Tommy Walsh is a fun-loving Irishman who abandoned a top-level career in Gaelic Football to travel halfway round the world and play in the AFL with the Sydney Swans. So it was only fair that his first game with the club was something special. And wasn’t it just!
It was 10 football years ago this week, Round 8, 2012, when Sydney beat Melbourne by 101 points at the SCG.
Sitting fifth on the AFL ladder at 6-2 and celebrating 30 years in Sydney in front of a Saturday afternoon crowd of 20,818, the Swans obliterated the winless Demons 21.12 (138) to 5.7 (37) after leading 11.4 to 1.5 at halftime and 16.9 to 2.7 at three-quarter time.
They had 10 different goal-kickers and were led by Kieren Jack (33 possessions and three goals), Ryan O’Keefe (34 possessions and one goal) and Dan Hannebery (33 possessions and nine tackles), who shared the Brownlow Medal votes.
Walsh, 24 at the time and wearing the #17 jumper of the famous Swans’ Irishman Tadhg Kennelly, had 14 possessions (10 contested) and kicked two goals. Only three teammates won more contested ball – O’Keefe (17), Jack (15) and Josh Kennedy (13). And only Jack, Kennedy, Lewis Jetta and Luke Parker kicked more goals, with three each.
Two goals on debut by an Irishman who in two seasons at St Kilda (2010-11) had been unable to break into the AFL and had only joined the Swans via a deal in the closing minutes of the 2011 trade period. Incredible.
How incredible? There are 23 players in Swans history who have kicked 200 goals for the club. From Bob Pratt (681) down to Paul Kelly (200). And the combined goal total of these 23 players in their first AFL game is just 25.
Only Pratt and Brownlow Medallist Peter Bedford, with four apiece, kicked more goals in their first game than Walsh. Lance Franklin, Warwick Capper and Ted Johnson, 6th, 9th and 11th on the Swans all-time goal-kicking list, went goalless. Michael O’Loughlin, Barry Hall, Adam Goodes and Tony Morwood, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th on the same list, kicked one goal on debut.
Sadly, in what should not detract from the enormity of his achievement, Walsh, Irish Young (Gaelic) Footballer of the Year in 2008, would play just five AFL games in an injury-plagued two-year stint with the Swans before the pull of home proved too strong.
He returned to family and friends in Tralee, a town of about 25,000 in south-west Ireland that was founded in the 13th century and is famous world-wide for the annual Rose of Tralee International Festival.
But he left behind a special legacy as just the sixth Swans player all-time to win by 100 points or more on debut. And still the most recent in a quirky statistical oddity nothing short of bizarre.
In 2499 games since 1897 the club has posted a triple-figure winning margin just 20 times, and not until 1985 did a debutant enjoy such a treat. But as soon as they had one they had four.
In Round 1, 1985 Jamie Duursma, John Ironmonger, Darren McAsey and Mark Russell were members of the Swans side that beat St Kilda by 110 points at Moorabbin. Remarkably, it was also John Northey’s coaching debut, and the Swans debut for ex-Collingwood player Andrew Smith.
Smith did what ex-Melbourne player John Ferguson had done in 1955, winning by 100+ in his first game in red and white, before Round 17, 1986 saw Queensland ruckman Tony Smith debut in a 124-point win over Melbourne at the SCG. Walsh aside, there have been no more.
Walsh’s unforgettable debut win is a standout Round 8 moment in the Swan’s 40-year history in Sydney in which the club has gone 22-1-17 in 40 Round 8 games, including 15-1-6 at home.
Other highlights have included:
1986 – When 10 Is Not Enough
Warwick Capper experienced the extreme highs and lows of football in one of the great games at the SCG on a Sunday afternoon at the SCG in Round 8, 1986.
In his 38th game the blonde high-flyer kicked 10 goals only to pull his 11th shot on goal just left two minutes from full-time to leave his side just short in a 16.15 (111) to 16.16 (112) loss.
