The Swans’ famous finals win that reclaimed their club

Sydney’s image reshape

The Swans did, if not the impossible, then the highly unlikely. In some ways, winning the game was their least surprising achievement.

Somehow, they made themselves likeable. Admirable even. That outcome seemed more implausible for the past three weeks than the prospect of them winning a final against the reigning premiers.

The shamed club reshaped an image of themselves in two hours on the SCG. Even long-term fans had spoken of finding it hard to support the club, or to reconcile what they felt for them, after the embarrassment of the Pullman Hotel saga. So the real consequence of Saturday’s win was not the upending of the finals series – and they certainly did that – it was the reclaiming of an image of them as a club.

After three weeks of ignominy and opprobrium that tainted the club and undermined what it had represented they performed in such a manner on the field, doing the thing they exist for, that it moved you to want them to win.

You found yourself barracking for them. Maybe that is just the enjoyment of watching an underdog win. Maybe it is the simple sympathy for the players and coaches who were collateral damage from what happened at the Pullman that left the whole club gasping for air.

This is not a comment that implies winning excuses behaviour or is a salve for any hurt. It is a recognition that those not suspended responded in a way to repay or reclaim fans and members.

It is recognition that the club said when they punished their players that they were prepared for the fact the players’ behaviour which prompted the suspensions might have torpedoed the season. And yet, the players and coaches left to play out the year said ‘no it hasn’t, we’re better than that and we will show you’.

So the Swans, five players down, three of them bona fide elites of the competition, lose their captain early in the game and still thoroughly outplay the best side of the last two years.

The Swans will hope that the two hours on the SCG were as influential to mould the idea of what Sydney stands for as the early morning hours in the Pullman.

The fact is, this was one of the great finals wins by any club. Full stop. That’s the point.

As a contest, it was absorbing. As a game, it was exhilarating. But that element alone didn’t make it great.

It was great because of the narrative in which it occurred, because of the cast of heroes on the field and villains barred from being there. It was great because the captain was injured early and it didn’t stop them. It was great because it included one of the great goals of the year. It was great because it was played in conditions that fluctuated from winter storm to light spring – all in a quarter.

It was great because the stars they had left all shone and played like they understood the burden of extra performance they now carried, and they wore it lightly.

The pantomime provocateur Tom Papley kicked five goals and had one more nicked from him on the goal line by the shaggy-haired adonis Charlie Curnow, who dismissed doubts about his own ability to perform in finals.

Logan McDonald decided now was the time to play his best-ever game, indeed his best ever three games in a row. James Rowbottom offered a singlemindedness and aggression that compensated for any missing midfielder.

The Swans were great because of Errol Gulden. The man whose name sounds like a London law firm, he played with a speed and class superior to anyone on the field. The Swans’ midfield might now be called Errol Gulden and associates.

It was a great final because Brisbane got back to three goals down and could have and should have had the greater depth of class to prevail, and didn’t.

Chris Fagan could not resist thinking his players, like the rest of us, had agreed with Andrew Pridham that the Swans had torpedoed their season.

“Somewhere back in the deep recesses of their mind, I just wonder whether they really thought it was going to be as hard as what it was,” Fagan said.

“Did you really think that Sydney were going to be that good, or did you think it was going to be maybe a walk in the park? Because that’s how it had been painted by all and sundry that’s following football. And probably quite rightly so.”

Jack’s oopsy

Jack Ginnivan after Thursday night’s win delighted in the fact Hawthorn were now on the “right side of the (finals) draw”. That is, they had either Adelaide, the Bulldogs or Sydney.

And when he said it, it felt like he was dead right. Everyone had discounted the idea of Sydney winning, or being any form of threat in the finals. Now it is far less clear which side of the draw is right.

Oh, Errol … goal of the year contender

Errol Gulden can’t win goal of the year. But he should. He kicked it on Saturday afternoon. Izak Rankine offered up a similarly disallowed challenger hours later, but Gulden’s was still better.

Nights earlier Jordan Clarke might have taken mark of the year. Also not allowed.

Gulden’s was special. Sam Draper had just kicked a goal for the Lions 30 minutes into the third quarter. Strangely, with only a couple of minutes of playing time left, he ran off to the interchange. The Lions had if not a sniff, then a whiff. They were 34 points down but with a flush of momentum.

The next bounce and Gulden takes it away lifts the ball out of the grasp of Hugh McCluggage and runs by the rest of the centre back. He takes a bounce, runs through centre half forward drawing and handballing over a Lions defender, got a handball back, ran to his left baulking another Lions defender and snapped the ball at goal on his left. All at full pace.

It had striking similarity to Noah Anderson’s goal of the year last year, but this had far greater consequence.

Later on Saturday Rankine’s crumb and snap on his right foot from the right point post while he was facing the crowd had to bend in a way it shouldn’t have.

Neither can win goal of the year because, like mark of the year, the eligibility period doesn’t include finals. Which is silly really because firstly, it deserves to at least be considered, and secondly and yes, it’s a bit pedantic but rename it goal of the season not year if you are not going to include finals.

Nicks of time for win

Football boards get twitchy. The idea that Matthew Nicks was coaching for his job was silly given his team were minor premiers last year, lost their most dynamic player to suspension for the whole finals series, and he’d made finals again this year. Silly perhaps, but that doesn’t mean it was not true.

The board, any football board, would wonder if they had the right coach to take them further if they went out of the finals again. Geelong famously did with Mark Thompson as did Richmond and Damien Hardwick. Chris Fagan’s Lions went out in straight sets twice in his first three finals series. He was one win and five losses in his first six finals over three years. They stuck with him. He turned out alright.

Nicks took over a team before it had bottomed out and he drove them up the ladder. As is the odd thing in coaching he started with a three-year contract when they were poor but when they won the minor premiership he got the shortest of his contract extensions, just one year.

The ovation for him when he was on screen and could not suppress his smile in the last quarter showed the board what the fans thought.

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