Big brother's Zak wrap
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 28
BROTHERLY love is running deep in the Sydney Swans’ bid for their third premiership in the last 12 years.
Defender Zak Jones has played just 30 games but is lining up in Saturday’s AFL Grand Final against the Western Bulldogs.
His older brother, Melbourne captain Nathan Jones, has played 223 games but has never feature in the last game of the season.
The closest he came was in his first season at the Demons way back in 2006 when the Neale Daniher-coached team won an elimination final before being knocked out by Fremantle the following week.
The Demons skipper was at the MCG last Friday cheering his kid brother on against Geelong and shared an embrace outside the Swans rooms on Friday night. He tweeted a picture of them celebrating the moment with the message ‘Dreams come true @ Melbourne Cricket Ground.’
“I think Nathan was more emotional than me,” Zak told The Daily Telegraph.
“He was really happy and you could see in your eyes how proud he was, it was a good feeling.”
Franklin’s new buddy
Lauren Wood
Herald Sun, September 28
TOM Papley watched last year’s Grand Final at a mate’s place after a long week working as a plumber’s apprentice, and admits he never could have dreamed of ever playing an AFL game.
But 12 months is a long time.
As it stands, the 20-year-old — who was picked up by the Swans as a rookie and elevated to the senior list before Round 1 — is the equal leading goalkicker of the finals series, having honed his craft in twice-weekly sessions in front of goal.
In the last three weeks, he’s booted nine, and wants to continue adding to his tally on Saturday.
“At the start of the year, I was missing a fair few goals,” Papley admitted, having booted almost as many behinds as goals before his mid-season break with a shin injury.
“I’ve been working twice a week with (development coach) Nick Davis and (assistant coach) Brett Kirk on set shots and snaps.
“Luckily I’ve found a bit of (form) and haven’t missed many in the finals.
“It’s sort of paid off, the work that I’ve been doing in the season and I’m really happy with it.”
Pain drives Swans' push
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 28
KURT Tippett says the 2014 grand final loss to Hawthorn was an embarrassment that is driving the Swans towards redemption against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
The Hawks beat up the red and whites physically and mentally in their 63-point win and left some scar tissue which Sydney is desperate to erase.
“We learnt a lot that year,” Tippett told The Daily Telegraph.
“We were embarrassed by the way we turned up and it’s something we don’t ever want to do again. We were very disappointed with our performance that day and we want to go back there to the MCG and be proud of the way we perform for ourselves, the club and our supporters.”
D-Day in Longmire’s selection dilemma over injured trio
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 28
IT’S the first commandment of coaching: do not pick injured players for grand finals.
The challenge for Sydney Swans coach John Longmire is that all three of the players trying to prove their fitness for Saturday — Jarrad McVeigh (calf), Callum Mills (hamstring) and Aliir Aliir (knee) — are in his best 22 and are very close to being ready to play.
If any of the trio were to aggravate a pre-existing injury in the early stages of Saturday’s decider against the red-hot Western Bulldogs it would be devastating. With the rotation of players in modern football, going one short early in the match would be a disaster unless the opposition get one as well.
This morning’s training session at the SCG will be D-Day for McVeigh and Mills. If they can’t train at top pace this morning they won’t be picked. Both are suffering soft-tissue injuries picked up in the qualifying final loss to GWS two weeks ago.
Aliir will need to show some progress at training but is likely to be given extra time and could improve dramatically later in the week with the nature of his knee injury. Scans showed no serious damage to the right knee he hyper-extended in Friday night’s win over Geelong.
Ted Richards’ dreams of a premiership swan song playing alongside his brother Xavier are almost certainly over.
If Longmire picks just one player out of the three it’s likely to be McVeigh, who has the experience to play with injury.
Davis offers fans a unique grand final experience
Ben Horne
Daily Telegraph, September 28
NICK Davis has experienced AFL grand final day as a fan, player and coach — but for this year’s decider he will play host to a band of lucky Swans fans.