Capper had become just the fifth Swans player to kick 10 in a game. It was an elite group of Harold Robertson (1919) before Bob Pratt (1933), Lindsay White (1942) and Jack Graham (1948), which since has extended to eight via Richard Osborne (1993), Tony Lockett (1996) and Lance Franklin (2017).
It was Tom Hafey’s first season in charge. The Swans had started 6-0 before a Round 7 loss to Hawthorn left them equal top with the Hawks as they prepared for the Tigers, who were 7th and 4-3.
Sydney led by 12 points at quarter-time after Gerard Healy kicked three goals in the first term. It was Richmond by 14 points at halftime and Sydney by six at the last change.
Capper had eight goals playing on debutant Des Ryan before Richmond coach Tony Jewell finally swung the experienced Jimmy Jess onto the Swans glamour boy.
Half forward Michael Pickering, who would finish with 5.7 and three Brownlow votes from 25 possessions, kicked his fourth for the Tigers to cut the margin to two points before Capper, waiting at the back of a pack as Anthony Daniher flew, snapped beautifully from the pocket after the ball landed in his hands.
Daniher goaled for Sydney and Dale Weightman replied for Richmond. Jim Edmond kicked long to the square and Capper, on the line, out-manouvred Jess to mark and kick his 10th.
Cruelly, Michael Roach kicked what turned out to be the winner for the visitors when he out-marked a young Mark Roberts in the pocket. It was just his fourth kick as Roberts, deputising for the injured Rod Carter in just his seventh game, got the better of the Tigers ace. Or as Lou Richards said in commentary: “He (Roberts) has killed Roach all day”.
The clock was ticking. Tony Morwood fired a perfect pass to a leading Capper. He marked on his chest and had a shot to win the game. The crowd behind the goals went up but quickly fell silent as his kick slid just wide.
1995 – A Friday Night SCG Special
Carlton was the power club of 1995. Seven wins in a row to start the season and 16 in a row to end it with a flag. Ten-goal wins in the preliminary final and grand final underlined their superiority.
But in Round 8 at the SCG they were humbled by a Swans side giving fans a sneak preview of what was to come. A side that had finished 13th-12th-15th-15th-15th-12th in the previous six years in a 15-team competition.
The Swans didn’t just win. They won by 72 points. It was 21.6 (132) to 8.12 (60). A result that 27 years on seems impossible and will always sit prominently in the hearts of Swans fans.
With a 17-year-old Anthony Rocca making his debut in Ron Barassi’s 501st game as an AFL coach and Tony Lockett and Paul Roos in their first season in Sydney, the home side led 4.1 to 2.3 at quarter-time. An aberration, right?
Wrong. The Swans, moving the ball quickly, produced their best football in years to kick 9.0 to 1.1 in the second term. Roos was sensational at centre half back, Dale Lewis won the ball at will through the midfield, and Jason Mooney provided a wonderful foil for a dominant Lockett up forward.
By the last change the lead was 77 points, affording the home side a chance to ease down just slightly and still post their biggest win in four years.
Lockett kicked eight goals to take three Brownlow Medal votes, while Dean McRae’s 24 possessions on the wing earned him two votes and Paul Kelly picked up one vote for 15 possessions and a goal.
Eighteen-year-old Michael O’Loughlin kicked four goals in just his fourth game, and Mooney three, Roos had 34 possessions and a goal, and Lewis 28 and a goal.
They would go on to win eight games in a season of significant improvement ahead of a charge that would take them all the way to the grand final in 1996.
2015 – A Monster MCG Win
Hawthorn were premiers in 2013, ’14, ‘15. They lost just 15 games in three years and had humbled the Swans in the 2014 grand final. But in Round 8, 2015 they fell to the Swans in an epic Saturday night clash at the MCG in front of 63,319 fans.
On the eve of the season Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh had left a lasting image when he shook his head in dismay and told the media: “It burns .. you’re shattered with how the team went and how you went personally”.
