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The last time I was able to regularly access RWO was in mid July before I left for the Arctic. I managed to keep up with what was happening with the team via Iridium phone while standing outside on a frozen ship's deck, sometimes with snow falling, at other times with the aurora borealis putting on a light show overhead.
Then the Swans' season all came undone in the St Kilda final. I was showing people around the small village of Scoresbysund Fiord on Greenland's east coast. I left the group regularly to check out AFL.com.au at the tiny tourist ofice (with dial-up internet) and saw the finals slipping out of our grip. Oh well, we achieved about the same as we did last year - without the element of surprise this year, a more multifaceted gameplan and a massive injury list for most of the season certainly denying us a top four finish. Next year, I hope. At least the Swans under Paul Roos are regarded as a finals fixture - a long way from when i started following the team.
On a very few occasions I had a quick look into RWO from expensive internet cafes in Iceland and Oslo. I didn't stay for long as, no matter how the team was going, it seemed remarkably negative.
But now I'm home and back on broadband. I've had a look at RWO to see what the issues were. And I'm sorry I did. Especially during the trade period. If I ignore the pathetic sniping from one member to the next I still find that most supporters appear to hate the team, the players and the coaching staff. It appears that Paul Roos has abandoned his youth policy by taking a young ruckman who has played the game already! And that player is crap - all the Dees supporters now say that, I hear. And the only reason we couldn't trade away any of the Swans players who have flourished under Roos was because no other team would want them. We're just second (or third) rate - which doesn't say much about the 12 teams that finished behind us.
Through a RWO friend who bought me a ticket while I was away I was able to go to the Club Champion dinner and that was inspirational. It appears that the team like each other and the staff and are proud to be Swans. Bazza even cried for goodness sake! The 800 or so people there on the night were equally deluded that we were working towards a common goal. And there was no doubt shown by any of the speakers who told us that the club would not be complete until it held a modern premiership flag. Only a very few of RWO seem to share the optimism that this goal is within reach.
From the perspective of a reborn outsider, I seem to have come back to Tiger-striped Swans supporters whose support for the club only extends as far as the team's last win. It's kinda sad really.
Then the Swans' season all came undone in the St Kilda final. I was showing people around the small village of Scoresbysund Fiord on Greenland's east coast. I left the group regularly to check out AFL.com.au at the tiny tourist ofice (with dial-up internet) and saw the finals slipping out of our grip. Oh well, we achieved about the same as we did last year - without the element of surprise this year, a more multifaceted gameplan and a massive injury list for most of the season certainly denying us a top four finish. Next year, I hope. At least the Swans under Paul Roos are regarded as a finals fixture - a long way from when i started following the team.
On a very few occasions I had a quick look into RWO from expensive internet cafes in Iceland and Oslo. I didn't stay for long as, no matter how the team was going, it seemed remarkably negative.
But now I'm home and back on broadband. I've had a look at RWO to see what the issues were. And I'm sorry I did. Especially during the trade period. If I ignore the pathetic sniping from one member to the next I still find that most supporters appear to hate the team, the players and the coaching staff. It appears that Paul Roos has abandoned his youth policy by taking a young ruckman who has played the game already! And that player is crap - all the Dees supporters now say that, I hear. And the only reason we couldn't trade away any of the Swans players who have flourished under Roos was because no other team would want them. We're just second (or third) rate - which doesn't say much about the 12 teams that finished behind us.
Through a RWO friend who bought me a ticket while I was away I was able to go to the Club Champion dinner and that was inspirational. It appears that the team like each other and the staff and are proud to be Swans. Bazza even cried for goodness sake! The 800 or so people there on the night were equally deluded that we were working towards a common goal. And there was no doubt shown by any of the speakers who told us that the club would not be complete until it held a modern premiership flag. Only a very few of RWO seem to share the optimism that this goal is within reach.
From the perspective of a reborn outsider, I seem to have come back to Tiger-striped Swans supporters whose support for the club only extends as far as the team's last win. It's kinda sad really.
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