AFL grand final: Sydney Swans rivals green with envy at club’s success

Sydney’s beauty and glory are mirrored by the Swans — the richest, most popular and arguably most successful team in the league. Melbourne (and Brisbane this weekend) can only dream of such exalted status.

Swans star Isaac Heeney with fans at an open training session. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Now look, I wouldn’t normally send readers to The Sydney Morning Herald’s website, but they’ve got a story on the home page, and the headline says: “The Swans will never be Sydney’s team. And that’s OK.”

Anyone else choke on their green juice?

The piece was written by Andrew Webster, who is one of the finest sports writers in the business, and I hope he doesn’t mind, but we’re going to have a little disagreement here.

The Swans are as Sydney as a girl in a gold bikini alighting a Ferrari outside the Coogee Pavilion, and I mean that in a good way.

Objectively, the Swans are glorious.

Swans fans at the SCG this week. Picture: Supplied

I mean, just look at Isaac Heeney. Not for too long: it’s like looking at the sun. The man’s made of molten gold.

Go to Swans training – as thousands did on Wednesday – and it’s like being at Bondi on a summer’s day – you’ve got Thor rolling in, on every wave.

Go to the games at the SCG, and you’ll see hundreds of Mums rocking white jeans. Every single one of them looks like Liz Hurley. No other city in the country can pull this off.

Sydney is a pretty city full of very pretty people.

There is in fact a cute reference in Webster’s piece to all the “people wearing newly purchased red-and-white zip fleeces” in town right now.

You know what he means: we’re bandwagon types. When the Swans are doing well, suddenly everyone’s on board.

Fair enough.

Here in Sydney, we do like shiny things.

New things!

Purchases.

Lance Franklin celebrates kicking his 1000th AFL goal in 2022. Picture: Supplied

We like our ground – the SCG – too, because you know it holds 351,434 people? At least, that’s how many people reckon they were there, when Buddy kicked his 1000th goal.

Sydney likes a celebration!

You’ll notice that Melbourne teams tend to head to Vegas at the end of their season (our season is always longer because we tend to make the finals).

We don’t have to do that here. It’s Vegas all the time here, baby.

Swans coach John Longmire signs autographs for fans at a club open day. Picture: Supplied

Webster’s piece says that Sydney is “the most supported team in the AFL” and he notes that since the magnificent John Longmire became coach in 2011, Sydney has made four grand finals and won a premiership.

“You could argue they’re the best club in any code,” he says, as the Swans prepare to play their seventh grand final since South Melbourne’s relocation in 1982.

Yes, you could.

And we do.

Because it’s true.

He adds: “They make truckloads of money.”

How is this not Sydney? This is a very Sydney thing to do.

Sydney – where your house earns more than you do.

I’m taking the mickey, which is easy to do when you know you’ve got the best coach of the best team in the best city in the best country on earth.

Swans fans – the are legion, and they are legends – also know a little about the stuff the club does behind the scenes, that almost nobody sees. We know about the hospital visits, and the hours spent signing balls for star-stuck kids at the fence line. We’re proud of the way Sydney has kept the old South Melbourne supporters close (to this day, they have SMFC on the back of their jumpers). We know about the games being family-friendly, the atmosphere welcoming, and the songs (especially the one at quarter time) being worth singing.

So, you can all be green with envy. This weekend, we’ll cheer, cheer the red and the white.

Caroline Overington is a Swans ambassador