Eight years ago, Zac Foot was an 11-year-old primary school kid at Langwarrin on the outskirts of Melbourne, 42km south-east of the city.
It is a town of about 25,000 people that boasts a proud sporting history and most famously is the home of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, matriarch of the Murdoch family who died in 2012 aged 103.
She was the widow of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of American international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch.
And while Foot won’t lay claim to any special expertise in newspapers, he does have good sporting bloodlines. His father Paul won an Under 19s best and fairest award at Melbourne in the 1990s, and his mother Joanna was a runner of Jamaican/English heritage.
When the 2012 AFL season opened with a stand-alone first Sydney derby between the Swans and the Giants at Stadium Australia, Foot would have taken at least a passing interest.
It wasn’t an MCG blockbuster between two big Melbourne clubs that might have really captivated a young Langwarrin schoolboy, but it was a new season and the birth of the Giants, the AFL’s 18th club.
Plus, 19-year-old Luke Parker, a Langwarrin junior, was playing his 14th game for the Swans.
It was a Saturday night. The Swans beat the Giants by 63 points, with Parker collecting 17 possessions before being subbed out of the game.
Josh Kennedy, at the start of his third season in Sydney, had 27 possessions and kicked two goals to pick up three Brownlow Medal votes and win the inaugural Brett Kirk Medal as best afield.
Homegrown favorite Kieren Jack, with 30 possessions and a goal, earned two votes, and Shane Mumford, also in his third season with the Swans, dominated in the ruck for one vote.
Playing his first AFL game for the Swans alongside Adam Goodes in his 301st was 18-year-old Harry Cunningham, an 18-year-old from the Riverina who had been drafted as a rookie barely four months earlier. He was the starting substitute who replaced Parker.
Foot could not possibly have dreamed that eight years on he would do as Cunningham had done and make his AFL debut in a match between the two NSW AFL sides.
If you had tried to tell him then he would do just that and play for the Swans against the Giants at Optus Stadium in Perth amid a frenzy of football – he surely would have thought you were mad. A Sydney Derby in Perth as the AFL played for the 14th night in a row – not a chance!
But tonight, Foot will do just that in Sydney Derby XIX as the extraordinary phenomenon that Covid 19 AFL season 2020 has become takes one of its more bizarre twists.
Foot will become the fourth Swans player to debut in a derby after Cunningham in Derby I, current co-captain Dane Rampe in Derby III and James Rose in Derby VIII.
While Rose was delisted at the end of last season, Cunningham and Rampe will be teammates in the biggest moment of Foot’s short football career.
Foot, included with Nick Blakey and Colin O’Riordan as the Swans lost Aliir Aliir to injury and omitted Matt Ling and Elijah Taylor, will be one of five Swans in their first Sydney derby.
The others will be O’Riordan, James Bell, Dylan Stephens and Sam Wicks.
It will be a derby with a difference – and not just because it is in Perth. It will be the first derby that injured Swans co-captain Josh Kennedy will miss.
Kennedy’s absence leaves only Cunningham, Parker and Sam Reid from the Sydney side in Derby I playing tonight against three members of the Giants side from Derby I – Stephen Coniglio, Callan Ward, and Jeremy Cameron.
In addition to the five derby first-timers, Jackson Thurlow will play in the derby for the second time, and Blakey, Robbie Fox and James Rowbottom for the third time. Parker will play his 17th derby, Rampe his 15th, Jake Lloyd his 14th and Cunningham and Reid their 13th.
Foot, born on Christmas Eve 2000, will get his first taste of AFL football after being drafted by the Swans with selection #51 in the 2018 AFL National Draft from the Dandenong Stingrays in Victoria.
The 181cm speedster, who played mainly on the wing in the Swans NEAFL side last year, had something of a bitter-sweet time at the Stingrays, who in addition to Parker have produced ex-Swans Jarred Moore, Andrejs Everitt and Zak Jones.
In 2017, Foot was overlooked for Stingrays selection and instead had to be content playing with Langwarrin in the Sunraysia League.
It was a decision which at the time disappointed Langwarrin senior coach Brad Dredge, who had tried to play Foot in the Langwarrin seniors as a 15-year-old in 2016 only to be advised by League officials not to do so.
Still, Foot debuted for Langwarrin at 16 early in the 2017, and after splitting the season between the Langwarrin seniors and Under 19s he was invited to pre-season training with the Stingrays ahead of their 2018 campaign.
Quickly he made up for lost time, cementing his spot in the Dandenong side and winning selection in the Victorian Country side before a key role in Dandenong’s TAC Cup premiership.
He kicked two goals in the six-point grand final win over an Oakleigh Chargers side that included new Swans teammate James Rowbottom.
