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If you are a Sydney Swans supporter right now, you must be sitting there thinking to yourself, “Haven’t I seen something very similar to this just recently?”
And with those thoughts must come a confident chuckle.
As legendary American baseball player then manager Lawrence ‘Yogi’ Berra once said, “It’s like de ja vu all over again.”
Here it is, the dawn of Round 20. Four matches until the finals are upon us.
The Swans have played 25 matches since this time last year, lost some players through injury, gained others through graduation, won a flag, and a truckload of games.
But, here we are at Round 20, and for the Swans, the situation on August 6, 2013, is exactly as it was on August 6, 2012.
Back in 2012, they held a top two spot, actually sitting on the top rung of the ladder. Today, after some shock weekend results, they are again in a coveted top two position as September looms.
Back in 2012, they had three losses and 15 wins. Today, they have three losses, but with 14 wins and a draw.
Back in 2012 at this time, they had won nine of their past 10 matches, Today, they have won nine of their past 10 matches.
And here’s the real de ja vu – what lies ahead.
In the last four rounds in 2012, the Swans played Collingwood in Sydney, beat the lowly placed (15th) Bulldogs in Melbourne, followed by Hawthorn in Sydney, then the Cats in Geelong.
This time around, they play Collingwood in Sydney, the lowly placed (16th) St Kilda in Sydney, followed by the Cats at Geelong and the Hawks in Sydney.
Last year they lost three of those final four, missed the top two, finished in third spot, and then went on to win the flag.
Will 2013 continue to be de ja vu all over again?
Swans fans, while they don’t want the losses heading into the finals like last year, would be thinking if the end result is the same, it doesn’t really matter.
Much is made of finishing in the top two and having home field advantage in the opening week of the finals and, with a win that week, a week off followed by home field again in the preliminary final.
But let’s not forget the Swans won the flag in 2005 after finishing third on the ladder, won it again 2012 after finishing third on the ladder, and in 2006, when they were beaten by a point in the grand final by the Eagles, they finished the home-and-away season in fourth position on the ladder.
And while they have their injury concerns heading into a massive two months of football, 2013 has also seen the ‘arrival’ of talented youngsters Tom Mitchell, Dane Rampe and Brandon Jack into their senior team, the continued improvement of most of their more seasoned, young players, and of course Kurt’s Landing.
Each week since his return from his 11-game, salary cap suspension, we have seen Kurt Tippett look more and more comfortable in the Swans forward line.
Last weekend, that comfort translated into goals, six in fact.
But while that was handy for the Swans, and such hauls will be greatly appreciated in coming weeks, the most pleasing thing for those at the club would be how well Tippett is doing the ‘other things’, the ‘Swans’ things.
The chasing, the forward pressure, the tackling, the one-percenters. All key indicators for the Swans, and Tippett’s numbers have been pleasing.
It was only a couple of months ago, just before he made his debut in the red and white, I posed the question whether it would be a major positive for the Swans bringing the former Crow into their team at that point.
The question, with things working so well for the Swans, having so many contributors in front of goal, was whether bringing in Tippett would upset the apple cart, and possibly make them go to one-dimensional.
Clearly it doesn’t and hasn’t, and probably now won’t.
Despite a hiccup in Tippett’s return, when they lost to Port Adelaide, the Swans are unbeaten since, and week after week Tippett’s input continues to be more noticeable.
How things will unfold when youngster Sam Reid returns from injury remains to be seen but, regardless, coach John Longmire now has plenty of options at the scoring end.
While 2013 is looking so, so similar to 2012 for the Swans, you can also now see why Sydney chased so hard and paid so much to get Kurt Tippett to the SCG.
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