years, in 2020 it’s Bunbury’s turn.” Hodyl said.

The club has several Bunbury products on it's list, including ruckman Nathan Blakely, Aidan Clarke, Lachlan Riley, Matthew Germs and Patrick Farrant, with all a chance to play in the round seven game.

The Black Ducks open their season on Saturday April 4th against Subiaco at Bassendean Oval.

IMAGE: Bunbury Mail.