Sydney Swans vs. Collingwood
Saturday June 25; 7.10pm; ANZ Stadium, Sydney
And so we come again to the weekend in June, the one that represents so much futility – or, at least, has in recent years – for diehard Swans fans. Yes, that’s right, the annual blockbuster against Collingwood, a home game that, with the disturbingly large influx of black and white-clad supporters, feels more like an away fixture. You have to give it to the Pies. We love to hate them, of course, but there are few teams anywhere in the world whose supporters rally as strongly during their away games. We’ll see it this Saturday night at Olympic Park.
There’ve been some amazing contests in this blockbuster fixture over the years. The first game at ANZ Stadium comes to mind, when the largest AFL crowd outside of Melbourne packed into the Olympic venue for a ripping contest, eventually won by the Pies, but not before a shootout of near-epic proportions. If you went to that game and didn't come away a footy convert...well, there’s something wrong with you.
Then there was the seesaw contest of 2004, the game that ebbed and flowed, and deserved the status of being the only game that night, the split round weekend. It was only the second Swans vs. Pies contest I’d ever seen, and it evoked memories of the debut clash at ANZ, except that the Swans managed to get on top then, and looked like they were building towards something.
Of course, that something was the 2005 premiership, breaking the long Swans/Bloods drought. Before Leo Barry’s fateful mark on that tense September afternoon at the MCG, there was the 2005 edition of the Swans vs. Collingwood epic, a game perhaps most famous for the handful of seconds of football that weren’t played – through a timekeeper’s error – as opposed to those that were. The Swans squeaked out victory by a solitary point, with less of the free-flowing football of the year before, but just as much energy and toughness.
I’ll always remember a friend of mine, a Collingwood supporter watching with us, who told me as he left the stadium that night, after the Swans got up, that I would never see my team win a premiership playing football like they played. No, my friend wasn't Andrew Demetriou, who famously and publically thought the same way. It was my distinct pleasure to prove my friend wrong, a few months later. Yeah, I’m looking at you Ronald Szancer.
That one-point decision to the Swans was the last time that we’ve beaten Collingwood. It’s been a long drought, and it’s not getting any easier, because, this year and last, the black-and-whites are the class of the AFL. Even when the Pies weren’t as good a football team as they currently are, I always felt that they were the first to really dissect and breakdown the Swans style of play, and put in place formation and structure to beat it. And beat it they did – and have. And may continue to for a while to come. It’s gotten to the point where the Swans are Daryl Cullinan and the Pies are Shane Warne.
It might be a long night at ANZ Stadium on Saturday. Not that we haven't all been there before, but this week has something of an ominous cloud hanging over it, after a rather uninspiring performance vs. Carlton last week at Etihad and the prospect of going into this game without Shane Mumford. I don't care what anyone says, we need Mummy like Springsteen needs Clarence Clemons – RIP Big Man – and we will suffer without him.
So far as I’m concerned, we needed to beat Carlton last week to legitimise our premiership credentials. That we didn't beat them suggests that we’re likely making up the numbers in the eight. I believe we’ll play finals football this year, but I don't know that we can challenge the big teams – Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Carlton. All teams who’ve beaten us quite handily this season, or, as is the case with the Pies, look poised to do so.
I badly want to think that the Swans can beat Collingwood on Saturday. I’m taking my dad to the game, his semi-annual appearance at a Swans contest, and he gives me grief for taking him to games when we don't win. Aside from that, it’s high time we broke our Collingwood duck, but unless there’s a drastic turnaround from last week’s performance – and the week before as well, which wasn't great – I believe we’ll be lucky to be beaten by 6-8 goals. But, by all means, boys, please prove me wrong. Feel free to prove me wrong! I'd really love it if you did!
You know I love you whether you win or lose, Swans. That’ll never be in doubt. It’s just that sometimes I get frustrated. I spend the week psyching myself up for this marquee contest, dragging non-AFL friends from all over the world along to this game, promising them a good game and a good atmosphere, only to land with a thud when we get drilled. Sometimes we play terrible, and it kills me because I know we can play better. Let’s face it, the Pies are good. They will probably win the flag this year, or at least go close. They look much better than us on paper. Even so, stranger things have happened, and that’s why they play the game on the field, not on paper.
Still, there is plenty of hope for the future of the Swans, and lots of reason to be very optimistic about our chances of being able to be a part of the upper echelon of teams in the near future. A lot of our roster is filled by talented kids – Sam Reid, Alex Johnston, and our Rising Star winner, Dan Hannebery among others – who’re learning on their feet, and who’ve played 50 games or less. They are growing, and they’re growing into really good players, and they’ll be the backbone of the club for years to come.
The good thing is that, unlike some teams (Melbourne, Richmond...) we’re blooding new players and still playing finals football, and sort of being there or thereabouts on the ladder. In that way, we’re progressing like the Collingwood FC of a few years back, back when players like Swan, Thomas, and Pendlebury were new on the scene and establishing themselves in the team and the league – and look where they are now.
Football aside, it’s a very important night on Saturday, as the Swans attempt to break the world record for the number of red noses in one place. Currently, the record is 15,900 so we need 16,000 plus wearing their wonderfully-coloured noses, supporting research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This is a great chance to do your part and help out a good cause.
So, get out there, buy your ticket, buy your red nose, eat some Gozleme pre-game and, most importantly of all, cheer, cheer the red and the white. There’s nothing better than that! Go Bloods! Go Swans!
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