Swindon Town pulled off something of a transfer coup as they brought in former Rotherham United defender Grant Hall on a permanent deal.

Jamie Russell and Swindon made their eighth signing of the summer in the form of the returning Hall to add to the defensive rebuild that the team have been undergoing after it was a major problem last campaign.

The 32-year-old became the third central defender to arrive at The County Ground this summer, fully replacing the exiting starting trio of last season in Udoka Godwin-Malife, Tom Brewitt, and Frazer Blake-Tracy. Crawley Town’s Will Wright and Newport County’s Ryan Delaney have also arrived to create a new-look experienced and physical defence.

The opening two pre-season friendlies have confirmed the expectations about how Mark Kennedy will look to configure Swindon, using a 352 formation but also experimenting with a 3421 during the first half against Hungerford Town. Swindon have looked to spread their wing-backs very wide, with the back three generally remaining deep, rather than getting forward and underlapping as Michael Flynn had tried to do last summer. Wright and Delaney both arrived having played last season on the right and left of a back three respectively and Wright has continued in that role so far (Delaney is yet to feature), meaning that Hall has presumably arrived to fill the central centre-back position, which has so far seen Harrison Minturn and Sonny Hart deployed there.

Russell has said that he liked a “Glenn Hoddle-inspired” style which sees that central defender be heavily responsible for building out from the back. Hall is hardly Hoddle in the way that he plays, but he is strong on the ball, as was seen 11 years ago in his previous spell with Swindon as he was part of Mark Cooper’s possession-dominant team. His stops at Rotherham and Middlesbrough have seen less of an onus placed upon ball playing, but back when he was with Queens Park Rangers in 2019/20, the 32-year-old completed over a thousand passes and also ranked in the 82nd percentile for long pass accuracy. The Hoops even deployed him in midfield on occasion. He is unlikely to be the heartbeat of the team from deep but is more than good enough with the ball at his feet to be a bonus in build-up.

He also builds upon the defensive qualities that Delaney and Wright have brought with them. During the 2022/23 season, when he played more meaningful minutes, Hall won 69.3 per cent of his aerial duels and 64.3 per cent of his tackles, on top of ranking in the 82nd percentile for blocks among centre-backs. Standing at six-foot-four, Hall means that all of Town’s starting centre-backs are six-foot-three or taller, further adding to Kennedy’s desire to have a physical presence in the side.

Signing such an experienced defender straight from the Championship is always going to come with a drawback and Hall’s is fairly apparent: his injury record. The defender only managed eight appearances for Rotherham last season due to two serious injuries to his hamstring and hip. The defender last played 30 games in a league campaign during his last season at Loftus Road in 2019/20 and has only been able to play 29 per cent of league matches in the last four seasons for a variety of reasons. His availability has been a big issue and Swindon will need to be able to manage that if they are to get the most out of him.

With this in mind, despite Hall being Town’s third centre-back signing of the summer, there might still be a need for one more defender to provide further cover on top of Minturn and Pharrell Johnson.