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20. ALMOST A GOOD NEWS WEEK FOR AFL
By Patrick Fitzgerald
The AFL can take great comfort in the excellent prognosis for the health of the national competition providing you aren't Victorian.
Football socialism of a sort is alive and well and more than likely to deliver a premiership for the third year in a row to a frisky interloper from north of Wodonga or west of Bordertown. Not only is former powerhouse West Coast back in business as a premiership aspirant, and Fremantle also looking a real finals chance, the two Adelaide teams are finals bound, and Brisbane just keeps being Brisbane. But the real non-Victorian joker in the pack has turned the competition on its ear.
The Sydney Swans faced with an uncertain couple of seasons rebuilding with still no guarantee of success, had the AFL pre-season resigned to their most critical northern franchise doing it tough. But instead of a long season of angst the Swans are already trashing any notion of a normal period of transition.
A young team of willing tyros has emerged in the blink of an eye and at the same time fired up some of their previously under-performing experienced (if hardly veteran) stars, and now collectively they have got the bit between their teeth.
People power got Paul Roos the coaching job originally ear-marked for another. Sydney fans should all give themselves a collective pat on the back for their foresight, which now makes Paul Roos and his Swans success all the sweeter. Sydney may yet falter over the longer run to the finals, but they have already shown enough to suggest better times are ahead and Roos is going to be a fine coach.
A win in Canberra against the Kangaroos at the weekend, would be ironic against a rival that once fancied staking their own claim to a slice of the Sydney market.
20. ALMOST A GOOD NEWS WEEK FOR AFL
By Patrick Fitzgerald
The AFL can take great comfort in the excellent prognosis for the health of the national competition providing you aren't Victorian.
Football socialism of a sort is alive and well and more than likely to deliver a premiership for the third year in a row to a frisky interloper from north of Wodonga or west of Bordertown. Not only is former powerhouse West Coast back in business as a premiership aspirant, and Fremantle also looking a real finals chance, the two Adelaide teams are finals bound, and Brisbane just keeps being Brisbane. But the real non-Victorian joker in the pack has turned the competition on its ear.
The Sydney Swans faced with an uncertain couple of seasons rebuilding with still no guarantee of success, had the AFL pre-season resigned to their most critical northern franchise doing it tough. But instead of a long season of angst the Swans are already trashing any notion of a normal period of transition.
A young team of willing tyros has emerged in the blink of an eye and at the same time fired up some of their previously under-performing experienced (if hardly veteran) stars, and now collectively they have got the bit between their teeth.
People power got Paul Roos the coaching job originally ear-marked for another. Sydney fans should all give themselves a collective pat on the back for their foresight, which now makes Paul Roos and his Swans success all the sweeter. Sydney may yet falter over the longer run to the finals, but they have already shown enough to suggest better times are ahead and Roos is going to be a fine coach.
A win in Canberra against the Kangaroos at the weekend, would be ironic against a rival that once fancied staking their own claim to a slice of the Sydney market.
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