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Bloods sacrifice
By Jessica Halloran
March 26, 2004
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Team spirit: the Swans during training this week. Photo: Craig Golding
The players ran their fingers over their gleaming blood-red-and-snowy-white jumpers; new, silky, clean, unmarked by grass, dirt or sweat. They stood on the stage squinting a little from the glaring lights; proud to belong. Suited up, their red-and-white striped ties twisted neatly around their necks, they were presented to the faithful audience by their coaches. And then the captain spoke.
Stuart Maxfield spoke of sacrifice, inspiration, belief and courage. Some players standing on the stage that night were a good example of those words in 2003, having delivered their best season so far.
Last year, Brett Kirk was handed his No. 31 jumper on the same stage but there was little certainty running through his head then. He wasn't even sure if he'd be playing in the first round. He had not played a full senior game, always coming off the bench.
Yet, in 2003, like Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton, Adam Schneider and others, he had his most impressive year. Why? In his speech, Maxfield talked of a moment in the qualifying final when Kirk was dealt a sickening bump by Port Adelaide's human cannonball Byron Pickett. Kirk was felled but, like a jack in the box, immediately sprung back up.
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"This courageous piece of play was symbolic of our team all year," Maxfield said. "You get knocked down, you get up. If you can't get up, somebody else comes along and plays their part. Why do we do it? Because sacrifice equals inspiration. There's no greater motivating force than to inspire someone else."
Kirk smiles now and says he doesn't remember too much about the bump.
"It's not until you see the footage you think, 'Far out, that was a pretty big hit'," Kirk says.
"[There was] a lot of adrenalin. The way I play my footy, especially last year sacrificing my game to help my teammates, being a qualifying final, I was going to do whatever possible to help my mates out and just copping the bump and jumping up, it is not that big a thing . . . but in the scheme of things. . .
"As the season progressed last year, we developed that confidence and we got to a point where there was a self-belief in each other knowing that, every time we ran out on the field, we knew Jude [Bolton] was going to put his head over the ball for me and Adam [Goodes] was always going to be behind me, whatever, and I think coming into this year that progressed even more.
"And at training [now] there is that feeling that we all have got the ability to be out there and we all should be out there."
In other words, there is a sense of belonging and confidence.
The mightily athletic Adam Goodes, who finished the season with a Brownlow Medal around his neck, also had a career-best season. The ruckman/forward/everywhere man says it's not his brilliance that carried the Swans, but the team ethos that lifted individuals to new heights.
"I'm just one player, just one small piece of a jigsaw puzzle at a football club, and no matter what my role is, I've got to be doing it the best that I can do, otherwise we won't win the game," Goodes says.
"We drive each other, like Stuey did say, we are there to inspire each other by our sacrificial acts, the one per centers that we do do. It's not about one bloke getting 30 touches or kicking six goals, it's about the little guys doing the hard work and the hard yards, that's where you get the recognition at this football club."
To the likely dismay of his opponents, Goodes, who also won the Swans' best and fairest, is coming off another fine pre-season. His times are not getting any worse and he's added muscle to his imposing frame.
"The reason for me playing so well [last year] is because I had a good base, playing all the pre-season matches. I've seen to that this year," he says.
"This pre-season I've put on three more kilos. I've put on three but lost three in my skinfolds so I've put the weight on but I've lost the body fat as well, that's one improvement. And in all my time trials I've improved as well.
"It's good to physically know that you can run out games and that you can beat opposition players and that the game plan you are playing works. I'm feeling fit, ready for round one, ready for the Brisbane Lions, looking forward to the amount of challenges, [as much] if not more than last year. To enjoy those as a player group, as a football club, that's what we are here to do. We are here to be successful."
Adam Schneider is hungrier for success this year. Before last season not much was known of the goalsneak who grew up in the tiny community of Osborne near Wagga and stood just 178 centimetres tall. All he hoped for was to get a game.
