Round 2 – Sydney v Essendon: The Golden Ticket
Midnight: Friday.
As I hole-up deep in the land of exhaustion, listening to the fading post-match coverage of the Cats-Hawks match that took place much earlier that evening, I start to see a figure through my sleepy daze. My excited wife has emerged from our bedroom.
I’m thinking – ‘didn’t she fall asleep during the third?’
“Wehaveticketsyou…beauty”..it takes a few seconds for the excited, edited, hurried sentence to arrive in my ears.
Once it does, I’m fully awake.
We have four golden tickets.
We are going to see the Swans play Essendon.
I support neither side.
I don’t care.
Footy.
Really.
Is.
Back
This same excitement level is shown by my five-year-old daughter (the Swans member whose ticket was the one drawn out of the digital barrel) the following morning when we she realises she will get to see her “boyfriend Isaac” play. This excitement is quickly tempered by a deep sadness, when we tell her that her beloved cousin won’t be able to join us. Eight Swans memberships into four does not go. However, the sadness will soon leave the room as magically – almost like the God of Fox Footy programming has figured out the algorithm this loungeroom needs right now – Isaac Heeney appears on the screen with a selection of his hangers in a promo clip.
*
Game day.
Driving to the SCG up Cleveland Street feels not unlike Apollo 13, when the astronauts undertaking the mission fly around the moon, but will be unable to land on it. Having lived in these parts and knowing many of the restaurants and venues well, thoughts turn to hoping they will all make it out okay. We also comment on how smooth (despite hitting all the red lights) this particular trip has been compared with the usual drive into the SCG.
We arrive, and park on the ground level of the Entertainment Quarter Carpark (again – different – it’s usually level 5 at the very least if we park here on game day) and start to make our way among the man……minuscule number of fans heading in.
Our time of entry is 2:30. We’re a little early – 45 minutes to be exact – even in a pandemic who’d have guessed Sydney traffic would be that good?
The lucky few are lined up like young teenagers who skipped school to get to the venue in the morning to ensure they get the front row positions for their favourite band. Eventually, after the mandatory temperature check, and the Eastern Suburbs players walking past to train (which has a few heads being scratched – weren’t they meant to be playing right now?) we start to filter in. We make our way up to the MA Noble Dining – and immediately feel incredibly underdressed. We’re among heavyweights, including some very important AFL figures, and a recently retired Swans great.
While scanning our surroundings, my wife and Mother-in-law – normally both very measured in tone – realise their own brand of highly-parochial centre-wing barracking (one that family-favourite Rhyce Shaw once said was well-loved by the dressing room) is probably not happening up here.
The Bombers come out to warm-up which for me is strangely exciting, as I think the owner of the ‘Days Since Essendon Won A Flag’ Twitter account should receive an OA. But I realise it’s also because I can see a former student of mine in Jacob Townsend taking shots; and that Tippa has passed the fitness test and will play. Even though it might benefit your own side, and especially in a time like this when games are rare, you never want to see great players sidelined.
Game time arrives, and it does feel surreal without the banners. The overused, obvious joke ‘oh this is like a Swans game in the early 90’s’ crosses my mind but with the powerbrokers in front, I let it fade.
Both sides come together to take a knee. It’s been a great action to see before each game this weekend, but it’s even more powerful when it happens in front of you. People rush from their spot in the bar to see it. I’m not sure if we should stand, but we certainly will clap at its conclusion.
The first centre bounce of the season at the SCG happens and the Swans look a little like what I think most of their fans are expecting this year – a young team with plenty of potential, but also plenty of first-third year errors in them. They’re getting out-muscled at the centre clearances in the first, and ‘Boyfriend Isaac’ is probably not the long-term Full Forward option they want, as his natural instincts are to come up the ground to find the yellow pill. The problem is he’s not the only Swans forward looking for a kick, and on the rare occasions they can transition the ball into the forward line there’s no one in red and white to receive it.
The Bombers definitely look they want to end the run of my favourite Twitter account this year. They look slicker with the ball, taller, and have a better instinct of where their player will be up the line. The in-game inconsistency that has dogged them in recent seasons is not present today, and it’s only the efforts of Joey Kennedy, Harry Cunningham, Dane Rampe and young Lewis Taylor that are keeping the Swans in this as they go to the first break 20 points down.
In the second quarter the Swans sort out their centre clearance issues, and Kennedy assumes beast mode. He is immense, and I do wonder afterward after not seeing his name on the Coaches Votes list what game Horse and Woosha were watching. The Swans get back into it and eat away at the margin to be only one goal down at half-time, but the Bombers have that little bit extra to them. Dyson Heppell is clearly nowhere near 100%, but his presence and effort at the contest (especially in defence) inspire Essendon when they start to look rusty.
The Bombers opening the margin up again in the third term, as the opening minutes begin to resemble the first. The UNSW end is the scoring end today…most of the people here are seated at the Paddington End. The Swans regain composure and get it back to an eight-point margin going into the final term.
The last quarter begins, and after some hushed responses earlier, the MA Noble Dining is rocking. The previously reserved are up – questioning short 15 marks being paid, throws, and howling for a free. Darcy Parish – whom I’m told by a Bombers mate that he thought the sub rule had been brought back and he was introduced for the fourth quarter – has stepped up and taken the game on. The young Swans meanwhile start to panic – the coaching staff will be doing plenty of patience-developing activities with them in coming weeks. Taylor, who has been one of the best today with two goals so far, panics out of the goal square and clears it – straight to Shaun Mckernan. Mckernan looks up to dish, but the cool heads tell him to settle. He comes off the arc and goals from outside 50 to put the Bombers up by 14.
The lead should be enough even with seven minutes left and the recent history of Bombed flops. Essendon’s still feel like they are containing the flow in the ensuring minutes, but the Swans haven’t given up.
With 4:30 left, Heeney gets the ball on the edge of the 50 and literally swans around looking for an option, before delivering a pin-point pass to Taylor in the pocket who goes back and kicks his third. The Swans have a sniff, and with 2 minutes to go they get it down to Tom Papley from a similar position to where Taylor scored. He earns a 50 that even the most ardent Swans backers up here accept was maybe a tad soft, to bring the game back to one point.
Suddenly, the Bombers are back under pressure, but like the mature side they look to be becoming, they keep control, and with less than a minute on the clock, Parish goals from a tight angle in front of the Bradman stand to ensure this daytrip that began at 5am for him will end with the four-points going back to Tullamarine.
As the siren goes all 350 fans (which included 30 Essendon fans) stand and applaud both teams off. Swans fans might be hurting, but all in attendance are appreciative of the efforts of the young men and umpires who’ve put on this spectacle. They’ve all been supportive – the frustrated comments you might hear in a full arena were not present tonight from an audience just thankful to see Footy.
Personally, even though I prefer to be down low and hearing the crowd, I quite enjoyed this different way of watching. It was easy to be more engaged in the play and feel like I actually understand the game at a far greater level than I really do.
As we leave, I explain to my daughter that “no, kick to kick isn’t happening”, and we make our way into the night, enjoying not taking an hour to get out of the carpark, and being home in time to watch my beloved Saints ramp up the pressure against the Doggies.
Footy – ‘It’s such a perfect day, and I’m glad I spent it with you’.
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Thanks for your terrific report Scott. As a Bomber supporter I was more than pleased to win against the Swans. Too often in the past they have broken Bombers hearts with their last moment wins against us. I thought it was going to happen again on Sunday. Thankfully it didn’t!
Great debut piece Scot… really felt the experience through your writing…and for the saints to top your afternoon…bloody marvellous.