How Colin O’Riordan’s pre-game speeches have helped inspire Sydney Swans’ AFLW finals run

The Swans haven’t found themselves short of inspiration during their remarkable AFLW turnaround. But a 34-game AFL player-turned-coach has become the master orator inspiring them to “run through walls”.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 11: Scott Gowans, Senior Coach of the Swans looks on before the 2023 AFLW First Elimination Final match between The Gold Coast SUNS and The Sydney Swans at Heritage Bank Stadium on November 11, 2023 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“You play for moments like these.”

It was the rallying cry from Sydney Swans assistant coach Colin O’Riordan ahead of their final regular season game against Fremantle.

With a place in the AFLW finals on the line, the former Swans defender was given the task, and not for the first time this year, of sending the side onto the field with his words ringing through their ears.

“We have a chance today to do something that has never been done by this club,” he said.

“At the minute, it’s an opportunity. When we come in afterwards, we can say it was a missed opportunity or we can say we took the opportunity.”

It turned out to be an opportunity taken as the Swans came away with the win. He was handed the reins once again for the elimination final against the Suns, and it had the same desired impact.

“He’s so good at them, he just gives the best rev-ups,” Swans co-captain Lucy McEvoy said.

“It’s funny because each coach has had a crack at it over the past month and Colin’s been the winner of it. You can just tell how passionate he is.

“It translates to the group before we run out. The passion he has and the knowledge he brings as a coach has been huge this year for us as our defensive coach.”

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The video of O’Riordan’s speech against Fremantle continues to do the rounds on social media. Comments fly in comparing him to the likes of Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou, while Swans fans claim they now have the perfect track to listen to before going for a run.

“I saw it alright,” O’Riordan said. “But I didn’t watch it back. I don’t like really hearing my own voice.

“In the moment, you’re trying not to get carried away. You just try and articulate clearly and hopefully it can come across alright.”

The 28-year-old Irishman joined the Swans’ coaching group before this season. Following 34 games across five years for the men’s team, a hip injury forced him into retirement at the end of 2022.

But he’s quickly become a beloved member by the club’s AFLW players as he helps lead them on their remarkable turnaround.

O’Riordan works with the Swans players at training ahead of their AFLW semi final against Adelaide. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“It’s my first time doing proper coaching with the team,” O’Riordan said. “I might be wrong in this, but they’re one of the most coachable groups I’ve been part of from a playing group, or from any group I reckon.

“To have that understanding that they want to constantly get better at such a young age – whether they’re taking notes in meetings or asking questions – it’s a testament to the kind of people they are.”

As the Swans continued to improve throughout this season, head coach Scott Gowans wanted to find ways to keep not only his players, but his coaches engaged.

That’s where the pre-game speeches came in. Whether it was O’Riordan, former Giant Tanya Hetherington, Nick Davis or Bronwyn Gulden, they all got tasked with a game to have the final word – even if there wasn’t a lot of notice.

The Swans’ coaching group have played a big role in the side’s turn in fortunes this season. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“He just threw that at us one week,” Hetherington said. “I’m not sure who did it first, it might have been Colin, he got told the day before.

“[Scott] probably thought the group don’t want to hear my voice all the time, so decided it and it went really well.

“It’s been really cool and I think the girls kind of look forward to that, they ask who’s doing it.”

“It can feel a bit stale when it’s always one person doing the same thing,” O’Riordan added. “Something different is often refreshing and the girls have said that to.”

While they’ve all had their turn, it’s clear O’Riordan has become the specialist.

He’s drawn on experiences from his own playing days, particularly at the Swans under one of the best motivators in the business, John Longmire – “He was really good at just getting people to buy in to what he was trying to say,” he said.

O’Riordan in action for the Swans against Gold Coast in 2020. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

O’Riordan’s words have even impacted his fellow coaches.

“Every time I actually want to go out and play again when you hear Colin speak,” Hetherington said.

“He makes you want to run through walls. I think that’s something for Colin and I who have just come out of the game, you don’t lose that sense of what it means to be a player. If I’m standing there and I’m ready to go, I can only imagine how the players are.”

As the Swans prepare for the biggest game in the club’s history in the semi final against Adelaide on Saturday night, there’s every chance O’Riordan will be front and centre for that last minute inside the Norwood Oval changerooms.

The Swans will run out onto Norwood Oval for the semi final with O’Riordan’s words ringing in their ears. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

And while he knows the players won’t need much to motivate them for the clash, he’s looking forward to making whatever impact he can.

“We just need to play our brand of footy, it’s going to be a battle,” O’Riordan said.

“Some players have said they enjoy it immensely and it makes them want to run out and play. When you hear that as a coach it gives you confidence you’re doing something right.

“If it gives everyone an extra 0.1 per cent, or whatever it is, it might go a long way to winning a tight game.

“Hopefully it resonates in some way, but as a group, we’re so much more than just rev-up speeches.”