One of the heroes of Sydney’s breakthrough 2005 premiership, Davis is on board to lead 22 The Daily Telegraph readers on a pilgrimage to the MCG for Saturday’s epic showdown against the Western Bulldogs.
Virgin Australia and The Daily Telegraph are giving away 11 double passes to the grand final as part of Virgin’s “When Colours Unite, Together We Fly” campaign.
The prize includes flights, transfers and grand final tickets, and Davis will be there from the moment you arrive at the airport.
As a boy Davis went to several deciders with his father Craig, who played more than 100 games for Collingwood.
As a player his legendary fourth-quarter semi-final performance against Geelong got the Swans to the MCG in 2005 and for several years Davis has been the Swans’ kicking coach.
Few know better than Davis what grand final day means.
“It’s not just the two hours of footy, it’s the whole event starting with the parade the day before,” Davis said. “On grand final morning, just the atmosphere around Melbourne is electric.
“Everyone’s got their colours on and everyone has their opinions on the game.
“It starts from the moment the sun goes up, you just feel the energy around the MCG. It’s something really special.
“Hopefully I can give the winners a little bit of an insight into the grand final.”
Our best Buddy
Ben Horne
Daily Telegraph, September 28
Nick Davis has declared this to be Lance Franklin’s best ever season of AFL football and says the superstar forward agrees.
Franklin usually gives little away when asked to rate his personal performances, and coach John Longmire has also refused to compare the 29-year-old’s blistering form in 2016 to his dominant years at Hawthorn.
But as the Swans kicking coach and as one of Franklin’s closest confidants, Davis is as well placed as anyone to assess the dynamic match-winner’s contribution since returning from his well-documented time away from the game last season.
Franklin has kicked 80 goals, his biggest haul in five seasons and third only to his extraordinary 113-goal effort in Hawthorn’s premiership year in 2008.
However, it’s the influence Franklin has had in areas other than his kicking that has really turned heads.
Even with Saturday’s grand final still to play, Davis is certain that the two-time premiership winner, six-time all-Australian and three-time Coleman medallist has not only never played better — but that the very best is still to come.
It seems Franklin agrees.
“I think it has and I think he’s said it has been his best season,” said Davis.
“The other coaches would probably be the same.
“It’s been based off a really solid pre-season. He’s hardly missed a session of training.
“He’s out there early and he finishes late. He knows what it takes to play well and he looks after himself. To have a record like he has it’s not by chance.
“He’ll continue to grow as a person and he’s only going to do great things for this football club.”
Plugger's advice to Swans: don't focus on Buddy
Andrew Wu
SMH, September 28
Goalkicking great Tony Lockett says Sydney cannot rely solely on Lance Franklin as they aim to win their first flag since the superstar forward's sensational move to the Swans.
No player has kicked more goals than Lockett in the history of the game, but the former St Kilda and Sydney champion never tasted the ultimate success during his 18-season career despite a swag of individual honours.
The closest he came to lifting the premiership cup was in 1996 when he booted six goals in his only grand final appearance in the Swans' 43-point loss to North Melbourne. Franklin played a similar lone hand in attack two years ago, kicking four of Sydney's 11 goals in the debacle against Hawthorn.
The Swans have lessened their dependence this year on Franklin, who has spent more time up the field and was a key player in the victory over Geelong last week despite kicking only two goals. Though when the Swans last met the Western Bulldogs in round 15 his five goals could not prevent his team from a narrow defeat.
"Grand finals are hard to win. Not only Buddy will have to be at his best, it doesn't rely on the one bloke, it's everyone out on the field, the coaching staff, the right moves have to be made at the right time," Lockett told Fairfax Media.
"The focus has to go off Buddy but all the other blokes have to have a big day. They can't think if Buddy plays well they win, the whole team has to play well. The same goes for the Bulldogs, you can't put it on the one bloke."
How Rampe almost became a Western Bulldog
Andrew Wu
SMH, September 28
Sydney's All-Australian defender Dane Rampe came tantalisingly close to becoming a Western Bulldog but says he would have been lost to the game had he worn the red, white and blue.
