Come the final siren on grand final day 2014, Swans fans were staring into the abyss, having been bamboozled and embarrassed by the greatest team of the modern, perhaps any, era.
On face value there was little wrong with Sydney’s list – there seemed an adequate quota of youth with a smattering of experience across the park.
Preparation could have hardly been better after trouncing North Melbourne at ANZ Stadium the week prior.
Yet there they were. The Bloods culture in tatters. Momentum from the Lance Franklin coup wasted. Apparently.
Nowadays, a club telling its supporters they must rebuild is like telling the match review panel you were ‘bracing for contact’, or telling the coach he has ‘the full support of the board’.
It’s a sign to book your holidays in September, or to go join a rugby league club.
Without necessarily admitting it, the Swans followed the rebuilding textbook. Premiership stars Adam Goodes, Rhyce Shaw and Nick Malceski cleared the way.
After teetering in 2015, many predicted a swan dive off the cliff. Playing right into his hands, John Longmire flicked the switch.
In the first round of this season, Sydney fielded its most inexperienced side since 1999.
But these kids were not run-of-the-mill wannabes straight out of the draft. Some were battle-hardened as a unit in the NEAFL, a footballing militia who simmered and thrived in the lower tier. Others fresh-faced and immensely talented.
Seven debutants have run out for Sydney to date in 2016, with the possibility of that number rising even higher by finals time.
Add to that the graduation of academy stars Isaac Heeney and Callum Mills. The younger of the two Mills looks like a 200-gamer in just his first year – watch for his name at the Rising Star. As for Heeney, he was born to play this game.
Stars Luke Parker and Dan Hannebery, not even 26 years old, rank among the competition’s elite.
Seemingly from the brink of irrelevance, the cygnets have stolen the spotlight.
Add to the list lesser-known Jake Lloyd, Dean Towers and Harry Cunningham, who have floated in and around the first team for years. These same players, originally thought of as investments, have come good on their potential earlier than expected. Each is forging a career from buying into the movement.
An overnight phenomenon this is not. Foundations of the new era at Sydney were set even before the 2014 finals. Coaches stuck by their guns when they told premiership heroes Ryan O’Keefe and Lewis Roberts-Thomson to go to the end of the line, despite the howls of disapproving fans.
Not all that played on that day in 2014 were ready, but they will be soon.
Sacrificing the twilight of their careers is perhaps the greatest service O’Keefe and Roberts-Thomson could have made for the club’s future.
The new wave are a reflection on the opportunities provided by old stars giving up their platform to shine. Sure, Goodes probably played on a season too long, but even the two-time Brownlow medallist was told to stand aside whenever Cunningham or Tom Mitchell earned his spot. This is a testament to Longmire’s team-first mentality.
Clinging to nostalgia can be catastrophic – look no further than Fremantle for what happens if you don’t prioritise long-term player development over familiar names that have over-stayed or under-performed.
Much feels new about Sydney. Such is the effect of entrusting the on-field and off-field brands to the next generation.
Former coach Paul Roos championed the need for the Swans to remain successful, and indeed relevant, in a sporting market as saturated as New South Wales.
Sydney missed the finals only once during Roos’ tenure as head coach, excluding his time as caretaker, a run that saw the club reach back-to-back grand finals in 2005 and ’06, and break a 72-year premiership drought.
The success of Greater Western Sydney has only compounded that need.
Rest assured the Swans are not rebuilding. They have been rebuilt, and showed the rest of the competition exactly how it should be done.
Premierships will not define the short-term success of this team. The fact they are even in the conversation, though, is a testament to coaches and the playing unit alike.
Don’t doubt Alastair Clarkson is marking down a succession plan of his own for when Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and co. hang up their boots.
But for now, if youth at the Swans was a stock, you’d sell your house and buy the lot.
deccas
Guest
Sure Cola gave the swans an advantage, but it was designed to help counteract the disadvantage they have of being a non footy state club in a stupidly expensive city. Its now gone, and a two year trade ban for ... I still can't quite figure out what, sure made things tough. The swans have been impressive with how consistently they have been toward the top of the comp, no matter how many sour grapes you suck!
