Speaker 1: Here at two Good Sports. We would like to acknowledge
Speaker 1: the traditional owners of the land on which we record
Speaker 1: this podcast. The were innerie people. This land was never seated,
Speaker 1: always was always will be. Hello and welcome to too
Speaker 1: Good Sports. Sports news told differently. I'm Abby. Gentlemen. If
Speaker 1: you're thinking, why isn't Georgie Tunney doing the intro? Isn't
Speaker 1: that her gig? You're right it is. Georgie has decided
Speaker 1: to flee the coop. She's gone to America for a month,
Speaker 1: as you do. So, George, We're not missing you at
Speaker 1: all because I'm joined by my dear friend and colleague,
Speaker 1: Laura Speway. Laura, welcome, Hello, Abby, Yeah, it's great to
Speaker 1: be here. It is great to have you here now.
Speaker 1: Laura is one of the officionados in the seven newsroom
Speaker 1: across all sorts of sport. We're looking forward to having
Speaker 1: you on because it is a big week of AFL.
Speaker 1: It's a huge week. It is the best month of
Speaker 1: the year in Melbourne. September is so busy, there's such
Speaker 1: a vibe. It's my favorite time of the year for sure.
Speaker 1: We start off with a good sport and are a
Speaker 1: bad sport and our good sport for the week has
Speaker 1: to be Jack Buckley just guiding Isaac Keeney down after
Speaker 1: what was arguably the mark of the year. Now he
Speaker 1: flew Heeney and almost landed on his head, but it
Speaker 1: was Jack Buckley, of course from DWS that just nursed
Speaker 1: him to the ground and I thought, what a good sport.
Speaker 1: This has got worldwide attention. Yeah, the reaction to this
Speaker 1: has been insane. There's been sports people, commentators all over
Speaker 1: the world look at this and go, jeez, that was
Speaker 1: a good bloke thing to do. He didn't have to
Speaker 1: do that. There's a lot on the line. It was
Speaker 1: an incredible grab. I was about to say a question
Speaker 1: without notice here, should mark and Goal of the Year
Speaker 1: include finals? I think this comes up every year because
Speaker 1: the competition steps up in finals. The standard is obviously
Speaker 1: super high because you've got the best teams going at it. Yes,
Speaker 1: and so we always have these big game moments, and
Speaker 1: there were several in that game the Swans GWS. That
Speaker 1: was one. I think it's going to get harder to
Speaker 1: eliminate those games because you are getting these moments and
Speaker 1: they're not going to be recognized. Even Jeremy Cameron from
Speaker 1: the boundary, Yep had no right and yet it was
Speaker 1: just the most incredible goal. I think it needs to
Speaker 1: be included personally, Yep, I would agree. Otherwise you get
Speaker 1: this little feeling of like what we have with the
Speaker 1: rising Star when you don't have Harley Reid available and
Speaker 1: you're like, well, I mean, come on, we know that
Speaker 1: he is the best young player in the competition, so
Speaker 1: it sort of becomes like a novelty gift. Don't you reckon? Well?
Speaker 1: And Isaac Haney can't win the Brown Low, I know
Speaker 1: an incredible performance in that final was everywhere? Was everywhere. Now, Laura,
Speaker 1: I'm want to make you my good sport and ask
Speaker 1: you the questions that I get asked as a sports journalist,
Speaker 1: because I think when people love sport, and if you
Speaker 1: found your way too good sports, you'll probably do you think,
Speaker 1: j it'd be fun to be a sports journal How
Speaker 1: do you even start on that path? And what does
Speaker 1: your day look like? So? How did you find yourself
Speaker 1: in the seven newsroom covering sport? I always wanted to
Speaker 1: do sport. It was a goal of mine forever. I
Speaker 1: was not very good at sport. This has not come
Speaker 1: from any athletic ability whatsoever. I knew that former sham
Speaker 1: meant shock me. I'm about five foot nothing. I'm not
Speaker 1: a form or anything at all, So I have no
Speaker 1: athletic prowess in the slightest But I always loved watching
Speaker 1: it and watching everything, and I was like, Okay, I
Speaker 1: like watching I like talking about it more than my husband.
Speaker 1: So I used to find myself in these conversations with
Speaker 1: his mates, and I was more into it. But I
Speaker 1: always had other things going on, So I did a
Speaker 1: degree in media. I started in radio. I started in
Speaker 1: sort of talk radio, and then I found other jobs
Speaker 1: in TV. I was a producer for a while, I
Speaker 1: worked overseas. I worked in business news behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: and I was always desperate to find my way into sports,
Speaker 1: so I kind of did bits and pieces when I
Speaker 1: was a news reporter. And then finally there was an
Speaker 1: opening at Channel seven, and I think it was that
Speaker 1: classic thing of right person, right time, right place, and persistence.