Number 68 picks in a rookie draft are rarely used let alone go on and have long careers but it's a player the Bulldogs did not call out in 2009 who could have a major part to play in whether this year's premiership cup heads north of the Murray or west of the Yarra.
The Dogs had told Rampe it was down to him and Williamstown teammate Patrick Rose for the final selection. They went with Rose, leaving Rampe thinking his dream of playing AFL football was over.
On the surface, history would show the Bulldogs pulled the wrong rein. Rose did not play an AFL game though has been successful in Melbourne's suburban leagues, while Rampe has become one of the most accomplished defenders in the game. He was influential in the Swans' preliminary final win over Geelong and is likely to feature prominently in Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge's planning for Saturday.
But even if the Bulldogs called him instead of Rose, Rampe does not believe he would be out on the MCG on football's biggest day. It was not until he played with his mates at the UNSW-Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs that he rediscovered his love of the game and caught the eye of Kinnear Beatson's recruiting team that the spark was reignited.
"To be honest, and this is worth noting, I wasn't ready for AFL then. The reason I'm glad I wasn't picked in the end was I wasn't ready for it," Rampe said.
"What I learned was the next three years I developed a whole lot of resilience and an appreciation for the game when I moved back to Sydney.
"Coming back to Sydney was the best thing that happened to me and I was ready for the chance the Swans gave me. I genuinely think had I been picked up in 2009 or 2010 I wouldn't be where I am today. I'd be back here doing something else."
Grundy the master of defensive dark arts
James Buckley
SMH, September 28
Should Heath Grundy romp through Saturday's grand final against the Western Bulldogs unnoticed, he and his Sydney teammates will most likely leave the MCG with a premiership medallion.
The veteran defender has been Sydney's ever-present invisible man this season, embracing the defensive dark arts to shut down key opposition forwards week after week.
He has played every game in 2016 and missed only once in the past four seasons. But he has an uncanny knack of staying out of the spotlight, which often settles on younger defenders Aliir Aliir, All-Australian Dane Rampe or Rising Star Callum Mills.
Opposition forwards hate looking down the Swans team sheet and seeing Grundy listed at centre half forward.
Just ask Geelong big man Tom Hawkins, who managed just 10 touches and a goal in his side's crushing preliminary final loss on Friday night.
Hawkins actually did pretty well compared with Grundy's other finals victims this season.
Josh Jenkins of Adelaide and Jonathon Patton for GWS both failed to kick a single goal on the 30-year-old Swan.
"I've had some tough jobs the last couple of weeks," Grundy said. "It's nice to be in good form at this time of the year. I'm not one of those flashy types, I guess. I just do my job and if we come out on top that's the main thing and a positive for me.
"You've got to have a good balance of being able to defend when you have to, and getting the ball as well and help on the offence as much as defence."
Longmire to make cruel calls
Greg Denham
The Australian, September 28
A closed training session today will determine the make-up of Sydney’s grand final side on Saturday, but whatever the outcome of fitness tests, there will be heartache for several players.
Six players will be extremely anxious this morning — two who missed the preliminary final win over Geelong last Friday, Aliir Aliir who is attempting to overcome a knee injury he received in the preliminary final, and at least three others who are either on the borderline of selection or on standby.
Coach John Longmire, who makes the final call on who’s in and who’s out, knows only too well the torment involved for his players.
The former North Melbourne star missed the 1996 premiership after requiring his second knee reconstruction before the season started.
He knew his fate a long way out, but it did not stop him becoming emotional after the Kangaroos’ win over the Swans.
He did however finally reach the ultimate as a player in his 200th and final game when he was a member of North’s 1999 premiership side over Carlton.
Today, co-captain Jarrad McVeigh will have to be pain free, as will this year’s rising star Callum Mills, who tore his right hamstring in the first final against Greater Western Sydney and has missed subsequent wins over Adelaide and the Cats.
