I DROVE to Blacktown with Jarrad McVeigh on Saturday and was a little nervous on the drive there.
Don’t get me wrong, McVeigh is a good driver and I like the music he plays in the car, but I had some pre-game nerves for a couple of other reasons;
- It was it was our first game against an opposition team this year, and it had been around five months since our last match
- We were playing two games on the same night, against two teams I knew little about, and possibly against opponents I had not played on before
- Finally, with the outside thermometer on McVeigh’s car reading 39 degrees as we arrived, I was also nervous about playing in the heat.
I’m sure I was not alone with these concerns as I think everyone has a little bit of nervous excitement before the first game of the year.
It was great to run out against the Giants in their first game, on their home ground, with a packed stadium, yet to see a crowd mostly of red and white Swans supporters!
Throughout the game sweat was constantly dripping off all the players, and from all reports, everyone in the crowd too.
The ball was buzzing about early and resembled a bar of soap at times as it was covered in a film of slippery sweat.
However, despite this, Josh Kennedy didn’t seem fazed by it and was not only getting the clearances in the centre stoppages, but finishing it off kicking goal after goal too.
The rule changes were at the back of our minds, in particular how to go about attacking the ball when it was near the boundary line - importantly without being the last one to touch the ball before it crosses over the line.
There’s an old adage that says a defender’s best friend is the boundary line.
Being a defender, and having had a good relationship with the boundary line for many years, this new rule removed my so called “best friend” and instantaneously turned it into “my worst enemy” (along with defender’s other worst enemies such as opposition cheer squads and the ‘down the field’ free kick).
May this rule never come back in again so defenders and the boundary line can renew their once close relationship!
We got off to a good start against GWS, but unfortunately didn’t against Gold Coast. John “Horse” Longmire spoke to us at the end of the game, identifying the areas that we need to work on, and this week will be spent on the training track continuing to improve to try to get all parts of our game right.
Swans Fan Day, presented by our new partner Volkswagen, followed the next day and we had great weather and an even better turn out for it.
Matt Spangher and I were stationed doing signatures at the Zoomobile with Brian the female echidna (yes, Brian the female echidna), and some snake that made me a little uncomfortable as having seen ‘Snakes on a Plane’ I know what they’re capable of.
Excluding Spangher, it was the strangest company I’ve had at the Club since the time I sat next to Gary Rohan.
We’re all set for another big week on the training track, and getting ready for this weekend’s game against Collingwood on Friday night at Etihad Stadium. We’d love to see all our Melbourne supporters there!
Ted Richards
@richards_report