Foot was one of nine Stingrays drafted in 2018. Taken in the National Draft with Foot were pick #17 Sam Sturt (Fremantle), #30 Will Hamill (Adelaide), #35 Bailey Williams (West Coast) and #75 Toby Bedford (Melbourne).
Lachie Young (Western Bulldogs), Matthew Cottrell (Carlton),and Sam Fletcher (Gold Coast) were picked up in the Rookie Draft, and Mitch Riordan (Gold Coast) followed in the 2019 Mid-Season Rookie Draft.
Drafted in the 2018 National Draft from the beaten Chargers grand final side were #13 Isaac Quaynor (Collingwood), #20 Riley Collier-Dawkins (Richmond), #25 Rowbottom, #28 Xavier O’Neill (West Coast), #29 Will Kelly (Collingwood), #33 James Jordan (Melbourne), #43 Jack Ross (Richmond), #55 Noah Answerth (Brisbane), #70 Ben Silvagni (Carlton), #77 Atu Bosenavulagi (Collingwood).
Will Golds (Hawthorn) went in the Rookie Draft, while 12 months later Chargers pair Matt Rowell and Noah Answerth, who also played in the 2018 TAC Cup grand final against the Stingrays, went with the first two picks in the 2019 Draft to the Gold Coast.
In a story published in the Frankston Leader in May 2018, six months before he was drafted, Foot told how being overlooked by the Stingrays in his bottom age year made him even more determined to do well when his chance came.
“I think that’s probably helped a little bit, just wanting to make the Stingrays list, it’s given me a bit of drive,” he said.
He said he had always enjoyed football but insisted he “wasn’t good at it when I was a bit younger”.
Coach Dredge was “rapt” to see Foot get and take his opportunity. “We had to fight bloody hard just to get him half a chance. He was not on any radar at all.”
Dredge said at the time in addition to his football ability, Foot had the character to be successful in the AFL. “He’s a ripping young man; very level-headed, there’s no arrogance, there’s appreciation for everybody, respect ... he’s just a really good kid,’’ he said.
“Even from a young age the thing that really stood out, I mean he’s got a lot of physical attributes - speed and he knows how to find the football - but I was astounded when he got the football, and was able to deliver it.
“He was already thinking the next passage of play, and then the next passage of play after that. You don’t see that in kids that age.”
“At every level of football I’ve seen him play, he’s one of those rare talents that gets better the higher he goes.”
Foot will wear the #16 guernsey worn most often for the Swans by ex-captain and club champion Ricky Quade (164), 2005 premiership player Darren Jolly (118), Gary Rohan (106) and Austin Robertson Snr (105).
Just as Foot has arrived at the AFL from an unlikely starting point at the birth of the Sydney derby, so too have fellow derby first-timers Stephens, O’Riordan, Wicks and Bell.
At the time of Derby I, Stephens was an 11-year-old Year 6 student at Red Cliffs Primary School in Mildura and O’Riordan was a 16-year-old in Tipperary, Ireland, working his way up the Gaelic Football ranks having never contemplated AFL football.
Bell and Wicks, 13 and 12 respectively, were local members of the Swans Academy dreaming of one day playing alongside their long-time heroes.
Stephens, 218 days beyond his 19th birthday, will be the youngest of the five derby debutants today, with Foot just 15 days older.
They will be the 14th and 15th Swans to play in a derby as a teenager.
Cunningham, 18 years 109 days in Derby I, remains the youngest from Will Hayward (18/178), Rowbottom (18/220), Tom McCartin (18/231), Ollie Florent (18/259), and Isaac Heeney (18/348).
First-time derby players at 19 have been Callum Mills (19/7), Brandon Jack (19/50), Blakey (19/59), Zak Jones (19/105), Rose (19/121), Parker (19/151), Stephens, Foot and Tom Papley (19/271).
Foot, set to become player #1433 on the all-time Swans list, will be the first player with his surname to wear the red and white, although there was Jordon Foote, who played six games in 2016-17.
Similarly, the latest Swan will be the first Swan with the Christian name Zac, although phonetically he was beaten for this ‘title’ by Zak Jones, now at St Kilda. Foot and Jones are the only players in Swans history whose Christian name starts with a ‘Z’.
The Swans will take an 11-7 head-to-head record into Derby XIX. And the tables have turned since the sides first met. In Sydney Derby I the Swans had a combined 2080 games experience and GWS a combined 643 games. In Sydney Derby XIX it’s the Swans who will go in with the least experience, with a combined 1487 games compared to 2128 for GWS.
Sydney Derby Footy Facts
- Josh Kennedy is the only player from either side to have played in each of the first 18 derbies. Parker and Jack are next best at 16 with Giants Ward and Davis.
