Swans versus GWS. It had been pumped up for months. You couldn’t go past a bus stop in Sydney without seeing a picture of a Swans player or a GWS player staring back at you promoting the round one game. Despite all of this, I had no idea what the AFL were going to call the game.

The new rivalry between Brisbane and the Gold Coast is now called the Q-clash, while the Adelaide game is the Showdown and the Western Australian game is the Western Derby. I’d heard  ‘The battle of the bridge’, ‘The rumble in the concrete jungle’ and the ‘Sydney Stoush’ were all possible options for our rivalry game in Sydney. In the end it was decided to be called the ‘Sydney Derby’, and although it’s quite a simple name for the game, I like it. (Note: As I’m a defender it’s usually just the simple things that excite me)

As all AFL clubs (excluding GWS and us) had last weekend off, we have our break this upcoming weekend whilst the other teams play out their round 1 games. It was great to start the season with a win, but we’re fully aware that there’s plenty of room for improvement.

I’ll be getting out of Sydney for the weekend, but on Saturday night I’ll be keeping a close eye on the Fremantle-Geelong game as we play Fremantle in round two.

Even though that game won’t have the same ‘bus stop’ promotion or newspaper back page hype as our round one game did, to us it’s equally important if not more important. It’ll be our first home game for the year and we’d love to see you there, or better still, sign up and become a member of the club too by clicking here or by calling 1300 663 819. 

Canteen Award

As there was no Canteen Award given out last week it has jackpotted. There are now 2 pie and Coke combos to be given out this week.

Canteen Award 1: After the final siren on the weekend both GWS and Swans players came in for the post game presentations. The first presentation made was the Brett Kirk medal for best on ground (presented by Kirky himself). It was deservedly awarded to Josh Kennedy and we all congratulated Josh on winning the award. Josh went to make his way over to Kirky to receive his award… but for some reason Goodesy was already well on his way up to the lectern and over to Kirky! We couldn’t stop laughing!

To be fair, it was very hard to hear the audio and Goodesy thought the first presentation was to the winning captain, but that didn’t stop plenty of the boys getting into him about almost doing a ‘Zoolander’ and claiming Josh’s medal.

Canteen Award 2: We had a Volkswagen Drive Day this week at Eastern Creek raceway (or as Craig Bird calls it ‘Easter Creek’). It was an incredible experience to be behind the wheel and to see and feel what the Volkswagen Golf GTI and R’s are capable of doing on a racetrack.

With this in mind, the second canteen award goes to young player Eugene “Sonya” Kruger for not only hitting a witches hat on the day, but for also continuing through the slalom driving challenge with the witches hat stuck underneath his car for the whole way.

Volkswagen Driving Experience

Here is some video footage of me at the Volkswagen Driving Experience. As you can see I was ok at the accelerating parts but pretty poor whenever braking was required.

So many to choose from but my favourite quote from my instructor on the day would be, “You’re driving off the road mate!”

Song of the week

Song of the week is the new song by an English group called Hot Chip. Yes, they’re a bunch of geeks but they do make great music. Best just to listen to the song and not watch the video as it’ll give you a headache. (trust me, I speak from experience)

Hope you enjoy your weekend

Ted Richards
@richards_report