The US Masters is the most famous golf event on the planet, and one of the most revered players in the tournament’s storied history is American Fred Couples.
Even though the evergreen veteran has only won the Masters once, he’s a perennial contender, and has a further ten top 10 finishes to complement his 1992 green jacket.
Again, this morning, at 53 years of age, he’ll be staking his claim for victory.
The Sydney Swans are AFL’s version of Fred Couples at the Masters, and they’re on track to contend again in 2013.
While the likes of Hawthorn, Carlton and North Melbourne were handed extremely tough draws in the early part this season, Sydney were gifted the two expansion teams in the opening two rounds.
And in the opening six weeks they only play two of last year finalists, seventh and eighth from last year, Geelong and North Melbourne.
But why shouldn’t the reigning premier get a few perks? In the world golf match-play championship, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy don’t play each other in the early rounds.
The Swans displayed plenty of ring-rust in Round 1 against GWS, who scrapped away with conviction all day. The cow paddock dressed up as a football ground at ANZ Stadium isn’t conducive to attractive play, and after a less than impressive pre-season from his men, John Longmire gladly accepted the five goal win.
Sydney also started slowly against Gold Coast back at the SCG, but improved as the match wore on, increasing their scoring rate in every quarter to run away with a comfortable victory.
There is a school of thought suggesting the Swans are a side that elevates their level of play depending on the opposition. That being the case, we expected them to find a gear or two when facing North Melbourne on Saturday down in Tasmania.
The Roos were disappointing against an under-strength but committed Collingwood in Round 1, but turned around their form with a dazzling first half against Geelong, playing some of the best football of the season.
Ultimately, they couldn’t hold on against the irrepressible Cats, but their form was sharp, and a statement was required at Blundstone Arena in Tasmania, their second home. North couldn’t afford to be 0-3.
The Swans started slowly once more, and went in at half-time 14 points in arrears, a deficit that would have been much greater if it wasn’t for Jude Bolton’s three first half goals. Talk about evergreen. If Sydney are the Fred Couples of the AFL, Jude Bolton is the Fred Couples of Sydney.
The 33-year-old could easily have retired after the fairytale second flag last year, but decided to keep on, and it’s clear that he’ll continue to add value during this premiership tilt.
After the half time break, Sydney unleashed a blitzkrieg that should have woken the ignorant to the fact they’ll be right in contention again this year. An 11 goal third quarter against a respected opponent was the result, including the last nine in a row.
No longer are these the ‘stodgy Swans’, and haven’t been for some time. Yes, they were still the best defensive team in 2012, but averaged over 100 points a match for the year as well.
Ted Richards is up with the best key defenders around, Heath Grundy can defend and attack with equal aplomb, Nick Smith is a terrier who I doubt has been beaten in anything since he was 10 years old, and good old LRT continues to do whatever job is asked of him in his no frills way.
Alex Johnson went down with an ACL in the pre-season, but as well drilled as the Swans are, combined with the versatility and depth of their list, injuries are more easily covered and losses of otherwise key players not as keenly felt as at other clubs.
Few teams transition as well from defence, utilising the run and skill of Nick Malceski, Rhys Shaw, Marty Mattner and Tony Armstrong, when he’s there, to rebound from defensive 50, opening up Lewis Jetta, Daniel Hanneberry and Kieren Jack to create run through the middle.
Jetta has been a disappointment in 2013 so far, and needs to lift his work-rate. He was near All-Australian last season, and needs to not rest on those laurels, but double his efforts under the closer attention he’s now receiving.
If there are three qualities that we all want in a deep midfield, they would probably be an ability for each player to hit the scoreboard, toughness at and around the ball, and a never-say-die attitude.
Sydney have all of these attributes in spades.
Multiple goals on Saturday from Bolton, Hanneberry, McGlynn, McVeigh and Parker took the game away from North. And if you had a set-shot that was the equivalent of a trickly little 8-10 foot downhill slider at Augusta, Ryan O’Keefe would be your man to make it every time.
Speaking of Jarrad McVeigh, do opposition coaches put any time into him at all?
He vied for Norm Smith honours in the grand final last year, has probably been Sydney’s most consistent player for years, and is still able to stroll around as he likes. 27 disposals and four goals against the Suns was followed up with 28 and two against North. He can also perform a minder’s role when required, and rarely makes a wrong decision under pressure.
‘Underrated’ gets bandied about too much in football, and is often used by people who want to appear to know more than what they do. I simply hate it. Most players it’s attributed to are simply good average players who’ll never be any more than that. But it’s a tag I’m willing to put on McVeigh. An understated gun.
You want toughness and a refusal to admit defeat? Try almost every player who steps out in a Sydney jumper. The same can be said for their opponent this week, Geelong.
Boy is that going to be a Friday night epic. A grand final preview? It’s not preposterous.
Adam Scott, Jason Day and Marc Leishman will probably have finished their run at US Masters glory by the time you read this, and hopefully one of them has secured the holy grail of Australian sport.
When it gets tough down the stretch, and they need to make a clutch putt or a par-saving up-and-down, there are worse things they could channel than the belief and courage of the Sydney Football Club, forever contending, and winning when all others have written them off.
