WA Football

KYLE Hams has been a massive contributor to the Swan Districts resurgence in 2012 and now the small defender is pumping himself up for another crack at his former club, South Fremantle, this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

Hams played 106 games and in the 2005 and 09 premierships with South Fremantle before joining Swan Districts in 2011.

He had a solid first season with the black-and-whites, but now is putting together one of his best seasons in the Swan Districts' defence as the team has had a strong start and is also currently sitting in second position on the ladder.
Swans now host South Fremantle this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval with Hams looking forward to his fifth clash in just over 12 months against his old side. So far he has won three of the four meetings.

"I can't wait, especially if my brother comes back and plays. That would make it really interesting, but as long as we get the four points and I do my bit for the team I will be happy," Hams said.

"It's a lot different than another game. It's weird because I was there for so long and I still know most of the boys so it's just weird out there, but now that I've been at Swans for a while now this is my home.

"Little Gugsy (Adam Guglielmana) gets into me a bit and so does Jarrad Winter, but I get a bit from everyone when I'm down there but it's all a bit of fun. They are a good side still as well so they will be a good test for us."

Swan Districts came back from the State game break last Sunday to beat Perth by 46 points at Brownes Stadium, and it took them three and-a-half quarters to get on top, but once they did Swans rammed home their advantage.

"We knew that they have a good side on paper and they are a good running team, so we knew that we had to be on the ball to get the win," he said.

"At the end I think we just had too many legs for them and we had a really good pre-season so I think that was the main reason for that."

The difference to this year from last year when Hams first arrived at Swans is massive, and he's enjoying the exciting and attacking brand of football they are playing, but knows the team can't get ahead of itself still.

"It's unreal out there now. We are playing as a team and when we are confident in each other to keep running for four quarters, that really helps. We are all confident in each other out there at the moment and it's good times ahead hopefully," he said.

"It's still a matter of taking it one week at a time because we've got Souths next week and that will be another tough one. It's still fairly early in the season really but the more wins we get now the easier it will be later on to make the finals so it's good to be playing well."

Hams is part of a rock solid back-line at Swans as well this season that includes Tallan Ames, Justin Simpson, Graham Jetta, Wayde Twomey, Jarrad Blight and at times Jarrhan Jacky.

While the forward-line of Ash Hansen, Tim Geappen, Murray Newman and Michael Walters, and midfield of Josh Roberts, Shaun Hildebrandt, Tom Roach, Matt Riggio and Marlon Motlop might be getting much of the attention, Hams is delighted with how the back-line is working.

"We've now got a solid seven back there now and we are rotating well, and slide well for each other," Hams said.

"Because we haven’t had too many injuries as well we've been able to play together pretty much all season and it's been good. We work well together back there."

Hams arrived at Swan Districts early last season to join up with the reigning premiers, but it was a season from hell for the black-and-whites with them recording just six wins.

That led into a massive pre-season and so far with seven wins from nine games, it's certainly paying off.

"Last year was shocking. We aimed over pre-season to give ourselves a chance to have a crack at it by getting the wins on the board, and so far so good," he said.

"We got smashed, but it was good to have a pre-season. I can't remember the last time I did one so it was good to get around the boys, but it was tough. We got around each other and helped each other through it, but it was definitely solid. It's paying off in games for us now though.

"I do feel part of the boys more now having been here for more than a year. At first last year it was a bit hard to come straight in and play during the season, but now it was good to get around the boys over pre-season, do the hard work with them and it's made it a lot easier."

Hams is also almost just two weeks removed from his first appearance for WA in the narrow State game loss to South Australia in Adelaide.

He starred with 31 possessions from defence and loved the experience, but was a little surprised his teammate Ames wasn’t there with him even though Graham Jetta, Josh Roberts and Matt Riggio were.

"It was good to get out there to play for WA. You get to meet a whole new group of boys and it was a shame that we lost, but it was good to get around the best players in the comp and get a crack at it. It was definitely nice to play well, but it was just a good experience to get over there to play somewhere different and play in a level up from the WAFL," Hams said.

"He (Ames) should have been easily. Nothing against Hunty or anyone else, they are good players and blokes, but in my eyes Amesy is the No. 1 full-back in the comp by far. He doesn’t get beaten and he should have been there."