Sydney Swans, GWS Giants take vastly different paths to historic derby final

FOR the Swans and Giants the stakes will be the same but the approach taken ahead of the first Sydney derby final has been predictably different.

Kurt Tippett tries to mark over Joel Patfull and Heath Shaw. Picture: Phil Hillyard

FOR the Sydney Swans and the Greater Western Sydney Giants the stakes will be the same but the approach taken ahead of the first Sydney derby final has been predictably different.

The Giants are desperate to win and, on the back of their 42-point victory over the Swans in June, quietly confident they can. But the infant franchise is also acutely aware of the enormous promotional opportunity the historic occasion presents.

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So while the other finalists put up the shutters, sent assistant coaches or injured players to media conferences and guarded against real and imagined distractions, the Giants kept the club door opened during an exhaustive – and potentially exhausting – two week lead up.

One major element of the Giants’ new-found September exposure was not planned. The controversy surrounding allegations young star Lachie Whitfield had been concealed from a potential drug test by two former club officials was not the kind of publicity the club wanted.

Callan Ward, Leon Cameron, John Longmire and Jarrad McVeigh with the premiership cup in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Picture: Gregg Porteous

But if that proved there is such a thing as a bad headline, the Giants believe their media/fan policy of “saying yes to everything and working back from there’’ has brought big benefits, including increased exposure, merchandise sales and ticket sales.

The publicly relaxed atmosphere at the Giants is partly a consequence of the relative lack of pressure on a club entering its first finals series. Although coach Leon Cameron would never allow his players to think this way, these finals are something of a free hit for GWS.

Of course the Giants want to go deep into September and premiership players Steven Johnson, Heath Shaw and Shane Mumford will be telling their young teammates to seize the chance because it might not come again.

Yet in this case that old mantra seems barely believable. Such is the depth of the Giants’ talent this is almost certainly merely the beginning of several years of September action.

For the Swans the feeling is very different. Even as they ignore the bookmakers who have them warm premiership favourites, the internal expectations are high. Understandably the Swans are as determined as ever to maintain a business as usual approach — as much as you can in the September spotlight.

Since the inception of the widely respected but self-consciously insular “Bloods’’ culture in the early 2000s, the Swans have been expert at shielding themselves from external hype.

When this meant players became reluctant to engage with the media, or mumbled clichés when they did, the Swans easily justified the closed door policy with the incredible results they achieved — chiefly the 2005 premiership and a narrow loss in the 2006 grand final.

The Swans have been much more accessible in recent seasons and Lance Franklin’s recruitment created something of a media circus. But process-driven coach John Longmire and his experienced leaders retain the Bloods’ ability to politely keep the world at a comfortable — non-distracting — distance.

Josh Kelly and Shane Mumford tackle Luke Parker. Picture: Phil Hillyard

In that regard, this September the Swans have been the victims of their own success. The finals bye meant the training program of the five Swans who made the All-Australian team was not greatly disrupted. But having young star Callum Mills fly to Melbourne to receive the Rising Star Award while the Swans conducted an important session at ANZ Stadium was not ideal.

But, even with a younger, regenerated team, you suspect the lessons of 2014 when the Swans entered the grand final as favourites and were ambushed by Hawthorn will prove particularly valuable in this campaign.

As ever, the Swans will try to fly under the radar in September while the Giants strive desperately to get on it.