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Wrote this a year ago in the week leading up to the Port Final and thought I would trot it out again, especially for people who didn't read it last year.
Enjoy, Dawson
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What is belief? The dictionary defines it as ?the mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another.?
You can only test your belief in what you believe in when every sign, every indication, everyone is telling you that you are wrong.
David before he took on Goliath.
Muhammad Ali before the ?Rumble in the Jungle?.
The 1980 ?Miracle on Ice?.
Paul Keating winning the unwinnable sweetest of them all 1993 Election.
Pat Cash down two sets to love in 1983 Davis Cup fifth and final rubber telling Neale Fraser, ?I can?t do it Frase, I just can?t.?
The only reason why all these massive underdogs prevailed is that they had self belief. They had to. They believed in themselves and it didn?t matter that no one else did - because they did.
That is the equation facing the Swans now. If they don?t believe in themselves who will?
Let?s be honest, the club has a poor finals record. Of all the teams which have played 50 finals or more, the Swans have only won 40% which is the worst record just behind Geelong?s, another underachiever.
Now is the time for that to change. Now is the time for a new culture to breed. It?s funny, for ages you would hear about Adelaide?s inability to win in Melbourne. They have only won 36 of their 108 games in Melbourne but the myth has been shattered because they have won two preliminary finals and two Grand Finals in Melbourne.
Reputations can be changed ? it just requires results consistently produced.
The players now have the chance to write history while the pages are still blank and the ink is still fresh. Afterwards, it is too late. In some ways its very much do or die for the Swans this weekend as if they lose they are looking down the barrel of the ignominy of bowing out in straight sets. As far as football sins go, this is the hardest thing to swallow.
To finish in the top four and not win a final is criminal. The last side to do that was Port and look where it has got them. Before that it was the Bulldogs in 1999 and they have never been the same since. Ditto the Cats in 1997. The only one who was able to rebound was Carlton in 1994 who had an amazing 1995.
Five months of slog plus the pre-season all frittered away in two games. Neither players, the coaches or the club can never escape that albatross which would hang around their necks. The football world has a long memory. Very long.
Ask the Swans of 1986-87. They may be great players but there were doubts about their ability to play big matches. Forget about the critics saying it, they doubted themselves. How could you not?
So the red and white component of Greg Williams finally had some rest when he won the 1995 Norm Smith medal and Premiership whereas someone like Collywobble, Peter Moore will always be haunted by the ghosts of five grand finals for no wins. (I counted the draw)
If the Swans perform the unthinkable they can assist their past players and fans who are also haunted by past opportunities which came and went. Or some which just never came.
You could hear the ghosts hanging around the Lake Oval finally having something to cheer about.
If the Swans don?t win the flag this year they set the record for the longest Premiership drought ever in the VFL/AFL ? 70 years! By the law of averages one year has to be the Year of the Swan doesn?t it? Well only if the players want it that much.
Ultimately it?s all about the players. They stuffed up in the Hawthorn match and did their past champions no favours at all. This week they can repay the Vic Belcher?s and the Ron Clegg?s and the David Murphy?s and the Jack Bisset?s back with interest.
I guess it?s a bit like the people in Harry Potter whose arm starts blinking when Voldermort begins to call them. A win on Sunday will see the little Swan in all of us swanning around, smiling and winking.
But with that would come massive expectations and the players would have to deal with a preliminary final. No point winning this game and frittering it away in two weeks. Same with the Grand Final. And as much as we say - we just want the players to do well and compete ? we crave that moment in the sunshine which for so long we have been deprived.
There are currently eight teams on holidays. In three weeks, six would have joined them and only two will remain. Ultimately, only one will smile. 1 winner and 15 losers ? it?s a tough equation and one perhaps only sadomasochistics would agree to.
We might get smashed this week and next week and so ends another year with disappointment like all the others.
But for now, I?m filled with eternal hope and can visualize a premiership cup decked out in red and white streamers. Why? Because I believe ? that?s why.
