Let’s face it, nothing in 2020 has turned out as we planned.
New Year’s resolutions that included more travel, more handshakes, less drinking and attending more footy games, are just a few of many, many things that have been kyboshed by the Covid pandemic.
So, it is no real surprise that things on the field for Swans haven’t quite gone to the 2020 script we imagined prior to the season.
Kicking back in the mid-February sun, it was easy to envisage a season on the horizon that would see Sam Naismith palm the ball perfectly into the path of a hulking Josh Kennedy; who in turn would fire off a handball to a flying Isaac Heeney; who would launch the ball in the direction of Lance Franklin. A passage of Swans poetry would be punctuated by an incredible Franklin goal and the rising of 40,000 Swans fans cheering in unison.
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon’s game at the SCG. No perfect palms from Naismith. No Kennedy to Heeney. No Heeney to Franklin. Just a smattering of socially – and sensibility – distanced fans. Yet, it was not as bad as it sounds. In fact, it was so much more interesting than I could ever have imagined.
There was no poetry – more perhaps a notebook scribble. But it was footy that made you happy to be a Blood. An undermanned, under- sized team that had a crack.
Luke Parker set the standard in close. He was tough. Eight tackles. Seven clearances. Others followed.
James Rowbottom did his bit. Harry Cunningham chased down Izak Rankine. Tom McCartin clunked a big mark in the first quarter and goaled. Aliir did the same in the second. First gamer Elijah Taylor sailed into a pack to take a strong mark and Dylan Stephens also gave glimpses of what is to come. Papley snapped a couple and celebrated like Lleyton Hewitt breaking serve. Hayward launched a beauty on the three-quarter time siren to give the Swans a sniff and in turn Papley just about launched himself into row three of the Brewongle Stand. It was as fine an audition for a shooting stars meme as you will ever see.
While the game showed us there is plenty of work to do, it also proved there is plenty to work with.
John Longmire described it post-game as a number of players ‘learning on the job’. And the fans are learning too.
We are learning that there is plenty of blue sky for the red and white on the horizon.
In a year that is serving up unsavoury sandwiches at every turn, we would love nothing more than for the Swans to be flying high and winning games. If that can’t be the case, then the best you can hope for is a team where the future looks bright and that a W or two is not far away. I think we are certainly learning that that is the case.