Speaker 1: In my case, it was persistence because it is so competitive,
Speaker 1: isn't it. It's so competitive. I like to think that
Speaker 1: it's gotten a bit easier than it used to be,
Speaker 1: the fact that I could get into it after already
Speaker 1: having fifteen years in TV is unusual, but I got there,
Speaker 1: and so I managed to get the job at Channel seven.
Speaker 1: So I've been at seven sort of three and a
Speaker 1: half years. I'm in the newsroom, so we're very busy
Speaker 1: day to day. I was about to say, so's today's
Speaker 1: a workday. Yep, We've just had finals over the weekend.
Speaker 1: You might be going to a Hawks press conference. You
Speaker 1: might not. You might be going to an airport where
Speaker 1: you're very glamorously shared that you sit on a floor
Speaker 1: with a coffee waiting to see who might be possibly
Speaker 1: limping when they get off the plane. It's one of
Speaker 1: those days where you can really take a turn, pn't
Speaker 1: of you just never know what you're going to get. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can have a plan, but those plans can go
Speaker 1: out the window if something happens. So you know, obviously
Speaker 1: at the moment, we've got our eye on the teams
Speaker 1: who are still in the finals. But then you've got
Speaker 1: you know, the Western Bulldogs that've got exit interviews. Do
Speaker 1: you want to declare that your dog is fan off
Speaker 1: the top or I think too heartbroken? I need to
Speaker 1: for the purposes of what we're going to discuss today,
Speaker 1: because I'm still a bit hard on sleeve. I'm still
Speaker 1: a bit upset about the result. In fairness, they didn't
Speaker 1: show up the way that I thought they were going
Speaker 1: to and the Hawks were too good. But yes, Western
Speaker 1: Bulldogs supported here. So today, for example, you know there'll
Speaker 1: be exit interviews this week, the players potentially out the door,
Speaker 1: so you know we'll be looking at that. But come
Speaker 1: six o'clock things can change. So you can find yourself
Speaker 1: in all sorts of unglamorous locations like car parks, like airports. Scans. Yes,
Speaker 1: scans is a big one, isn't it. You kind of
Speaker 1: feel like a little bit of a stalker, yes, just
Speaker 1: hoping that you get people wandering out of a medical
Speaker 1: appointment being like, hello, how are you feeling? Do you
Speaker 1: have a bandage on your knee? Is that limp? Or
Speaker 1: did you just fall over? Can you tell me about it? Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's all these parts to the job which I think,
Speaker 1: you know, people aren't aware of, Like there's this perspective
Speaker 1: that it is a glamorous job. And don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: it's a great job. It is. We get to talk
Speaker 1: about sport for a living. We have a lot of fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we get to be I was at the MCG on
Speaker 1: Friday night, ninety seven thousand people. Such a buzz and
Speaker 1: you were so happy on air because it was before
Speaker 1: the Dog's lost. Luckily I got my commitments out of
Speaker 1: the way. Pregame might have been a bit different after
Speaker 1: the game, but yeah, you've got to kind of put
Speaker 1: that aside, don't you. Like we all have allegiances, we've
Speaker 1: got teams that we follow, but in the job, the
Speaker 1: pendance is you don't have normal weekends, and when everyone
Speaker 1: else is driving home at five pm, we're ramping up
Speaker 1: for the news. So there is a bit of yin
Speaker 1: and yang to it. But if you love it the
Speaker 1: way that you've loved it your whole life, every now
Speaker 1: and then you find yourself just pinching yourself that you're
Speaker 1: in an office surrounded by other people that love what
Speaker 1: you love, having debates about what you think is going
Speaker 1: to happen, and you're like, just how cool is this? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think for me, you know, I've done a lot
Speaker 1: of news reporting as well, and I just fundamentally wanted
Speaker 1: to do sport because it's not miserable. No, there's nothing
Speaker 1: in it, It's so true. Yeah, you have an interest
Speaker 1: in something that a lot of people have an interesting
Speaker 1: You can always have conversations with people and I find
Speaker 1: that everyone has something to say and fundamentally it's positive
Speaker 1: and particularly where we are, and of course we record
Speaker 1: in Melbourne, the sporting capital of the country. It dictates
Speaker 1: how people feel. It does stay today and we are
Speaker 1: going to ask some burning questions in our main deep
Speaker 1: dive this week, because my goodness, did the first week
Speaker 1: of finals deliver and it delivered some big questions. So
Speaker 1: we're going to get to those up next. Well, it
Speaker 1: is the best month of the year. It is September,
Speaker 1: the sun is starting to shine and it is finals football.
