This week Lewis chats with his uncle (true!), fellow Swans player, Byron Sumner...

LJ: How did you react when I kicked my first goal?
BS: Well, I saw you take the mark and run towards goal and I was close to tears, I was that happy for you.

LJ: Should I stick to snaps, or try drop punts?
BS: The snaps are working for you, so I’d definitely stick with them. And you never miss at training….

LJ: Now seriously, what about you, how are you travelling?
BS: I’m in pretty good form at the moment.

LJ: How are the Reserves after the loss last weekend?
BS: All the boys are really disappointed. We need to have more care for one another and look out for each other and start acting like a really close team.

LJ: We went together on a school visit this week as part of the Club’s Team Swans community program. We like that school, St Marys and St Josephs, and it’s fun to go there. We put the kids through some training, how do you think it went?

BS: It went pretty good but there was one time where we got confused - where I said four groups, and you put four at each end! But we have a great time there and the school wants us to go back every second week.

LJ: We helped the Aboriginal kids who go there. It’s great because we were at that stage when we were young and we didn’t have AFL players come to see us very often.

BS: Yes, last time we were there we told the kids what we’d been through and how we’d achieved our dreams and they responded to it, so when we were back there we got them to show us a piece of art work or something they are proud of and tell us about it. It was great. They loved that we listened and gave feedback.
I thought it was fantastic, I remember being that young and trying to find a role model. It was hard because we didn’t have many players come to our school, and then if we did, they weren’t Indigenous.

LJ: Indigenous kids in the Qantas KickStart camp are at the Club this week. I want to tell them to stay at school, enjoy being there, take very opportunity you get with both hands because you never know when it will come around again and just enjoy playing footy. What will you say?

BS: They’re at the age, 14 and 15, where they can go two ways. At that age I was thinking of dropping out of school in Year 10, so they have to stick at it and see all the positives and stay in school.

LJ: Byron, you’re my uncle, and it is pretty funny being your nephew, but being older than you! We’re pretty close, we look after each other and help each other out, we share petrol, food, money, anything. We are still young and need to look after each other.

BS: We definitely look to each other more than anyone else, knowing we are family and the only family we have here in Sydney. We live together which is good and we go for drives and talk about anything and everything. We have developed a great relationship and a strong trust.