Arguably the greatest player in the club’s history, Bob Skilton, on the MCG turf looking up like a proud patriarch at the 22 jubilant players celebrating on the victory dais with a sea of red and white confetti as the background.
Such was the legacy of the image that it has since fronted the release of Martin Blake’s book The Rise of the Swans, and a framed version was presented to Skilton by the premiership winning team at last year’s Club Championship dinner.
Both items take pride of place at Skilton’s suburban Melbourne home.
The book sits on a table besides a padded, upright chair that he rests in between stints on his crutches, a throne not befitting of Skilton’s stature in the game, while the framed photo hangs proudly on a wall with treasured family photos and his three Brownlow medals.
Following on from the team’s presentation to Skilton at the 2012 vote count for the medal that bears his name, the captain of the Swans Team of the Century hasn’t been in great health, culminating in four months in hospital from the beginning of March.
The nine-time club best and fairest is currently waiting for his infectious blood count to lower, and then stabilise, so he can go back into hospital to get the hip replacement he initially went in for.
Such has been the impact on Skilton’s health that he hasn’t been able to see the team play live in 2013.
“It makes a difference (not being there to see them), particularly when it’s been my life, but the boys have made things a little bit easier with the way they’ve performed through the year,” Skilton told sydneyswans.com.au late last week.
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Despite the frustration of not being able to get to the ground on game day, Skilton has followed the club as closely as possible through the media and hasn’t missed any of the intricacies of the game or the players who have impressed during the season.
Speak of the form of the Swans half-back line and Skilton will let you know that co-captain Jarrad McVeigh has turned the position into an attacking outlet, often using the outside of his right boot to pin-point a pass rather than swing on to his non-preferred left foot, while Nick Malceski has gone to another level following on from his heroics in last year’s season decider.
And then there has been the introduction of some young blood into the team as well.
“When you consider we’ve had up to eight players out of our premiership side, to think that we’ve brought in four or five first-year players and they’ve performed to the extent that they have, it’s been a wonderful effort,” Skilton said.
“You look at the improvement in players like Andrejs Everitt and Jesse White, and then the first-year players like Brandon Jack and Tom Mitchell, and (Dane) Rampe’s just gone from strength-to-strength and been fantastic.”
In contrast to the youngsters who have slotted into the side this season, Skilton paid tribute to veteran Jude Bolton who announced his retirement from the Sydney Swans at the beginning of this week.
“On and off the field he’s just been sensational and he’s always there,” Skilton said about Bolton.
“You love him lining up for goal because the odds are he’ll put it through and whether he’ll be on ball or as a half-forward, you know you’re going to get 100 per cent from Jude no matter what.
“I think Jude has been the ultimate team person and does whatever he’s asked to do.”
Another of the mainstays during the club’s time in Sydney has been Richard Colless, who will serve his last home and away game as Chairman when the Swans host Hawthorn at ANZ Stadium tonight.
Skilton lauded the work Colless had done since he arrived at the club in 1993 and paid his chairmanship the ultimate compliment.
“I give Richard the credit for turning our club around,” he said.
“We were never really respected in the days that I played. Then in the early days of the Swans, we were that close to folding.
“There has to be a leader and no one can do it on their own, but we’ve recruited well under Richard both on and off the field and we are now respected by the world.
“People talk about our culture and the way we go about things, and I get great pride out of the way they look at our club these days and all that credit goes to Richard Colless”
Aside from the outstanding finish to last season, Skilton says one of the highlights of the last year was prior to the Swans win over Collingwood in Melbourne in round nine.
No sooner had former Swans captain Stuart Maxfield paid him a visit in hospital on the morning of the game, than in walked coach John Longmire and the entire coaching staff to catch up with him and talk through the team.
“There was no better performance from the team this year, I don’ think,” Skilton said of the performance the team put on that night.
All-in-all the last 12 months have been a roller-coaster for the triple Brownlow medallist, but he is hopeful it can finish on a high in a month’s time with the team set for another finals’ tilt.
“I didn’t give us a chance last year until we beat Collingwood the way we did in the preliminary final, and then I thought we could (go all the way),” Skilton said.
“Who knows what can happen?
“Out of the top-four, whoever’s playing well in September will make all the difference.”