Enjoy, Dawson
========================================
What is belief? The dictionary defines it as ?the mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another.?
You can only test your belief in what you believe in when every sign, every indication, everyone is telling you that you are wrong.
David before he took on Goliath.
Muhammad Ali before the ?Rumble in the Jungle?.
The 1980 ?Miracle on Ice?.
Paul Keating winning the unwinnable sweetest of them all 1993 Election.
Pat Cash down two sets to love in 1983 Davis Cup fifth and final rubber telling Neale Fraser, ?I can?t do it Frase, I just can?t.?
The only reason why all these massive underdogs prevailed is that they had self belief. They had to. They believed in themselves and it didn?t matter that no one else did - because they did.
That is the equation facing the Swans now. If they don?t believe in themselves who will?
Let?s be honest, the club has a poor finals record. Of all the teams which have played 50 finals or more, the Swans have only won 40% which is the worst record just behind Geelong?s, another underachiever.
Now is the time for that to change. Now is the time for a new culture to breed. It?s funny, for ages you would hear about Adelaide?s inability to win in Melbourne. They have only won 36 of their 108 games in Melbourne but the myth has been shattered because they have won two preliminary finals and two Grand Finals in Melbourne.
Reputations can be changed ? it just requires results consistently produced.
The players now have the chance to write history while the pages are still blank and the ink is still fresh. Afterwards, it is too late. In some ways its very much do or die for the Swans this weekend as if they lose they are looking down the barrel of the ignominy of bowing out in straight sets. As far as football sins go, this is the hardest thing to swallow.
To finish in the top four and not win a final is criminal. The last side to do that was Port and look where it has got them. Before that it was the Bulldogs in 1999 and they have never been the same since. Ditto the Cats in 1997. The only one who was able to rebound was Carlton in 1994 who had an amazing 1995.
Five months of slog plus the pre-season all frittered away in two games. Neither players, the coaches or the club can never escape that albatross which would hang around their necks. The football world has a long memory. Very long.
Ask the Swans of 1986-87. They may be great players but there were doubts about their ability to play big matches. Forget about the critics saying it, they doubted themselves. How could you not?
So the red and white component of Greg Williams finally had some rest when he won the 1995 Norm Smith medal and Premiership whereas someone like Collywobble, Peter Moore will always be haunted by the ghosts of five grand finals for no wins. (I counted the draw)
If the Swans perform the unthinkable they can assist their past players and fans who are also haunted by past opportunities which came and went. Or some which just never came.
You could hear the ghosts hanging around the Lake Oval finally having something to cheer about.
If the Swans don?t win the flag this year they set the record for the longest Premiership drought ever in the VFL/AFL ? 70 years! By the law of averages one year has to be the Year of the Swan doesn?t it? Well only if the players want it that much.
Ultimately it?s all about the players. They stuffed up in the Hawthorn match and did their past champions no favours at all. This week they can repay the Vic Belcher?s and the Ron Clegg?s and the David Murphy?s and the Jack Bisset?s back with interest.
I guess it?s a bit like the people in Harry Potter whose arm starts blinking when Voldermort begins to call them. A win on Sunday will see the little Swan in all of us swanning around, smiling and winking.
But with that would come massive expectations and the players would have to deal with a preliminary final. No point winning this game and frittering it away in two weeks. Same with the Grand Final. And as much as we say - we just want the players to do well and compete ? we crave that moment in the sunshine which for so long we have been deprived.
There are currently eight teams on holidays. In three weeks, six would have joined them and only two will remain. Ultimately, only one will smile. 1 winner and 15 losers ? it?s a tough equation and one perhaps only sadomasochistics would agree to.
We might get smashed this week and next week and so ends another year with disappointment like all the others.
But for now, I?m filled with eternal hope and can visualize a premiership cup decked out in red and white streamers. Why? Because I believe ? that?s why.
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