- Kennedy (487) has had most possessions in derby history ahead of Ward (392), ex-Swan Dan Hannebery (363), Parker (346) and Jack (343).
- On an average basis, with a five-game minimum to qualify, ex-Giant Adam Treloar, now at Collingwood, heads the list at 28.3 possessions per game from Kennedy (27.1), Ward (24.5), Hannebery (24.2) and Jake Lloyd (24.2).
- The Giants’ Jeremy Cameron is the all-time leading goal-kicker in Sydney derby football with 32 goals from 15 games. Lance Franklin has 31 from 11. Injured Giant Toby Greene is next with 22 goals from 14 games, while Kennedy, Jack and ex-Giant Jon Patton have kicked 16 goals in 18, 16 and 11 games respectively.
- Jarrad McVeigh and Giant Lachie Whitfield share the record for most possessions in a derby at 37. The Swans have had 19 games of 30 possessions or more via Hannebery (4), Kennedy (3), McVeigh (3), Parker (3), Jack (3), Ryan O’Keefe (1), Nick Malceski (1) and Jake Lloyd (1). The Giants have had 16 games of 30+ from Greene (2), Ward (2), Dylan Shiel (2), Tim Taranto (2), Zac Williams (2), Whitfield (1), Treloar (1), Heath Shaw (1), Devon Smith (1), Josh Kelly (1) and Jacob Hopper (1).
- Kennedy (14) has polled most Brownlow Medal votes in Sydney Derby history from Franklin (13). Then follow Shane Mumford (8), Jack (7) and Ward (6).
- Shane Mumford, a 79-game Sydney player from 2010-13 and a 2012 premiership team member before switching to the Giants in 2014, is the only player to have represented both clubs in a Sydney derby. His eight Brownlow votes are split three for the Swans and five for the Giants. Mumford was rested from the Giants side for tonight.
- Jack, winner of the Brett Kirk Medal in the first derby, holds the record for three times winning the medal named in honour of his long-time Swans teammate. Kennedy (2), Franklin (2) and Ward (2) are the other multiple winners. Single winners have been Hannebery, Nick Malceski, Parker, Callum Mills and Giants Mumford, Heath Shaw, Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper. Franklin and Ward shared the medal in Derby XIII while no medal was awarded when twice the sides met in the finals.
- Over 18 derbies, in addition to Mumford, the Swans have used 61 players and the Giants 73.
Teams for the first meeting between the Swans and the Giants in notional positions were:
SYDNEY
B: Nick Smith, Ted Richards, Lewis Roberts-Thomson
HB: Nick Malceski, Heath Grundy, Martin Mattner
C: Craig Bird, Jude Bolton, Dan Hannebery
HF: Jarrad McVeigh, Adam Goodes, Luke Parker
F: Gary Rohan, Sam Reid, Ben McGlynn
R: Shane Mumford, Josh Kennedy, Kieren Jack
INT: Lewis Jetta, Andrejs Everitt, Alex Johnson, Harry Cunningham (sub).
COACH: John Longmire
GWS
B: Nathan Wilson, Phil Davis, Tim Mohr
HB: Tomas Bugg, Chad Cornes, Jack Hombsch
C: Adam Kennedy, Callan Ward, Rhys Palmer
HF: Will Hoskin-Elliot, Israel Folau, Dylan Shiel
F: Toby Greene, Jeremy Cameron, Devon Smith
R: Jonathan Giles, James McDonald, Stephen Coniglio
INT: Adam Tomlinson, Jacob Townsend, Curtley Hampton, Dom Tyson (sub).
COACH: Kevin Sheedy
Match Details
Sydney 4.1 8.4 13.8 14.16 (100)
GWS 1.2 3.3 3.4 5.7 (37)
Goals: Sydney: Kennedy 2, Jetta 2, Bird 2, Bolton, Everitt, Jack, McGlynn, McVeigh, Mumford, Roberts-Thomson, Rohan. GWS: McDonald, Ward, Hoskin-Elliot, Giles, Wilson.
Leading Possession-Winners: Sydney: Jack 30, Kennedy 27, Bird 27, Bolton 25, McVeigh 22, Goodes 21, Jetta 20. GWS: Kennedy 28, Bugg 27, Greene 27, Palmer 25, Cornes 24, McDonald 23, Ward 22.
Brett Kirk Medal: Kieren Jack (Syd)
Brownlow Medal Votes: Josh Kennedy (Syd) 3, Kieren Jack (Syd) 2, Shane Mumford (Syd) 1.
Umpires: Matt Stevic, Simon Meridith, Jacob Mollison.
Attendance: 38,203 at Stadium Australia – Saturday March 24, 2012.