"I was just a young bloke coming through and I really didn't have that much to lose, I guess," he says. "My expectation at the start of the year was just to play a game or two if I was playing all right in the twos. I didn't expect to play five or six games, let alone 24. The fact I was just out there, just a young fella having fun, doing what I liked doing, was probably the main reason [I had a good season].
"I know now I've got to go up another level because things are going to be harder this year, and I guess I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, I'll get some more game time this year. Nothing to worry about, I suppose, I'm just doing what I love doing."
Schneider has stacked on a little more muscle and says he has more to learn this year. He has been speaking with another "couple of young blokes", Mark Powell and Aaron Rogers, about what he wants from the season.
"Watching that Brisbane [preliminary final defeat] just frustrates you that much, really does frustrate me, it just make you hungrier to get back out there," Schneider says.
"Probably the most important thing we found out was that everyone had to make sacrifices. . . You really couldn't go out there and have the individuals play their own games, you had to really make a sacrifice to get the team up."
Jude Bolton spent some of the off-season exploring mosques in Turkey with his best mate from
school and visited Greece as well. The midfielder had plenty of time to contemplate what had happened during the past year.
"It was just an important year in terms of consistency," he says. "In the past I had had lapses here and there. I think hopefully we are building up to a really big year this year.
"I think previous years I've played without confidence. I think I'm maybe back to the confidence I had when I was young, enjoying footy, it's hard to explain. I think you see a lot of guys that get drafted brimming with confidence but then it's a different step up, then suddenly they've got to play in the forward pocket here, and they're like, 'Hang on, I've never played forward in my life'.
"Sometimes you see guys step straight into it; I took a while. Last year was a big step forward. I'd plateaued in my career previously, now I hope to take a few more steps.
"As a player you always have a time of self-doubt going through [your mind]. But now the guys know we can play in the games in front of big crowds. . . [But] it's all the past now and you've got to move on. You can't live off that year. We didn't achieve what we wanted to achieve. You can't hang your hat on that".
By Jessica Halloran
March 26, 2004
Print this article
Email to a friend
Team spirit: the Swans during training this week. Photo: Craig Golding
The players ran their fingers over their gleaming blood-red-and-snowy-white jumpers; new, silky, clean, unmarked by grass, dirt or sweat. They stood on the stage squinting a little from the glaring lights; proud to belong. Suited up, their red-and-white striped ties twisted neatly around their necks, they were presented to the faithful audience by their coaches. And then the captain spoke.
Stuart Maxfield spoke of sacrifice, inspiration, belief and courage. Some players standing on the stage that night were a good example of those words in 2003, having delivered their best season so far.
Last year, Brett Kirk was handed his No. 31 jumper on the same stage but there was little certainty running through his head then. He wasn't even sure if he'd be playing in the first round. He had not played a full senior game, always coming off the bench.
Yet, in 2003, like Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton, Adam Schneider and others, he had his most impressive year. Why? In his speech, Maxfield talked of a moment in the qualifying final when Kirk was dealt a sickening bump by Port Adelaide's human cannonball Byron Pickett. Kirk was felled but, like a jack in the box, immediately sprung back up.
advertisement
advertisement
"This courageous piece of play was symbolic of our team all year," Maxfield said. "You get knocked down, you get up. If you can't get up, somebody else comes along and plays their part. Why do we do it? Because sacrifice equals inspiration. There's no greater motivating force than to inspire someone else."
Kirk smiles now and says he doesn't remember too much about the bump.
"It's not until you see the footage you think, 'Far out, that was a pretty big hit'," Kirk says.
"[There was] a lot of adrenalin. The way I play my footy, especially last year sacrificing my game to help my teammates, being a qualifying final, I was going to do whatever possible to help my mates out and just copping the bump and jumping up, it is not that big a thing . . . but in the scheme of things. . .