Speaker 1: And in the absence of our NRL loving friend see
Speaker 1: you later, George, we are going into a deep dive
Speaker 1: of the main discussion points to come out of the
Speaker 1: first week of the AFL Finals and Laura, I'm dying
Speaker 1: dying to discussed this because I can convince myself either
Speaker 1: way about this, so I need to know your thoughts.
Speaker 1: Jack Ginovan, is that an innocent night of just having
Speaker 1: a pub meal with mates or is it an unwonted
Speaker 1: distraction yet again for his team after what we know
Speaker 1: the history onics around what happened from last year's Grand
Speaker 1: Final when he decided to go to Mooney Valley and
Speaker 1: have a bit of a punt. Do we support this
Speaker 1: and can we support this? I am shaking my head
Speaker 1: like the nanner I am, which is a reflection on me.
Speaker 1: I just obviously I've declared I'm a Bulldogs fan, so
Speaker 1: this was even harder for me to swallow. I just
Speaker 1: don't understand how when you're in an industry where you
Speaker 1: have such a high level of performance expectation on your
Speaker 1: ability to perform as an athlete, that you can be
Speaker 1: in this situation. I'm not saying unwind, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: find a way to, you know, take your mind off
Speaker 1: what's ahead, but this particular setting, knowing that everybody knows
Speaker 1: who you are, putting yourself in that situation, I don't
Speaker 1: get it. So, for context, if you were under a
Speaker 1: rock over the weekend. Jack Innovan, who is probably the
Speaker 1: leader of the Hollywood Hawks in terms of this young
Speaker 1: brand of football that they're playing where they don't care
Speaker 1: they are who they are, we accept who you are,
Speaker 1: is a massive part of Hawthorne's brand that seems to
Speaker 1: be going amazingly for them. He decided to go to
Speaker 1: a pub and have a dinner with mates, and it
Speaker 1: just blew up because Joe Public has seen him and
Speaker 1: taken a photo of the fact that he had a
Speaker 1: beverage in his hand that sort of looks like perhaps
Speaker 1: a lemon lemon bitters if you squint, but it could
Speaker 1: have been alcoholic. No one knows. And again uproar. And
Speaker 1: this comes off the back of the discussion that we
Speaker 1: had last week about Christian Petrarca Georgie and I went
Speaker 1: into a deep dive about the fact that, you know,
Speaker 1: people are a little bit against the fact that he
Speaker 1: might be moving clubs for his personal brand. And now
Speaker 1: you've got a young man who said, oh, I messaged
Speaker 1: the coach and got it approved that I could go
Speaker 1: out and have a dinner. Is this just young people
Speaker 1: being young people and the fact that all athletes don't
Speaker 1: necessarily need to be Scott Pendlebury and be so militant
Speaker 1: in how they perform in order to do well. And
Speaker 1: my brain initially went, oh, mate, just if you have
Speaker 1: to text your boss, don't do it. And maybe that's
Speaker 1: the goody two shoes in me, but I can't imagine
Speaker 1: the night before having to perform at work thinking oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do something here and I might get
Speaker 1: in trouble for it. I'll just flick the boss a text.
Speaker 1: You just wouldn't do it. But is Jack Innovan one
Speaker 1: of those players that needs a little spice, needs a
Speaker 1: storyline leading into these big events because that's when he's
Speaker 1: most comfortable. Is he like a Michael Jordan that used
Speaker 1: to make up fake headlines and plant them in the
Speaker 1: paper so that he felt like everyone was against him
Speaker 1: when really they words, because that's when he performed his best,
Speaker 1: when there was a bit of anger. I mean Michael Jordan, Jackie,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan. So I feel like a long but probably
Speaker 1: the longest bow anyone's ever falled. I'm just saying, if
Speaker 1: you're Michael Jordan, you could probably get away with anything.
Speaker 1: You could probably get away with anything. But look, he
Speaker 1: is an agitator. That's the personality that he is. I
Speaker 1: don't mind that. I think it spices things up, but
Speaker 1: I just think, don't you know what's going to come
Speaker 1: of this? Don't even know he does because he experienced
Speaker 1: it last year and it was arguably one of the
Speaker 1: catalysts for the fact that he moved on from Collingwood.
Speaker 1: But also and this is the annoying thing about it,
Speaker 1: or I shouldn't say annoying us. The reality is that
Speaker 1: they won the game, I know. And after his second
Speaker 1: goal he's celebrated by minding drinking a beer. It was
Speaker 1: just the biggest f you to anyone that had challenged him.
