Young Swan's lung journey a big lesson
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 25
JUST how far will the Swans go to look after their players?
At least to Darwin and back, it seems.
That was the case last week when player welfare manager Denis Carroll flew to the Northern Territory to pick up injured Irishman Colin O’Riordan and drive him back to Sydney.
O’Riordan had punctured his lung in the Swans’ reserves match against (NT) Thunder 12 days ago and was unable to fly.
So Carroll joined O’Riordan for the 4100km journey to Sydney, a far cry from 12 months ago when the Irishman was living in his homeland of Tipperary playing Gaelic Football.
The rolling green hills of the Emerald Isle could not have been further away as the pair headed into the desert.
“The landscape looked like it had been nuked,” O’Riordan told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s pretty barren. It’s flat road for as far as the eye can see. You think it will end but it just continues into the horizon. It was very demoralising. You wouldn’t want to be left out there alone. We didn’t see many animals out there either. It’s hard to see how anything would survive.”
Rookie’s long road home from Darwin
Andrew Wu
SMH, August 25
A lot of people from Ireland come to Australia to visit the outback but Colin O'Riordan got to see the Red Centre in unexpected circumstances.
The Swans rookie made the 4000 kilometre drive from Darwin to Sydney after doctors told him he could not fly due to a punctured lung he suffered while playing for the reserves against the Northern Territory Thunder.
The injury has almost certainly ended his season but gave the Irish recruit the opportunity to see a lot more of Australian than he had planned.
Accompanied by the Swans' welfare manager Dennis Carroll and paramedic Mark Furner, who shared the driving, O'Riordan returned to Sydney on Sunday afternoon, eight days after he was hospitalised by a sickening clash.
The paramedic was sent in case O'Riordan's condition deteriorated, while access to hospitals and the Royal Flying Doctor Service played a part in the route chosen.
Although getting O'Riordan home as quickly as possible was Carroll's mission, they still had time to visit a pub, the Walkabout Creek Hotel, in which part of Crocodile Dundee was filmed, and see the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine, Queensland, which is said to be the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party. The rest of the trip was not as exciting.
"My brother texted me before I left, saying it's the equivalent of driving from Dublin to Athens," O'Riordan said. "That put it into perspective for me. It's a bit surreal, it's ridiculous, you can't describe it in words."
SCG boost for Swans’ finals hopes
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 25
THE Sydney Swans are set to retain fortress SCG for the entire AFL finals series in a massive win for Bloods fans.
The AFL is close to cementing a deal to switch next month’s Swans finals to the SCG from ANZ Stadium.
The stumbling block appears to be the number of tickets ANZ Stadium are asking for as compensation for their members.
Sources claim ANZ Stadium management want 5000 seats to each of the possible two AFL finals if they are played at the SCG this year.
This figure appears high after fewer than 1000 ANZ Stadium members requested tickets for the Swans’ round 17 match against Hawthorn at the SCG as part of the compensation package for home games that were moved to the famous cricket ground.
Only 4500 members have taken up the offer for tickets from the 10 Swans’ home matches played so far this year.
