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The word ‘redemption’, linked to the Sydney Swans for the 2015 season, is not really the right word.
It is true that the Swans will be hunting some redemption after losing last year’s grand final to a white hot Hawthorn. But it will feel a tad temporary for the club, as they will be looking for more than that.
Vindication is the word. After two seasons of being under heavy fire over the contentious Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), recruiting the so-called ‘Bondi Billionaires’ Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin, and more recently the hysteria over the academies, the Swans will be looking for vindication.
It is no secret to the Swans coaching staff, players and administrators that the next five seasons will arguably be the club’s most crucial period in recent history. The vindication the club will be seeking won’t just be for what happened last season, Sydney will be hunting premierships to stabilise the club post-COLA.
As the AFL phases out the COLA, to be gone by 2017, it will come as no surprise to find the Swans are well prepared for life without it. The club’s bosses, both current and former presidents Andrew Pridham and Richard Colless, as well as CEO Andrew Ireland, would have long seen the day when it was going to happen. With the Swans’ succession plans, it’s not hard to believe a structure would already be in place.
Since Colless took the reins in 1993, the club has always looked for ways to keep moving forward. The Swans have been long lauded for their list management prowess, generally preferring to avoid the temptation of bottoming out for high draft picks, taking punts on second tier players and players who have outstayed their welcome at their previous clubs.
The Swans began their journey for vindication on Saturday night against a Bombers side, who themselves are searching for some form of vindication. Essendon made Sydney earn their win, as the Swans produced with stunning 52-point turnaround in the last quarter to pull the game out of the fire.
Isaac Heeney kicking the match-sealing goal for the Swans in the dying moments of the game, no doubt will have caused a few ripples. The northern club academies have drawn the ire of club presidents from traditional AFL states, especially due to Heeney being seen as a top three draft pick who went to the Swans from the club’s academy.
The bizarre reaction to the academies is worth the confused dog look it causes, it’s not like NSW and Sydney – a traditional rugby league and rugby union state – has been a hotbed of talent of the AFL. Sure, some of the game’s greatest players have come from NSW, but they have been few and far between.
The same goes for Queensland. How ironic is it that new Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann, who was one of the Swans’ biggest critics while he was at Carlton, has suddenly discovered what it’s like to run an AFL club in a non-traditional AFL city?
The Swans will see Heeney as vindication for the academy system. The impact of Heeney, provided he becomes the superstar many believe he will be (his debut game showed promise), on Sydney and NSW kids as far as the game is concerned, can only be seen as enormous.
The Swans achieved vindication in 2005 and 2012 for how the club has run itself since the horror year of 1993. Its track record speaks for itself – five grand finals, two premierships, and only missing the finals three times since 1996. As the club looks set to break another membership record and potentially looks at another very healthy profit for 2015, the Swans are setting themselves up to take the club to the next level.
Sydney, the once flagging club known as South Melbourne, is all but walking with the giant clubs of the AFL. The vindication they now seek is that everything that has taken place since the 2012 premiership has all been worth it.
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