We waited patiently. Like Matt Ling waiting to make his debut.
After more than month, finally a win.
Ask me to make a list of all the things better than beating Hawthorn and I’ll give you a very short list.
- Beating Collingwood
- The world before Covid-19
There might a case to be made for McDonald’s cheeseburgers. But that’s probably it.
On all available evidence, the Swans and Hawthorn have forged the greatest rivalry of the past decade.
So many memorable clashes. Good memories like 2012. Nightmares like 2014.
Saturday’s game will be safely filed amongst the good memories.
You get the feeling that we will remember the day that Elijah Taylor kicked his first goal. It should be the first of many and, in all likelihood, it might be one of the easiest he kicks – which is saying a lot.
And we should remember the game for the heroics of captain Dane Rampe. If you are familiar with The Last Dance documentary series, this might have been Rampe’s “flu game”. It was a shining example of how to play and lead your team through adversity. It was a mighty, gritty effort that almost single-(fractured)-handedley won the Swans the game.
Late in the match commentator Garry Lyon quipped that Rampe was ‘playing like he had a cape on.’ It was a fine assessment. Unassuming Bondi hipster by day, studiously going about his job at the Daily Planet; turns robe wearing superhero on the weekend. Throw in Tom Papley as the perfect sidekick and Alastair Clarkson as the grumpy villain, and you have yourself the next Marvel box office hit.
While it was senior players like Rampe, Papley and Parker that led the way, it should not be lost on anyone that this was a win for the youngest of any team fielded on the weekend, up against the oldest. The evidence of the Swans rising youth has been building all year and the win against Hawthorn was further affirmation that there are good things ahead for this group.
It is a shame that to some extent, the great win was slightly overshadowed by the indignant remarks of the opposition coach. Watching his post-match crack at Tom Papley was like watching one of those ‘Karen’ videos on social media.
Not all wins will be as sweet as knocking off the Hawks, but let’s hope our next one is just around the corner.