EddyJ
Guest
I've heard of these rubbish arguments in the past. COLA doesn't exist anymore, so I'm not sure why these debate keeps going on. Whenever Sydney has success, foolish people bring out COLA to justify their argument about how the Swans are receiving an unfair advantage. How did COLA assist in developing Jude Bolton, Nick Fosdike, Ben Matthews, Lewis Roberts-Thompson, Jared Crouch, Brett Kirk, Adam Goodes, Sean Dempster, Ryan O’Keefe, Luke Ablett, Amon Buchanan, Keiran Jack, Heath Grundy, Dan Hannebery, Nick Smith, Luke Parker, Mike Pyke, into premiership players? It didn't happen overnight. How did COLA assist in the Swans ability to turn around the careers of discarded players that weren't highly regarded by their former clubs – Ted Richards, Craig Bolton, Darren Jolly, Jason Ball, Josh Kennedy, Ben McGlynn, Rhyce Shaw, Shane Mumford, Mitch Morton, Dane Rampe? If you think that a 9.8% salary increase is the main factor that wins a premiership, you've got a total misunderstanding about how sport functions. It's the type of players and club culture. It's the coaching staff (look at how Paul Roos has turned around the Melbourne FC basket case in three years). Sydney in 2005 and 2012 had a team of no-names that won the premiership. Sure, the Swans acquired Tippett and Franklin with the aid of COLA (all within the rules), but two players don't make a team.
Mark
Guest
Instant removal of COLA would play havoc with contracts already in place. You know that. I know that. The AFL knew that and that's why they did it because they knew we would have to go down that path from a list management perspective.
Don Freo
Guest
The problem with your argument is your final point. You imply that if a team is not at the top, it is run badly. That line of argument is always going to cause offence and draw attacks on your points of vulnerability...Academies and COLA. Was Freo run well last year and badly this year? Same admin...just different players.
Davico
Guest
The thing is in 10 years the Sydney academy has produced 2 top prospects. The southern and western states don't need academies as most young kids play Rules football and we have seen what happens when they get drafted to the north eastern states, as soon as they can they want to go home. I find it incredible that the other states think it is a bad idea to increase the talent pool by tapping into NSW and Queensland youngsters. There is no forward thinking at all. Just whoa is me if peoples teams are doing well. People need to look at the way their own clubs are coached and run rather than looking for excuses!
Dean
Guest
Would West Coast or Fremantle be in a better position today if they had an COLA and the benefits of an Academy for the last half dozen years? Yes is the answer. Would any well run club be in a better position with these leg ups? Yes Could a poorly managed and run club off field waste these advantages? Yes Would Sydney have contested the majority of the past 20 years final series without these leg ups? Highly likely not and certainly not as deep into the finals as they regularly find themselves. Trying to argue these things are not leg ups is as ridiculous as trying to argue the sun is not hot, water is not wet.
Don Freo
Guest
Strangely reactionary, Davico. Sydney and Brissy can have their Academies too. They don't have to fold. Mills and Heeney types will still be there. Notwithstanding, the funds that prop up footy there would be better deployed if used to fund an AFL team in Tassie and maybe even the NT. It doesn't, however, need to be one or the other.
Davico
Guest
I will bite Don. Lets just do away with Aussie Rules in the North Eastern states and you can have the VFL, SAFL and WAFL back and we will see how much the players lose out due to the broadcast deals halving. Or in the case of WA being rubbish thanks to an economy that is in the toilet. You can go back to being regional comps and players like Heeney and Mills will never be seen in the game. Sound good?
michael RVC
Roar Pro
Thank you Eddy. Dean is just of those desperate sore losers who must denigrate success unless it is his.
michael RVC
Roar Pro
I don't care whether you think I would anything about Melb or not. You wouldn't know and I'm not going to let you in on why I do as you feel you must re Sydney. I also don't need to explain the rational for my argument about the 5 teams in Melb - the facts speak for them selves as to on and off field performance of those clubs. You are just being a sook.
Dean
Guest
No comparison can be made at all between the academies. Like comparing living in a mansion in Potts point next door to Turnbull or living in a caravan in Penrith. Only minority ethnic backgrounds can be recruited with many outside of indigenous not having much interest or involvement in AFL.
