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In terms of football purity, few moments top the decisive passages of Sydney’s two most recent premierships. ‘Leo Barry, you star’ needs no articulation, and Nick Malceski’s flag-sealing snap against Hawthorn seven years later was just as special.
From the wobbly, celestial arc of Malceski’s hurried punt – a kick that always seems to go out of bounds on the full or barely sneak in for a behind, yet on this occasion decided to win the grand final – to Dennis Commetti’s underrated call of ‘Is this the grand final?’ and Sydney’s cathartic display of pure elation, this was one of footy’s magical moments.
The magic was accentuated by the fact that it was the Swans responsible for it. They were the eternal overachievers, the Bloods, the team that compensated for a lack of flash and individual dominance with grit and a relentless collective endeavour.
While Chris Judd, Gary Ablett Jr and Lance Franklin were propelling their teams to premierships off the back of their athletic majesty, the Swans were epitomised by the likes of Brett Kirk and Jude Bolton – unremarkable athletes but breathtaking football players in their own charmingly minimalist way.
Underdogs in perpetuity, the Swans won their flags in 2005 and 2012 from third on the ladder. In ’05 they toppled the bad boy glitz of Ben Cousins, Daniel Kerr and the Eagles, and in ’12 they overcame the highly fancied, supremely talented Hawks.
The Swans were the San Antonio Spurs or New England Patriots of the AFL – a no-nonsense club that made winning almost monotonous. Aside from the occasional Barry Hall hook, the Swans rarely made headlines, they just went about their business of quietly making the finals every year.
They were never dominant enough to own the news cycle – from 2003 to 2012 the Swans made the finals nine years out of ten but never finished in the top two – but they found their identity lurking in the comfortable shadows known as ‘between third and seventh’, ready to pounce if their more glamorous rivals slipped up.
The 2003-2012 Bloods were the ultimate ‘won’t beat themselves team’. They were so cohesive, so consistent and so team-oriented that they would never implode and they rarely handed games to their opponents. They would bend but not break, and then capitalise on the slightest chance, the faintest window of opportunity if it was presented to them.
It’s almost too perfect that Sydney’s two flags this decade came in games where their opponents had more scoring shots than them. This was the Bloods identity in a nutshell.
This identity gave the Swans a supremacy and more importantly, a legacy. But all this took a hit on October 6 2012, and it died an impressive death on October 8 the following year. These are the dates that Sydney won the signatures of star forwards Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin. On paper both moves, however controversial, were no-brainers.
Entering 2013 Sydney hadn’t had a player kick more than 45 goals in a season since Barry Hall kicked 78 in 2006. The Swans had won the flag in 2012 with Lewis Jetta as their leading goalkicker for the year, and as promising as Sam Reid was, the forward line needed reinforcements. Tippett, one of the most dominant athletes in the game, was coming off a preliminary final where he was the most influential player on the park. He was the last piece of the puzzle.
Getting Franklin a year later was a sign that the Swans were done with piecing puzzles together – they were ready to just sip mojitos while they watched the rest of the world burn. As obscene as a $10 million, nine-year deal was for a 26-year-old, the Swans were getting the best forward in the game – for some perhaps, the best player.
To the naked eye, winning the signatures of Tippett and Franklin was a coup for the red and white, the moves that would propel them to clear premiership favouritism. But as those stars signed, the Swans signed something of themselves away that they haven’t been able to get back – their identity.
The workmanlike, grit and grind Bloods culture of the Swans is entirely incompatible with the ‘Bondi Billionaires’ personality the team has taken on over the past two years. It’s one thing to be an underdog Rocky Balboa boxing in a Philadelphia meat-locker – it’s another to be Apollo Creed, heavyweight champion of the world, everything to lose and very little to gain. The Swans have transitioned from Balboa to Creed, and they’ve lost what made them special in the process.
On the field, Tippett and Franklin haven’t been the problem. Franklin has been every bit the superstar that the Swans hoped they were signing, current injury issues notwithstanding. Tippett hasn’t lived up to his contract but he’s been an eminently effective ruck-forward. The problems lie deeper with the general malaise that seems to have swept a once defiant group.
It’s a lot easier striking from the shadows than it is with the spotlight cast firmly upon you. For the first 24 matches of 2014, the bright lights seemed to invigorate Sydney. But ever since the last Saturday of last September, expectation – something this group was never accustomed to – has crippled the Swans.
Last year’s grand final was the most gutless display from a quality team on the big day in recent history. Forget Port Adelaide’s 2007 defeat, that team never should have been there. Sydney was just as talented as Hawthorn but they were beaten by a team that was harder, tougher and more clinical than they were. The Swans were beaten by a memory of who they used to be.
2015 has been an understated debacle for the red and white. Given their respective lists, there is no universe in which Sydney should be behind the Bulldogs on the ladder after 19 rounds. A team that once prided itself on winning the hard ball, the Swans rank 11th in contested possession differential, behind the likes of Carlton and Melbourne. With Tippett, Franklin and Sam Reid in the fold, the Swans should be a dominant aerial team, yet they rank just 11th for marks inside 50 and a dismal 17th in contested marks (only the Daniel McStay-led Lions have taken fewer).
It’s not all over for the Swans. They have a creampuff fixture to end the season and will likely enter the finals in fourth spot riding a four-game winning streak. The likely qualifying final against Fremantle in Perth will be an ordeal, but not an inescapable one. Who knows? With everyone writing off the Swans, maybe they’ll rediscover themselves as underdogs once again.