Albert Whitehead returns to Swift at The Fly 2023

“I’ve had a lot of fun in the last two years! I think it’s a great competition, it’s a great standard with lots of very talented players and it’s just a lot of fun to play sixes so I’m very excited to be back.”

Swift Men’s Team Icon, Albert Whitehead, who makes his return to Swift after a year with Forge in 2022, will become one of the players with the most appearances in The Fly history come June.

His journey at The Fly over the past two years has been turbulent to say the least but he can’t wait to don the Swift shirt once again.

“I’m excited. I’m looking forward to working with Ravi [K. Sitlani] again after we had a lot of fun in the inaugural year.

“I had a lot of fun with Forge last year but it’s nice to go back to my origins I guess and it’s an honour to have been selected and an honour to be a Swift player again.”

As mentioned, Ravi K. Sitlani will be back with Swift this year and will make the step up to Head Coach, something Albert thinks he’ll be able to do with typical style.

“I get along with Ravi really well. I properly met him with the Swift team in the first year of The Fly and he’s got really good energy and he’s lovely so it’ll be really nice to be working with him again.

“Hopefully, we can do better than we have the previous couple of years!”

Albert comes into The Fly 2023 off the back of becoming a European champion with England at the 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship and it’s that box lacrosse format that Albert thinks can really help him at The Fly.

“The biggest thing is understanding the shot clock and being used to playing with that and you start to see the sixes players who are playing a lot more sixes are getting used to that and that’s a really big positive.

“But it’s also understanding time on the pitch because the last thing you want in box or in sixes is someone who just stays on going up and down and runs themselves ragged because you need to keep yourself fresh.”

In terms of making the transition to the sixes format, Albert believes his knowledge of box lacrosse has helped him a great deal in adapting to The Fly.

“The sixes game is very similar to how I play the game anyway so I didn’t struggle to transition. I’m much more about cutting and less about dodging but certainly defending as a midi that’s my bread and butter.

“I imagine there are some people such as out and out defenders who have to get used to a much shorter stick, that’d be a big transition but I think because it’s so new I found it quite easy but everyone was in the same boat.”

Albert’s hoping there’ll be a nice mix of experienced, exciting, and attacking players joining him in the Swift team in 2023.

“Well with it just being me at the moment, I’m hoping for at least another 10 players! But in all seriousness I think what characterised the Swift team in 2021 was the hustle and not giving up attitude.

“In so many games in that first year we were really struggling and losing but we managed to claw it back and win by one. I don’t think we had quite the same hustle in the finals weekend and ultimately that’s what let us down.

“So for me the best teammates are the ones who are going to fight for everything, they can control their emotions, they obviously have some good stick skills and I think to be good at sixes and to progress in The Fly you need to have those level headed, intelligent players.”

Albert will make his second Swift debut at The Fly 2023 in May and you can buy tickets for rounds 1 and 2 as well as Full Flight Passes HERE.