In a series new to 2019, we revisit moments in history involving the Sydney Swans’ round-by-round opposition.
History, nostalgia and memories form a special part of what makes Australian rules football great, and we hope the Footy Flashbacks series reignites some of your fondest Swans moments.
In the latest edition, we wind back time to the day the Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants met for the first time in history in the opening round of season 2012.
The Sydney Swans’ banner said it all:
Sydney Swans
30 years
Sydney’s passion
THIS IS OUR TOWN
The Swans had enjoyed full reign over Sydney for 30 years since relocating from South Melbourne in 1982 – and on March 24, 2012, they’d send a formidable warning to their newly formed cross-city rival, the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
It was Round 1, 2012, and as the footy world paused to witness the beginning of Sydney Derby history on a stand-alone weekend, the Swans powered to a 63-point victory in front of 38,203 onlookers at ANZ Stadium.
Umpire Matt Stevic performed a near-perfect opening bounce, the Swans’ Shane Mumford and the Giants’ Jonathan Giles flew high in the ruck and – just like that – the Sydney Derby rivalry was born.
Sydney Derby I marked Lewis Roberts-Thomson’s 149th AFL game and, although the big-framed defender was concussed early in the second half, he can vividly recall the build-up to the historic match.
The Sydney Swans send a strong banner message ahead of Sydney Derby I.
“It was a pretty big milestone for Sydney in general with a second team in the Giants coming into the AFL,” Roberts-Thomson told Swans Media.
“It was the beginning of what would become a very successful rivalry. From what I can remember at the time, it was all about the battle of the bridge and the battle lines of the city of Sydney, so it really got supporters and the people involved. It was about battling for club supremacy and that really brought to light the strong rivalry that was to follow. It was the start of a new chapter of AFL in Sydney.”
A 19-year-old Luke Parker got an almost immediate taste of just how ferocious the cross-city feud would become, hitting the deck as the Giants’ James McDonald floored him in the opening seconds of the game.
The former Melbourne captain, who was handed a two-match suspension, collided into Parker with a late front-on bump that left the young Swan with a broken jaw.
But Parker, who had also broken his jaw just two years earlier when playing for the Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup, soldiered on to finish the day with 17 disposals.
Nor would his hairline fracture stop him from playing in Roberts-Thomson’s 150th appearance against Fremantle at the SCG the following week.
Sydney coach John Longmire hailed the second-year Swan post-match as “one of the toughest kids I’ve seen play at that age”, and Roberts-Thomson was equally impressed.
“It was a pretty special effort,” Roberts-Thomson said.
“When you’re a young guy coming into the footy club you want to earn the respect of your teammates. To cop a pretty serious bump but play out the match – it earns you kudos in amongst your team for your courage, durability and that toughness to push through injury.”
A 19-year-old Luke Parker snaps for goal.
The bone-rattling hits continued as GWS veteran Chad Cornes knocked out Roberts-Thomson in a marking contest early in the third quarter, but the veteran Swan would return to the field and round out the game with 11 touches and a goal.
“It’s all part of footy. You win some, you lose some. I had a concussion, played out the game and ended up kicking a goal – so it was all part of it,” Roberts-Thomson said.
“There were some pretty big hits because the Giants boys were fired up. There was a bit of feeling in that game.”
Lewis Roberts-Thomson wrapping up a Giant.
Seventeen of the Giants’ 22 were on debut but, if Roberts-Thomson’s words are of any indication, the new kids on the block weren’t nervous.
Star Swans midfielder Kieren Jack became the first goal-kicker in Sydney Derby history just 79 seconds into the game.
Coincidentally, it was a Roberts-Thomson handball that found Jack in front of goal, before the future Sydney co-captain slotted a right-foot snap.
Hard-nosed Swans midfielder Josh Kennedy, just 23 at the time, gathered 27 possessions and two goals to claim the first Brett Kirk Medal, a best-on-ground honour presented after every regular-season Sydney Derby clash.
Sydney great Brett Kirk, now overseeing Kennedy and the rest of the Swans’ on-ball brigade as a midfield coach, played 241 games for the club in the years spanning 1999-2010.
A proud Brett Kirk presents Josh Kennedy the first Brett Kirk Medal ever awarded.
Kennedy also claimed the three Brownlow Medal votes, with Jack (two votes) and Mumford (one) earning recognition of their own, while lightning-quick Swan Harry Cunningham made his AFL debut in his first year at the club.
The boy from Wagga Wagga in country NSW was just 18 at the time, and although he wouldn’t play another senior game in 2012, he now sits on 109 ahead of Saturday night’s Sydney Derby XVII.
Cunningham, Kennedy, Jack, Parker and Sam Reid are the only Swans who will have played in both Sydney Derby I and Sydney Derby XVII, while Jarrad McVeigh, Heath Grundy and Nick Smith featured in the first game and remain in Sydney’s squad.
Roberts-Thomson, who retired in 2014 as a dual premiership player after 179 games, says the Sydney Derby rivalry has had an enormous impact on the presence of Australian rules football in NSW.
The first Sydney Derby match ball.
“The rivalry, and having two teams representing Sydney in general, has been so good for the game up here,” Roberts-Thomson said.
“You can see junior involvement in both boys’ and girls’ footy has grown a huge amount, and you now read in the newspaper a lot more about the Swans and Giants and football in general than you did before there were two teams. For the game of AFL in Sydney and NSW, having the Swans and Giants play these competing or rivalry games has been massive. As a spectator you can really buy in to the Swans-versus-Giants history.
“It’s now starting to be spoken about in the same category as the Adelaide-Port Adelaide and West Coast-Fremantle clashes. There are now serious bragging rights attached to it.”
The 22 Sydney Swans players who competed in the first cross-city clash.
Seven years on, Roberts-Thomson is a part-owner and an executive director of project-management business Catalyst One.
The Swans Hall of Fame member is also an accredited AFL Players’ Association player agent with Vivid Sport Management, which has linked him with young Swans Matt Ling and Sam Wicks.
Roberts-Thomson says having played footy at the highest level, he understands the importance of a strong support network in elite sport – and he says it’s exactly that which he’s striving to create for both Ling and Wicks.
Roberts-Thomson is also committed to building a lasting network between past Swans, with the 35-year-old teaming up with club historian Gina Keeble to connect players of as many eras as possible.
A 2018 get-together saw players from the 1980s, including Rod Carter and David Murphy, as well as those from more recent times, such as Craig Bird and Tom Derickx, touch base.
In Roberts-Thomson’s own words, “Gina and I are building a really good cross-section of past players”.
The former Swan is living in Sydney with his wife Zoe, meaning he never has far to go to watch his beloved club play at the SCG.
“I’m a very keen supporter. There are still some players I played with who are still playing, so I’ve got a strong connection in that regard,” Roberts-Thomson said.
“But as a supporter I really enjoy seeing some of the young guys coming through because of the way they’re representing the footy club – and that’s both on and off the footy field. It makes me proud to be associated with the place when I see the players playing with passion and really enjoying being at the footy club.”
Roberts-Thomson will be in the Members Stand as Sydney does battle with GWS on Saturday night, many moons after he was one of 22 Swans in action for the first cross-city clash in history.
