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Skippers don't rate Swans
By Tim Morrissey
March 19, 2004
THE AFL club captains have spoken and guess what? The Sydney Swans don't rate ... again.
At yesterday's annual poll of the league's on-field leaders it was clear the majority of club captains viewed the Swans' stunning success story in 2003 as merely a flash in the pan.
Despite finishing third after reaching the preliminary final against eventual winners Brisbane, the Swans aren't tipped even to make the top eight in 2004.
While the majority of club captains don't expect to see the Swans feature in the finals, the absence of Michael Voss in yesterday's group photo shoot in Melbourne has fuelled speculation that the Brisbane Lions captain won't be seen away from the Gabba much this season.
The triple premiers' on-field leader wasn't allowed to fly down because of the risk of swelling to his troublesome knee just a week out from the Lions' season opener against the Swans.
Voss, who may be forced to miss away games that require long flights in order to get through the season, phoned his nominations in to the AFL yesterday.
According to the anonymous captains' poll conducted in the AFL board room yesterday, the Swans are tipped to finish ninth with triple premiers the Brisbane Lions, Essendon, Port Adelaide and Fremantle expected to dominate the season and make up the top four.
Port Adelaide, Essendon and the Brisbane Lions all received a maximum possible 15 nominations from the other captains as clubs that can make the final eight this year, while the Lions received eight nominations as a potential grand finalist.
Essendon and Port Adelaide received three nominations each as a likely grand finalist and all but two other captains in the competition believe that Fremantle, who finished seventh, can make the finals again this year after their debut appearance in 2003.
Fremantle also received one nomination to reach this year's grand final with the Swans also getting a token one vote for playing through to the last Saturday in September.
The latest Swans snub comes on the back of last season's prediction by the majority of football writers in Melbourne that Sydney would win the wooden spoon for 2003.
However, at last Monday night's Swans guernsey presentation, Sydney captain Stuart Maxfield dismissed any notion that Sydney's phenomenal season in 2003 was a flash in the pan.
Speaking to a packed ballroom of Swans faithful at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Maxfield spoke with such passion that former Sydney coach Ron Barassi would have been proud.
"Everyone has their own theories as to why 2003 was so successful for the Sydney Swans," said Maxfield.
"I've heard things like 'low expectations', 'no pressure', 'we got under the guard of opposition teams', the list goes on and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
"But the reason the Bloods earned respect last season can be summed up in one simple word: sacrifice.
"When Swans players sacrifice egos, sacrifice their own personal game style in favour of the team, we walked from the ground with integrity."
Maxfield singled out an incident during last year's first round qualifying final against Port Adelaide when Swans tagger Brett Kirk was poleaxed by Byron Pickett in the third quarter. He got up, shook his head and seconds later was fighting for the ball again.
"This courageous piece of play was symbolic of our team all year," added Maxfield. "You get knocked down, you get up. If you can't get up, somebody else comes along and plays their part.
"Why to we do it? Because sacrifice equals inspiration. There's no greater motivating force than to inspire someone else."
Individual Swans were also overlooked or not really rated by the captains yesterday in other key questions about the season ahead.
Centre half forward Barry Hall, with just two votes, was a very distant second behind Essendon's Matthew Lloyd (11 votes) when it came to, "Who do you think will win the 2004 Coleman Medal for the AFL's leading goalkicker?"
Last year's joint Brownlow medallist, Swans ruckman Adam Goodes, didn't get a single nomination from the other 15 captains to win this year's best and fairest.
Goodes emerged last season as one of the most dominant players in the league and he has already shown in the pre-season that he has the potential to take his game up another level.
However, West Coast's Ben Cousins, with four votes, is the Brownlow favourite.
The Western Bulldogs' Adam Cooney, the No.1 draft pick overall for 2003, is the clear choice to win the 2004 rising star award with seven nominations.
The Daily Telegraph
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