Youthful exuberance was alive in the frosty Hobart air as the Sydney Swans scrambled for victory on Saturday night – and the youngest on deck says it was exactly that which proved the winning ingredient.

Coach John Longmire boarded a plane for the Blundstone Arena clash with a side full of fresh faces, and the late withdrawal of co-captain Josh Kennedy due to a quad injury meant Sydney faced North Melbourne with an even younger team than expected.

The Swans fronted the Roos with an average age of 23, as opposed to North Melbourne’s 25, and with a games-played average of 64, compared to the opposition’s 108, but the emerging Sydney outfit would hold on for a tenacious Round 9 win.

The youngest on the ground, first-year Sydney draftee James Rowbottom, says the Swans’ thriving enthusiasm was central to victory.

“We just reiterated at quarter-time the fact that we’re such a young group and that we can take the game by the scruff of the neck and really make the game our own,” Rowbottom told SwansTV post-match.

“We went out there and rode the wave of energy we were producing, and it was a really good feeling to be out there and to be a part of it.”

The match against the Roos marked Rowbottom’s third AFL game and his first win in red and white.

He watched on from the bench as his teammates repelled countless attacking raids in the dying stages of the game, and he may have been the happiest man in the southern state when the final siren sounded.

“It was a bit of a heart-stopper at the end there. It was unbelievable,” Rowbottom said.

“Sitting on the bench at the end when the siren went was such a relief, and then running on with all the boys and embracing everyone was awesome.”

Saturday’s game marked the Swans’ fourth trip to Tasmania in history.

They met Hawthorn in Launceston in 2012 and North Melbourne in Hobart in 2013 and 2016, and after Saturday’s win over the Roos, they remain undefeated in Tasmania. 

Rowbottom said the support for the Swans on the night was enormous.

“The Swans fans in the crowd tonight were very vocal,” Rowbottom said.

“When we were doing a celebration lap they were all getting around us and it was very good fun.”