"As the season progressed last year, we developed that confidence and we got to a point where there was a self-belief in each other knowing that, every time we ran out on the field, we knew Jude [Bolton] was going to put his head over the ball for me and Adam [Goodes] was always going to be behind me, whatever, and I think coming into this year that progressed even more.
"And at training [now] there is that feeling that we all have got the ability to be out there and we all should be out there."
In other words, there is a sense of belonging and confidence.
The mightily athletic Adam Goodes, who finished the season with a Brownlow Medal around his neck, also had a career-best season. The ruckman/forward/everywhere man says it's not his brilliance that carried the Swans, but the team ethos that lifted individuals to new heights.
"I'm just one player, just one small piece of a jigsaw puzzle at a football club, and no matter what my role is, I've got to be doing it the best that I can do, otherwise we won't win the game," Goodes says.
"We drive each other, like Stuey did say, we are there to inspire each other by our sacrificial acts, the one per centers that we do do. It's not about one bloke getting 30 touches or kicking six goals, it's about the little guys doing the hard work and the hard yards, that's where you get the recognition at this football club."
To the likely dismay of his opponents, Goodes, who also won the Swans' best and fairest, is coming off another fine pre-season. His times are not getting any worse and he's added muscle to his imposing frame.
"The reason for me playing so well [last year] is because I had a good base, playing all the pre-season matches. I've seen to that this year," he says.
"This pre-season I've put on three more kilos. I've put on three but lost three in my skinfolds so I've put the weight on but I've lost the body fat as well, that's one improvement. And in all my time trials I've improved as well.
"It's good to physically know that you can run out games and that you can beat opposition players and that the game plan you are playing works. I'm feeling fit, ready for round one, ready for the Brisbane Lions, looking forward to the amount of challenges, [as much] if not more than last year. To enjoy those as a player group, as a football club, that's what we are here to do. We are here to be successful."
Adam Schneider is hungrier for success this year. Before last season not much was known of the goalsneak who grew up in the tiny community of Osborne near Wagga and stood just 178 centimetres tall. All he hoped for was to get a game.
"I was just a young bloke coming through and I really didn't have that much to lose, I guess," he says. "My expectation at the start of the year was just to play a game or two if I was playing all right in the twos. I didn't expect to play five or six games, let alone 24. The fact I was just out there, just a young fella having fun, doing what I liked doing, was probably the main reason [I had a good season].
"I know now I've got to go up another level because things are going to be harder this year, and I guess I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, I'll get some more game time this year. Nothing to worry about, I suppose, I'm just doing what I love doing."
Schneider has stacked on a little more muscle and says he has more to learn this year. He has been speaking with another "couple of young blokes", Mark Powell and Aaron Rogers, about what he wants from the season.
"Watching that Brisbane [preliminary final defeat] just frustrates you that much, really does frustrate me, it just make you hungrier to get back out there," Schneider says.
"Probably the most important thing we found out was that everyone had to make sacrifices. . . You really couldn't go out there and have the individuals play their own games, you had to really make a sacrifice to get the team up."
Jude Bolton spent some of the off-season exploring mosques in Turkey with his best mate from
school and visited Greece as well. The midfielder had plenty of time to contemplate what had happened during the past year.
"It was just an important year in terms of consistency," he says. "In the past I had had lapses here and there. I think hopefully we are building up to a really big year this year.
"I think previous years I've played without confidence. I think I'm maybe back to the confidence I had when I was young, enjoying footy, it's hard to explain. I think you see a lot of guys that get drafted brimming with confidence but then it's a different step up, then suddenly they've got to play in the forward pocket here, and they're like, 'Hang on, I've never played forward in my life'.
"Sometimes you see guys step straight into it; I took a while. Last year was a big step forward. I'd plateaued in my career previously, now I hope to take a few more steps.
"As a player you always have a time of self-doubt going through [your mind]. But now the guys know we can play in the games in front of big crowds. . . [But] it's all the past now and you've got to move on. You can't live off that year. We didn't achieve what we wanted to achieve. You can't hang your hat on that".