By Malcolm Conn
The Swans are channelling the spirit of Liverpool FC soccer star Virgil Van Dijk to energise their finals charge.
Flat after a scrambling victory over unrated St Kilda on Sunday evening which sealed a finals double chance but saw them fall well short of second place and a home final, the Swans gathered in the team meeting room at Marvel Stadium and belted out a nascent anthem sung by fans of the English Premier League side.
Isaac Heeney emerged smiling and red-faced to explain their noisy and energetic interlude, a full-throated ode to the Dutch centre half to the tune of the Pogues’ Dirty Old Town.
“We sing it before games and after games to get the energy up,” a beaming Heeney told the Herald and The Age.
The rousing ritual has its origins with prolific second year wingman Errol Gulden, a mad Liverpool fan who has just turned 20.
Isaac Heeney and the Swans belt out the team song after Sunday’s win over St Kilda.Credit: Getty
“He brought it to a couple of lads on the beers one time and then from there it became a song where the boys just bought into it,” said Heeney.
“There’s a couple of songs and I’m not sure what the other one’s called, but there’s two that go on repeat on Spotify and it’s amazing.
“The boys mostly know all the words, and they’re ones you can put on repeat for an hour and just jump around to it. It’s great fun.
“It’s a bit weird that we get up and about for it, but it is a song that’s around at the moment and brings a lot of energy.”
Inspiration: Liverpool FC’s Virgil Van Dijk.Credit: AP
It was a welcome reset for the Swans heading into a qualifying final against reigning premiers Melbourne at the MCG on Friday week after struggling to keep the 10th-placed Saints at bay.
Leading into last year’s grand final, the Western Bulldogs were filmed belting out Freed from Desire, a europop favourite written and recorded by Italian singer and songwriter Gala.
The following week, after Melbourne blew the Bulldogs away by 74 points to claim their first premiership since 1964, the Demons appeared to mock the Bulldogs.
Luke Jackson and Clayton Oliver celebrate with the premiership cup in Perth last year.Credit: Getty Images
They marked their drought-breaking triumph by forming an impromptu mosh pit and also singing Freed From Desire in the middle of the field, which annoyed some of the Bulldogs players.
Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli later admitted some of his teammates were “upset” by the Demons choosing to sing the very same song they had celebrated with the week before.
On Sunday the mood in the Swans’ room was completely changed by their singing after a short and sombre team meeting. It was a subdued James Rowbottom who emerged from the meeting after a succinct summary from coach John Longmire.
“We just touched on it in our meeting, we did our best to lose it,” Rowbottom said, reflecting on the fact that the Swans gave up a lead of almost five goals to twice see St Kilda get to within seven points before teammate Will Hayward snapped the last goal of the game to seal it.
“We’ll switch off the next couple of days and then get stuck in and review that game and then look to Melbourne. Obviously they played pretty well on Friday night. I think they’re in pretty good shape, so we’re going to need to play a lot better than what we did tonight (Sunday).”
The upside for the Swans is that they have now won seven matches in a row.
“The last six, seven weeks we have played some pretty good footy and know we can match it with them,” said Rowbottom.
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