Otter
Guest
It's ridiculous that Sydney gets GWS and GC in the first two rounds, while Hawthorn gets all other 7 finalists in the first 7 weeks. I don't want to ever hear another Swans supporter saying that the AFL somehow favours Victorian teams - what a load of croc. Whatever happened to GF replay in the opening round? The AFL seems to be suggesting the Hawks and Cats or Sydney and GWS were the grand finalists of 2012. Stupid AFL.
me, I like football
Guest
Yes
Bogga
Guest
Both Sydney and Geelong kept their senior players and ignored the 'youth at all costs' mentality of other clubs where it has either been complete failure(Melbourne, Bulldogs) or reaped moderate benefits (Carlton, Richmond). Although some of these clubs have undertaken the slashing of experience for youth in different measures, it clearly shows that the sacking of experienced players to promote youth is completely the wrong way to go about it. Even when Geelong were struggling in the early-mid 2000s and Sydney for periods before that, they stuck with their senior players and brought in a reasonable amount of young players, albeit at a faster rate than the years previous. Rather than delisting older guys, they used them to instill knowledge on the younger guys. Leadership is the key, Sydney and Geelong have oodles of it, as do Hawthorn (Hodge, Mitchell). Collingwood and St Kilda were well led too to varying degrees. It's no coincidence these are the grand finalists for the last 6 years. As long as clubs have good leaders, they will make the most of their talent. Without leadership, much talent will go unfulfilled. Sydney's leadership seems to make up for the lack of obvious natural talent. That's something that can't be drafted, no matter how low you finish. Gary Ablett at GC will be much more important in his time there as a leader than the possessions he racks up, just like Judd has been at Carlton (with very little support in terms of leadership). These days, unearthing leaders is more or as important as unearthing the next Dustin/Cyril/Tippett, especially if the club has a lack of it.
barneybuck
Guest
We will only know how good they are when they play the top sides.
Australian Rules
Guest
Huh? In 2012 the Cats started with Freo (away), Hawthorn, Nth Melb, Richmond, Brisbane (away), Melbourne. Aside from 2 trips, that's a dream start! In 2013 the Hawks have Geelong, WCE (away), Coll, Freo, North, Adelaide (away), and Sydney.
Osmosis
Guest
So they started on a Monday and are now back to friday???
Winston
Guest
I'm not sure if it was just bad form early 2012 or if he was always that bad and just improved as a player as the 2012 season went on. I remember when he first started he was a medium sized forward and his goal kicking was the best of them all, maybe bar adam schneider. Certainly he was better than barry hall or o'loughlin. Then they moved him more into the midifeld as Williams, Mathews, Maxfield etc retired and I didn't think he was very good at all. He's not overly fast, and doesn't have incredible skills either. But what he's got now is composure and decision making which makes him excellent as a link-up player when they come out of defence. I really think it was about halfway last year when he finally matured in those departments and became an elite player.
Winston
Guest
Maybe the verdict is not out on Armstrong then. I disagree about Morton. He is a much better player than Everitt so at the very least I would expect them to do a straight swap as soon as Morton is available. It'll be a different issue when Tippett comes in, but that I'm sure we don't need to worry about for now since there are bound to be injuries to various people at different parts of the season.
Strummer Jones
Guest
He's only 23 and played only a few games for the Swans (and of course Adelaide). Confidence comes for most only after a fair few games so I think he deserves a fair go and on Saturday's performance I think he's still in the mix. Its difficult to know how these things turn out. LRT got plenty of chances and is now part of their core group. White got quite a few chances and simply has never been able to cement a position because of inconsistent performances. You persevere and some work out and some don't. One guy I think that will struggle to make it is Tommy Walsh. I thought his 2 games last year were not up to scratch (in basic skills department for AFL level) and unfortunately I don't think he'll be able to make it into the side. Morton is another question mark, but hopefully he can get over his injury, get into the side and do very well.
me, I like football
Guest
Swans should beat the Cats Friday night at home with Geelong having 3 tough games soon to be four with only 6 day breaks between each game.
me, I like football
Guest
Agree AR, look at the Cats draw last year as reigning preimers certainly no soft draw there.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Yeah, Mcveigh started last year pretty poorly. His form seemed to pick up when his little girl was born which, given what happened to him in 2011, is understandable.
Matt F
Roar Guru
I think he's shown some decent signs, though he does have some poor moments as well. He probably needs an extended run of games to get into a rhythm. Of course that's not easy in this team at the moment, especially with the likes of Shaw, Mattner and Malceski playing in his general position. If we're going purely on the weekends performance I thought he was better than Mattner, but obviously Mattner has built some serious credits in the bank over the years.
Winston
Guest
Is it a confidence thing? He's been around for a while now and I've seen enough of his games to think it's more than that. He gets flustered very easily under pressure and usually coughs the ball up. He's not fast enough, big enough nor skillful enough to do anything constructive with the ball.
Strummer Jones
Guest
Noticed a few comments made about McVeigh. He was actually struggling a bit early to mid last year if you'll recall and then turned his season around after about round 13 (before shooting me down please review last seasons games). Hannebury was another that was struggling with his disposal during 2012 and then finally decided to play the best game of his career on grand final day. He had a cracker on Saturday and is now one of their best (happy to admit that I was calling for him to be dropped for a week last year just to give him a kick up the backside). Luke Parker also looked superb and hopefully continues his ascension. Kennedy needs to address the amount of holding the ball decisions made against him by at least looking as if he is trying to get rid of the ball. McGlynn was excellent and I thought he was actually BOG. Goodes is still strangely dropping some marks but did better than the Suns game. All in all they are looking much better after round 3 than I had previously thought and it should be a good one on Friday if the weather holds up.
Strummer Jones
Guest
Did some good things. Confidence still needs some work understandably. Messed up a kick-out after a behind but otherwise OK.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Apart from the odd game here and there (Melbourne in 2010 springs to mind) he's not wrong
Matt F
Roar Guru
Reasonable performance. He certainly wasn't the worst player out there but I expect him to drop out if Shaw is fit
Cameron Rose
Expert
Yeah, they could send Goodes off to a wing to do as he likes, basically like Matthew Richardson did in his final year or two. That would make Sydney a dangerous proposition indeed.
Martyn
Guest
How did Armstrong play? I missed the match?