It’s not often that a player feels relieved when their name is brought up by commentator, and Collingwood president, Eddie McGuire, but it was certainly the case for Sydney Swans ruckman Shane Mumford last Saturday evening.
Following an incident between the Swans’ big man and Collingwood’s Chris Dawes during Friday night’s Preliminary Final win over the Magpies, McGuire’s words instilled a sense of relief in Mumford.
“There were a few nervous times from Saturday until after the Hawthorn game when I saw the vision of what they were talking about,” Mumford told SwansTV.
“I heard Eddie McGuire actually said that if I’d got rubbed out for that he would have quit football.
“The nerves went down a little bit when I heard that, but you just never know how (the Match Review Panel) were going to see it and interpret it.”
The incident, which was not investigated further by the MRP, was considered minor by the Swans ruckman, but that didn’t make the wait any less stressful for the 26-year-old.
“Obviously I was very concerned,” he said.
“If I had have been reported, with the loading and carry over points that I had from previous incidents, I would have been missing a Grand Final, which would have been devastating.
“That’s why I was very happy Monday lunchtime when our football manager came and said to me that I was in the clear, as it meant I could concentrate on building to this week’s game.”
Mumford, who was traded to the Swans from Geelong at the end of 2009, will play in his first Grand Final this weekend despite coming very close to taking the field with the Cats in their 2009 triumph.
The ruckman travelled to Melbourne with the Geelong side and even took part in the Grand Final parade, before being sidelined as an emergency for the Cats, who went on to take out the premiership.
Mumford said he was looking forward to finally being involved in the biggest game of the year this weekend.
“I know that I’m guaranteed to play this week so it’s definitely a great feeling to know that there is a Grand Final this weekend,” Mumford said.
“We’ve worked hard enough to get ourselves into it and we’ve just got to finish the job and get the win this week.”
Mumford, alongside fellow Swans ruckman Mike Pyke, will face off against the Hawks ruck combination of David Hale and Jarryd Roughead this weekend.
The ruckman said he and Pyke were keen to make amends for the last time the two sides met, when the Hawks pair got the better of them at the stoppages.
“In the centre bounces last time, they really got on top of us, so me and Mike (Pyke) have a big job ahead of us this week to limit their influence there and then try and hurt them around the ground,” Mumford said.
“Obviously we did well against a quality ruckman (in Darren Jolly) last week, but we’re got another two this week that we’ve got to build ourselves up for and hopefully we’ll get over the line.”
Reflecting on the Swans season to date, Mumford said he always had the confidence that the Swans could make it to the last Saturday in September and added that the team’s destiny was now in their own hands.
“I guess we always considered that we could get ourselves into a good position and once you get into the finals you just never know where things could finish,” he said.
“I always had the confidence that we were going to finish top four, and then from there and in the latter half of the year I’ve had the confidence we could go all the way.”
