You know, I'd rather be playing any other team than the Lions this week. That's not because I'm scared of playing you. I have no reason to be scared, we've beaten you twice and I see no reason why we can't do it again. It'll simply come down to who's better on the night. I don't want to play you in the preliminary, because I'd love to play you in the Grand Final instead.
As a Swans fan, I have a lot of respect and empathy with the Lions. You guys have gone through the same thing we have, trying to establish in what is effectively a market foreign to football. You guys have done it better than us so far, because you have two flags to show for it. We're doing our best to catch up.
The parallels don't end there. The two clubs have together been the targets of Victoria's pathetic little campaign to gain an advantage over us by removing the equalisation measures with the salary cap and zone picks. They've mostly succeeded. It seems that when you can't beat a team with things being equal, you need to make them unfair, but they still haven't been able to stop at least one of us making the big one.
Our longer term history is also so similar. I'm a Melbourne-based Swans fan who has never lived in NSW. While I'm too young to be a South Melbourne fan in the true sense of the word, I love and respect the history of my club going all the way back to 1874, regardless of how it stacks up to Carlton or Collingwood in terms of premierships. The Swans, and the Lions, know what it means to fight.
The Bloods fought and fought and never gave up. We've been dead half a dozen times and gotten up out of the grave half a dozen times. Fitzroy went through the same thing, and in the end lasted a little longer than South did. Our old Victorian clubs may not be the exact same as they were, but they live on in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
The Swans and Lions are going to be rivals on Saturday night. We'll be playing off for a Grand Final spot. We can't afford to be friends, and from here on in it's all business. But with less than a week to go until the biggest match my club has been in for 60 years, I just want to say good luck, and may the best team win.
Cheers.
As a Swans fan, I have a lot of respect and empathy with the Lions. You guys have gone through the same thing we have, trying to establish in what is effectively a market foreign to football. You guys have done it better than us so far, because you have two flags to show for it. We're doing our best to catch up.
The parallels don't end there. The two clubs have together been the targets of Victoria's pathetic little campaign to gain an advantage over us by removing the equalisation measures with the salary cap and zone picks. They've mostly succeeded. It seems that when you can't beat a team with things being equal, you need to make them unfair, but they still haven't been able to stop at least one of us making the big one.
Our longer term history is also so similar. I'm a Melbourne-based Swans fan who has never lived in NSW. While I'm too young to be a South Melbourne fan in the true sense of the word, I love and respect the history of my club going all the way back to 1874, regardless of how it stacks up to Carlton or Collingwood in terms of premierships. The Swans, and the Lions, know what it means to fight.
The Bloods fought and fought and never gave up. We've been dead half a dozen times and gotten up out of the grave half a dozen times. Fitzroy went through the same thing, and in the end lasted a little longer than South did. Our old Victorian clubs may not be the exact same as they were, but they live on in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
The Swans and Lions are going to be rivals on Saturday night. We'll be playing off for a Grand Final spot. We can't afford to be friends, and from here on in it's all business. But with less than a week to go until the biggest match my club has been in for 60 years, I just want to say good luck, and may the best team win.
Cheers.