Dean
Guest
I don't care what the COLA is this year even at $600K it is still a leg up and I was talking about COLA as it was not as it is been rightfully scaled out of existence. The Veterans allowance is there for all clubs and Sydney no doubt had more veterans on their list I previous years. Every team has that right to either retain their veterans or move them on so no integrity issues whatsoever. From memory it is capped not just an unlimited amount for however many veterans a team has. Why the denial? Is it shame? COLA and Academies give your team a clear cut undisputed advantage over teams from the traditional football states.It is not even in question simply a fact.
Maggie
Guest
You are right, this is the last year of COLA but the amount the Swans can pay this year to cover contracts already written to include the COLA allowance is $600,000, not $980,000. Hawthorn (and Fremantle and North Melbourne) each have five veterans on their list in 2016 allowing them to sit about $635,000 outside their total player payments this season. (This is another allowance which will disappear next year.) So I assume you think that their on field success also has less honour and integrity than other clubs such as Richmond, Port Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions which have only one veteran and so are allowed only $127,435 outside the cap in 2016? (And yes, the Swans also benefit from the veteran list - I think they have two on the list this year which allows them about $255,000 to be paid outside the cap.) Or might it be more reasonable to think that these amounts are not sufficient to cause a distortion in an environment where list managers can structure contracts to suit their club's needs (front/mid/back loading, use of ASAs) and use the TPP banking mechanism to save one year and then pay up to 5% over the cap the next? And where, in footy- mad cities (Melbourne in particular) top players attract (legitimate) third-party contracts which supplement their AFL contracts?
Maggie
Guest
"a new actual cost of living allowance comes in place" - that's incorrect, there is a housing assistance allowance paid directly by the AFL to players earning less than the average AFL player salary.
Dean
Guest
LOL yeah $980,000 extra salary cap does not help at all. Sydneys COLA ends this year, the Lions lost it years ago. Please educate yourself before embarrassing yourself next time. The AFL puts things like COLA and academies in place to give the Swans an unfair advantage to make them more competitve to gain support and grow the game in NSW, the excellent management the club has simply maximises these leg ups. Swans are a good team there is just alot less honour and integrity in their on field success compared to the teams that actually play on a level playing field.
Stewie
Guest
"Yeah it was only the Swans recruitment dept that saw value in Heeney and Mills and they just slipped through to Sydney – no one else wanted them." Quite literally yes. They wouldn't be playing AFL if it weren't for the Swans.
EddyJ
Guest
There's just so many stupid comments about the COLA debate, but then I keep forgetting that this is just a sports commentary site, so it's understandable. I guess it's just a human that when a team is successful, people will always be on the lookout for some type of unfair advantage – whether it's realistic or not is a different matter. COLA doesn't win premierships – good management, good coaches and good player development are the things that matter. If it was all about COLA, why was Brisbane so unsuccessful after 2004? No one complained about COLA in the 1990s when Sydney was a basket case, or up until 2013, when they landed Tippett and then Franklin the season after. So many people don't understand the salary cap, the draft or COLA, but they reckon the Swans have been cheating all of this time – that's also an understandable reaction to the AFL sanctions that we slapped on the Swans – a bit like the reaction when someone has to front up to court: "well, they must be guilty, otherwise why would they be here".
EddyJ
Guest
Yawn.
EddyJ
Guest
I knew the uninformed COLA debate would rear its ugly head. I was hoping this infantile discussion that always surrounds COLA would have subsided by now but, no, there's always an idiot out there that wants to bring it up again. COLA has finished – it ended two seasons ago. The Swans were punished for abiding by the rules and, guess what, COLA was never an issue until they acquired Kurt Tippett and then Lance Franklin, and self-serving fools like McGuire decided that instead of looking at their own failings, it was best to look as perceived unfairness further afield. If COLA was such a big advantage, why has Brisbane only appeared in finals once since 2004, and is currently a basket case at the bottom of the ladder? Become informed, and you might become a bit more enlightened about COLA and its effect.
Don Freo
Guest
Yeah..I'd be happy with that. Freo and West Coast should always have access to the best WA player each year. After all, WA developed them. If NSW gets that advantage, why can't WA, SA and Vic?