AFL: Sydney stars return to pre-season training with redemption on their minds

The best review of a grand final is done with celebratory beers, but that’s not what the Swans will be doing next week.

Next week looms as the moment many Sydney players will dread when they do their formal review of last year‘s grand final thrashing.

But as he officially launched into pre-season training on Monday, having done some early sessions with younger players, co-captain Callum Mills is brimming with enthusiasm, adamant the defeat won’t hold his young team back in 2023.

Mills, who signed a five-year contract extension in September after a banner year that earnt him All-Australian honours and the club best and fairest award, said he had finally “processed” the 81-point loss to Geelong after time away post the decider.

He and his teammates had an informal viewing in the aftermath but will spend time next week going through the “learnings” available to make them better for their assault on next season.

“You don’t want to go in a grand final to gain experience, you are there to win it, but unfortunately it didn’t go our way. The best thing now, we can use it.” Mills said.

“We got together and talked about it with everyone after the grand final, but now we are back in the swing of things we have to get right the balance of reviewing the grand final and reviewing the season, so we’ll get that right over the coming weeks.

Logan McDonald, Sam Wicks, Will Gould, Hayden McLean and Aaron Francis put in the hard yards. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“Everyone is hungry, that’s the main thing. As long as we are driving the standards as leaders we will let the younger guys flourish and let them have a crack, which we are really excited for.”

Sydney young squad, mixed with veteran experience from the likes of Mills, Luke Parker and superstar forward Lance Franklin, won 18 games in 2022, including a nine-game streak that ended with their grand final defeat.

That run, with the addition of the likes of Essendon swingman Aaron Francis and six new draftees, is enough to have Mills excited about going one step further next season.

“The aim is to get to tomorrow better than we are today, and the next day after that again as much as we can,” he said.

“If we can make those incremental improvements and back in the process that got us there in the first place, while striving to get better every day, is what we’ll do.

“That’s the best thing about footy, everyone starts on zero again and you’ve got to back in your process.”

Originally published as AFL: Sydney stars return to pre-season training with redemption on their minds