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O'Loughlin's dramatic bid
September 20, 2003
MERCURIAL Swans forward Michael O'Loughlin made a dramatic secret bid to play in tonight's preliminary against Brisbane Lions only to be ruled out at the last minute.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Swans' goalkicking wizard held out hope of making the match all week.
O'Loughlin is selling his house in Sydney's eastern suburbs and property writer and AFL fan Nicolette Casella ran into the man they call "Magic" on Tuesday ? a day after coach Paul Roos ruled him out of the Lions clash.
"I'm touch and go for the weekend, I've been training and doing physio and we'll just have to wait and see . . . it's my call," O'Loughlin revealed.
He was privately hoping to make the biggest AFL game ever held outside of Melbourne, undergoing intensive daily physiotherapy.
Yesterday at the Swans' final training session before the big game O'Loughlin was pounding out laps around the SCG, further sparking speculation the 26-year-old full forward could be a shock inclusion.
The Swans pulled that trick with "Captain Courageous" Paul Kelly a few years ago when he turned up out of the blue at Subiaco Oval against Fremantle.
But last night Swans doctor Nathan Gibbs said O'Loughlin's late bid to play had failed.
"He's not playing . . . there won't be any tricks," said Gibbs. "But we are hoping we can win and get Mick up for next week."
The Swans and Brisbane will go into tonight's final knowing who the other grand final opponent will be, with the Collingwood-Port Adelaide preliminary final at the MCG from 2.30pm today.
Sydney coach Paul Roos, who has defied the odds and the critics this year to guide the Swans to great heights, says the hype surrounding tonight's game will be good for his inexperienced side.
"All players have got some ego ? you play the game and you're a successful footballer because you're driven and you've got a bit of an ego," Roos said.
"The players enjoy the publicity, they enjoy the fact there's going to be 80,000 people out there, they enjoy people coming up to them in the streets.
"It's great for the club and hopefully it's great for the city to see us doing as good as what we're doing."
Roos firmly believes his team could not be better prepared to take on the dual premiers . . . except for the absence of O'Loughlin.
However, Roos is still keeping an open mind.
"If Mick rings in the morning to tell me he wants to play and he's convinced the physio and doctor, I'll certainly get out of bed to go and watch him go through a fitness test," said Roos.
SWANS: B: Mathews Schauble Kennelly HB: Barry C Bolton Crouch C: Fosdike Kirk Maxfield HF: Schneider Goodes J Bolton F: Davis Hall Nicks Foll: Roberts-Thomson Williams Cresswell Inter: Ablett, Doyle, O'Keefe Saddington.
LIONS: B: Johnson Michael White HB: Lappin Leppitsch Power C: Copeland Voss Pike HF: McGrath Brown Caracella F: Bradshaw Lynch McRae Foll: Keating Black Akermanis Inter: Charman, Shattock, Hadley, Hart.
September 20, 2003
MERCURIAL Swans forward Michael O'Loughlin made a dramatic secret bid to play in tonight's preliminary against Brisbane Lions only to be ruled out at the last minute.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Swans' goalkicking wizard held out hope of making the match all week.
O'Loughlin is selling his house in Sydney's eastern suburbs and property writer and AFL fan Nicolette Casella ran into the man they call "Magic" on Tuesday ? a day after coach Paul Roos ruled him out of the Lions clash.
"I'm touch and go for the weekend, I've been training and doing physio and we'll just have to wait and see . . . it's my call," O'Loughlin revealed.
He was privately hoping to make the biggest AFL game ever held outside of Melbourne, undergoing intensive daily physiotherapy.
Yesterday at the Swans' final training session before the big game O'Loughlin was pounding out laps around the SCG, further sparking speculation the 26-year-old full forward could be a shock inclusion.
The Swans pulled that trick with "Captain Courageous" Paul Kelly a few years ago when he turned up out of the blue at Subiaco Oval against Fremantle.
But last night Swans doctor Nathan Gibbs said O'Loughlin's late bid to play had failed.
"He's not playing . . . there won't be any tricks," said Gibbs. "But we are hoping we can win and get Mick up for next week."
The Swans and Brisbane will go into tonight's final knowing who the other grand final opponent will be, with the Collingwood-Port Adelaide preliminary final at the MCG from 2.30pm today.
Sydney coach Paul Roos, who has defied the odds and the critics this year to guide the Swans to great heights, says the hype surrounding tonight's game will be good for his inexperienced side.
"All players have got some ego ? you play the game and you're a successful footballer because you're driven and you've got a bit of an ego," Roos said.
"The players enjoy the publicity, they enjoy the fact there's going to be 80,000 people out there, they enjoy people coming up to them in the streets.
"It's great for the club and hopefully it's great for the city to see us doing as good as what we're doing."
Roos firmly believes his team could not be better prepared to take on the dual premiers . . . except for the absence of O'Loughlin.
However, Roos is still keeping an open mind.
"If Mick rings in the morning to tell me he wants to play and he's convinced the physio and doctor, I'll certainly get out of bed to go and watch him go through a fitness test," said Roos.
SWANS: B: Mathews Schauble Kennelly HB: Barry C Bolton Crouch C: Fosdike Kirk Maxfield HF: Schneider Goodes J Bolton F: Davis Hall Nicks Foll: Roberts-Thomson Williams Cresswell Inter: Ablett, Doyle, O'Keefe Saddington.
LIONS: B: Johnson Michael White HB: Lappin Leppitsch Power C: Copeland Voss Pike HF: McGrath Brown Caracella F: Bradshaw Lynch McRae Foll: Keating Black Akermanis Inter: Charman, Shattock, Hadley, Hart.
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