The Swans, still burning from the 63-point grand final loss, had started the season 6-1 in great style. The Hawks were 5-2 and still warm flag favorites as the teams came together again at the scene of the ‘crime’.
Relentless in their attack on the ball, they kicked the first six goals and four minutes into the second term led 6.1 to 0.5. But 16 minutes into the third scores were level, and when Cyril Rioli kicked the first goal of the final term Hawthorn led by 12 points.
McVeigh stepped up. Magnificently. First, he swooped on a loose ball at centre half forward and from outside 50m kicked to an open goalsquare. It rolled through. Moments later he pushed deep to the square, out-bodied Matt Suckling and kicked his second. One point down.
Then, when a Suckling kick turned the ball over, McVeigh found Luke Parker by foot and watched with glee as he ran into an open goal to put the Swans in front. Six minutes to play.
But it wasn’t over. The normally reliable Luke Breust had a chance to steal it for the Hawks 90 seconds from time but pushed his 40m shot left. Fifty seconds later he gave a short handpass to Rioli which could have given Hawthorn one last chance. But Rioli fumbled. Game over.
At least for a few minutes the pain of grand final defeat was buried by the euphoria of an epic Swans win 11.7 (73) to 9.15 (69). Dan Hannebery had 36 possessions for two Brownlow Medal votes and Parker 26 possessions and the match-winning goal for one vote.
McVeigh, Sam Reid, Ben McGlynn and Kurt Tippett kicked four goals while Sam Mitchell, now Hawthorn coach, was judged best afield. Ted Richards was another standout while Lance Franklin, in his second year in Sydney, was goalless. And yet could not have been happier. He’d put one over his former club.
2018 – A Stunning Seven
In 2015 Ben Ronke was playing Under 19s football with St Bernard’s Old Collegians in the Victorian Amateurs before a call-up from senior coach Anthony Rock saw him play in the Snowdogs’ first Premier Division flag in 13 years.
He was invited to trial with the Calder Cannons in 2016, won the club best & fairest in the TAC Cup and was drafted as a Swans rookie. Likened to Kieren Jack, he took time finding his feet in the NEAFL in 2017 but debuted in Round 6, 2018.
And two weeks later in Round 8 he made football history.
Playing his third game against Hawthorn on a Friday night at the MCG, the then 20-year-old became the first player to kick seven goals and make 10 tackles since the introduction of relevant statistics in 1987. And he kicked the sealer in a magnificent eight-point win.
With Jake Lloyd playing his 100th game and Tom McCartin on debut, Ronke kicked the Swans first five goals. Six minutes into the second term it was 5.2 to 4.3 to the visitors, but by three-quarter time they trailed 7.7 to 9.6.
Will Hayward kicked the first goal of the final term before Ronke jagged his sixth. Jack Gunston replied for Hawthorn with his fifth and with seven minutes to play Sydney were nine points down.
Kieren Jack went long and found Will Hayward in the pocket. He converted from 30m on a tight angle. A hurried Ollie Florent dump kick landed on the chest of Luke Parker 30m out straight in front and he made no mistake.
And as the clock ticked inside the last two minutes Gary Rohan marked a wayward clearing kick from Hawthorn’s Isaac Smith. He went long to the goal mouth when an unlikely thing happened – at the back of the pack Ronke took a chest mark.
He made it seven straight from point blank range and Sydney won 12.7 (79) to 10.11 (71). They had only three goal-kickers – Ronke (7), Hayward (3) and Parker (2).
Channel Seven’s Bruce McAvaney was in fine form, saying “not Ben Ronke … Buddy Ronke” before the cameras went to John Longmire in the coaches box on the final siren. “That’s as big a smile as a Horse can give … that’s a Winx smile.”
Ronke earned three Brownlow Medal votes for his stunning performance while Lloyd’s game-high 36 possessions got him one vote in his milestone game.
