A few minutes with the champion Sydney Swans forward
Barry, do you have an all-time favourite movie?Yeah, I have. I'd say Braveheart. It was a pretty inspiring sort of movie.Do you get any lookalikes? Michael Klim. Early days especially, in Melbourne when I first started, I used to get a lot of Michael Klims … the poor bloke!Can you swim like him? Definitely not!What about your favourite game of VFL/AFL footy from your childhood? Are there any games that you remember in particular that stick as being special? I think it was the '89 grand final, Hawthorn and Geelong. That one was pretty good.What about music? What are you listening to? I love Wolfmother. Grinspoon, Coldplay … nothing too hard, but hard enough.What about Roosy? How do you know when he isn't happy? When he's sarcastic! When he's sarcastic you know he's pissed off.What about on your days off? What do you like doing when you get some time to yourself? We haven't got a lot of it. It sounds pretty boring but I love just grabbing the paper and going down the beach, grabbing a coffee and chilling out. Having a bit of 'my time'.What about when you retire? Have you thought about life after footy at all? Not yet. I'm starting to think about it a little bit but not too much yet.Do you think you'd like to coach or do you think you'll get away from footy? I'll probably get away from footy, I reckon, at this stage.Do you think you'll go back to Victoria or stay up here when you do eventually retire? That'll depend on opportunities and that sort of thing. I'd like to stay up here, that's for sure.What do you think about State of Origin football? I think it should return. The last year it was played I was only a young man and I was in the squad. I didn't get picked but it was awesome just to be in the squad with all those good players.Who's the person most responsible for helping you reach where you are today? I've probably got a couple. One would be Paul Cleary, from back home. He's Phil Cleary's brother.Was he a junior coach or something? Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't playing footy at all, and he came down and got me out of a rut and said, 'Come and have a kick'. If he didn't do that I wouldn't have started playing again. I was only 16. I'd given away footy, I wasn’t interested in playing at all. They were short of numbers and he came and grabbed me and said, 'I reckon you can go all right', so it all happened from there. That was for Avenel. He was coaching Avenel, so then I got picked for the rep squad and it sort of went on from there. It happened pretty quick.And the others? Phil Mullen's a pretty big one, particularly up here. He's our welfare officer, but he's a bit more than that.And if you weren't a footballer, but if you could be anything in the world, what do you think you'd like to be? I'd want to race cars. My dad's a mechanic, and I've got a couple of drag cars at the moment.What do you do with them? Just tinker with them in the garage or do you have the time to race them? We just play around with them, and we race them as much as we can. I've got a car in Melbourne and a car up here. Out at West Sydney there's a track out there, so you can go out whenever you want. It's good fun.
Sydney Swans AFL players Grundy, Mills, Warner and Papley pay a special visit to our Swans faithful in Melbourne for an exclusive Q&A alongside Senior Coach Dean Cox at the MCG.
12:51
Are AFL players any good at soccer? | Inside Sydney
Go behind the scenes as the boys clash with each other in training, match simulation and put their skills to the test on the soccer pitch.
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"He's put his stamp straight away on the group" - McVeigh
Assistant coach Mark McVeigh chats to media after another gruelling match sim at Tramway Oval.
00:42
Chad Warner's welcome to our Red Rookies
To our Red Rookies, thank you for registering for the 2025 season. Thanks for being part of the Swans family, and we’ll see you soon at a game.
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Sydney Swans Assistant Coach Mark McVeigh spoke to media following the team's Friday training session at Moore Park with plenty of insight as we countdown to Friday March 7 against the Hawks.
Swans hit Sydney Harbour Region for AFL Community Camps
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Swans go Red and Ray White
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Tickets on sale information: Reserve your spot at the SCG
Tickets for home games at the SCG are ON SALE NOW with Sydney Swans members getting an exclusive 24-hour window to purchase tickets.