Footy needs a big relaunch and Bucks and Dimma can do it with a Dustin Martin-Jordan De Goey match-up, according to Dane Swan
Dane Swan has all the answers ahead of tonight’s massive Richmond-Collingwood game – who’ll play on Dustin Martin, where Jordan De Goey will be in 2021, why the Pies can win the flag and what kept him sane during isolation.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
C’mon Bucks and Dimma, do us a favour and let Jordan De Goey and Dustin Martin go head-to-head — in bursts, at least — at the MCG tonight.
It’s a match-up we all want to see in a game that we’ve waited almost three months for.
Footy’s back and even if the crowds aren’t there, the number of eyeballs fixed on the Collingwood-Richmond restart of the 2020 season will be huge.
Most of the attention – for good reason – will be on Dusty and Jordy, two of the most explosive and watchable players in the competition.
I’m not a coach, but I hope Nathan Buckley and Damien Hardwick give us a taste of a Dusty-Jordy match-up before each spends some time forward.
Just imagine those two bulls – the champ and maybe his heir apparent – going for a loose ball out on the wing with no one else in the picture.
There are obvious comparisons between them, even if one has done it at the top level for a long time and the other is still working on getting his game to that elite level.
There’s the tatts, the different hairdos and the fact they both like a good time, as well as the explosive speed and power that others can’t dream of having.
Jordy has got a way to go to reach Dusty’s levels, and if he gets there one day, that would be a massive bonus for Collingwood.
What I can tell you is both look super fit heading into what has been the most unusual season we’ve ever seen.
Get your footy fix on KAYO ahead of live matches returning soon. Watch classic battles from the 60s to today, docos, news and more. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Dusty is as fit as I’ve seen him.
The shutdown has worked OK for him. He hates attention and in training by himself – sometimes with a partner – isolation has given him a clear head and a fitness base that will make him dangerous again in 2020.
I trained with him one day early in lockdown and he smashed it.
He’s won two flags, a Brownlow Medal and two Norm Smith Medals. If he never wins another medal, he and Richmond fans would be pretty satisfied with what they have already achieved, but I know he wants more.
He’s hungry for more team success.
I saw Jordy out training with Ben Crocker during the shutdown and he was flying, too.
Jordy is in the final year of his contract, and we all know what happens to players in the last year of a deal – they bust a gut showing everyone how good they are.
WHY JORDY WILL STAY
I don't want to speak for him, but I reckon Jordy will remain a Magpie beyond the end of this year.
He loves the club and wants the sort of success Dusty has had. By staying with Collingwood, he will get the best chance of achieving that.
Besides, he loves playing in front of big crowds, and the Magpie Army will be back in force at some stage.
Maybe, he should have a look around at the empty stands across the next month or so, and take that silence in. Because if he wants to sign for a struggling club, that’s what can get used to on a weekly basis.
It’s hard for players to leave the powerhouse Victorian clubs like Collingwood and Richmond. We saw that with Dusty a few years ago when North Melbourne offered him a fortune, yet he was prepared to stay for less.
If the Pies offer is anywhere near ballpark, Jordy will stay.
Players are often prepared to take a 100k-200k snip just to stay at a big club, because the networking you get at a club like Collingwood is invaluable after playing career. I’ve seen that first-hand in the last few years.
Still, if the Pies offer him $500k and another club offers $1 million, it might be a different story.
I’m willing to have a wager that Jordy stays.
If he does sign on the dotted line, I might even be prepared to offer him the chance to come on my annual end-of-season footy trip – with Dusty.
Mind you, the destination will be very different this year.
We went to a bucks party in Las Vegas and Los Angeles last off-season. There is no chance of that this year, due to the pandemic.
We might end up going to New Zealand if the borders are open again, where Dusty would get to see his dad again. Or we might rent a place in Daylesford.
It's not Vegas, but I hear the spas are nice up in Daylesford and we might get Jordy a mini-pedi beauty treatment.
WHY THE PIES CAN WIN THE FLAG
I’m happy Richmond has had some success, but now it is time to pass that on to Collingwood.
The Magpies can absolutely win it if they can keep their best players on the park.
We need the likes of Jordy and Darcy Moore to have injury-free seasons, we need Adam Treloar to get on top of his issues, we need Jamie Elliott to play as many games as possible, and the Pies will be the team to beat.
Their demolition of the Bulldogs was the best performance of Round 1.
The Pies have the best ruckman going around. Scott Pendlebury kills you with a thousand cuts, Steele Sidebottom keeps getting better and then you’ve got the likes of Tay Adams and Treloar in there.
Then there’s Jordy, who could go to another level this year.
The backs are a little thin, but not so much if Darcy gets a clear run with injury.
The coronavirus meant we had to cancel our 10-year reunion for the 2010 premiership side and a 30-year reunion for the 1990 team.
If the Magpies of 2020 can win this year’s flag, why don't just have a massive three-way premiership reunion?
Look out if that happens!
LIFE IN ISO
Anyone who saw my Instagram account during lockdown will know I was going a little stir crazy.
I did something I never thought I would do – I became a coach.
I’ve been working on a start-up company called SLOCOACH, which puts one-time sports stars in an online community of learning. I've been doing the AFL side of things, but others such as Sally Pearson (athletics), Daniel Kowalski (swimming), Michael Slater (cricket) and James O’Connor (rugby) have been involved.
Who knows it might lead me down a coaching pathway one day?
I've walked my dog Barney so many times during the shutdown that he hates me. He’s like, ‘Can you just give me a bit of peace now?’.
I've also be smashing all the different streaming platforms.
Billions. It’s brilliant.
Tiger King. That was absurd.
The Last Dance. That made me jealous for live sport.
That doco took me back to my days as a kid watching Michael Jordan on Channel 10 every Saturday morning.
Allen Iverson was my hero back then.
I loved seeing Dennis Rodman in The Last Dance.
Rodman liked to go out, have a drink, dress up and express himself in his own way. Jordan loved to play golf and gamble, but he always gave his best.
That’s a good lesson for AFL clubs. Give players a bit of space and you might find they will be fresher and better prepared to tackle the hard work.
MORE FOOTY:
Robbo’s season preview: Western Bulldogs the mystery team in mystery season
Mick McGuane on every club’s strengths and weaknesses as AFL returns
Gary Buckenara: How AFL football department cuts will impact trades, recruiting
Teams: See your club’s final line-up for Round 2, 2020
The inside story of Demons recruit Harley Bennell’s AFL comeback