Speaker 1: And part of me and again working in news where
Speaker 1: you're looking for stories, he's our dream. He is a
Speaker 1: walking headline and he buys into it. Look, it is
Speaker 1: good for the game. I get the argument that it's
Speaker 1: great for the game to have these personalities. It makes
Speaker 1: it interesting, it keeps it dynamic. I wonder at some
Speaker 1: point if it does catch up with them, because yes,
Speaker 1: they've bought into the hole. Be yourselves will give you
Speaker 1: some rope. Some players need that, and there are probably
Speaker 1: players like that at most clubs, where they just need
Speaker 1: to be given a little bit more rope to perform.
Speaker 1: But in this club's case, they seem to have this.
Speaker 1: Everyone has rope, everyone's got rope. There are no there's
Speaker 1: no rope left. It's worked for them, though it has
Speaker 1: worked for them so far. I do wonder at some
Speaker 1: point if that continues, they will get older like the
Speaker 1: Luke brusts you know they're not doing that. They've been
Speaker 1: at Hawthorne and there's basically him and Jack Gunston left
Speaker 1: that are like high where you're over thirties club? Can
Speaker 1: you please help us out here? Yes? So yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: it's not something that I would have done. I know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would have approved it either.
Speaker 1: But then they won the game, and I think this
Speaker 1: leads into our next question of like Hockball and the
Speaker 1: Hollywood Hawks and just the ridiculousness of how successful they've
Speaker 1: been given the little expectations on them, understandably so because
Speaker 1: they seem to be without at the start of the
Speaker 1: season those stars, those anchors, and then they just have
Speaker 1: come out of nowhere, which has been incredible to see.
Speaker 1: But I laugh at the idea that Sam Mitchell was
Speaker 1: such a line and length person while he was playing
Speaker 1: and the fact that he's I think had to learn
Speaker 1: and adapting. You hear Luke Colldge of course, who was
Speaker 1: his premiership captain, say this is not the sam Mitchell
Speaker 1: that I played with and he's learnt to adapt and
Speaker 1: it's working for him. And I mean you look and
Speaker 1: they take on Port Adelaide if they if they win
Speaker 1: that game, they could potentially be in the Grand Final
Speaker 1: because the Swans are gettable for them. This is it's
Speaker 1: just it's unbelievable. It has to be the story of
Speaker 1: the season. It is easily from seventeenth to finals. If
Speaker 1: you look at the Hawk merch that they're now putting
Speaker 1: out of which I think the players actually get. I
Speaker 1: think Jack actually gets a cut of the Hawk merch.
Speaker 1: I want like, I'm on board. I'm on board as
Speaker 1: much as I feel four hundred years old, because I
Speaker 1: would be that person that has the same spag bowl
Speaker 1: and make sure I'm in bed by eight thirty. I
Speaker 1: love it. I absolutely love it. But speaking of older teams,
Speaker 1: and I think of them as older teams, but really
Speaker 1: it wasn't their veterans that got them over the line.
Speaker 1: The question is another burning question. Will Geelong ever rebuild
Speaker 1: in a system that is designed that what goes up
Speaker 1: must come down Ie there are draft picks, and also
Speaker 1: the schedule itself puts itself against you because there needs
Speaker 1: to be a cycle of who's at the top. This
Speaker 1: team just seems to consistently perform. In addition to that,
Speaker 1: Chris Scott needs to be studied. Yeah, he hates the
Speaker 1: R word, by the way, hates rebuild. Hates the R word,
Speaker 1: or you would have experienced have you said rebuild and
Speaker 1: copped it from him? I have not per personally, but
Speaker 1: you've seen it. So midyear, when you know the ledger
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily great, he was asked, last five in a row,
Speaker 1: didn't they? Yeah, so they did, and he was asked
Speaker 1: about it and he said, we haven't done that in
Speaker 1: fourteen years. You haven't, so we're not going to do
Speaker 1: it now. And the thing is they haven't had to
Speaker 1: because they've found a way to be consistently successful. And
Speaker 1: the thing about that is that when you have that record,
Speaker 1: and you have a coach with his record, you don't
Speaker 1: have a problem attracting players to your club. So they've
Speaker 1: been able to attract the young talent who have performed
Speaker 1: very well this season. There are a couple in the
Speaker 1: final last week Sean Manor was outstanding. He came up
Speaker 1: through the VFL, so he had to wait to get
Speaker 1: his spot, came in had a huge game last week.
Speaker 1: So they've got this talent there who is coming through,
Speaker 1: who is able to offset the Dad's army as they
Speaker 1: call them. And because they seem to have this culture
Speaker 1: and this vibe which is more relaxed than the teams
Speaker 1: in the city. It's different, and you notice it when
Speaker 1: you go down there. You notice it when you see
Speaker 1: them at the airport, like they're one of the few teams,
Speaker 1: if not the only team that wears City's on planes.
Speaker 1: Oh really yep, And that's something that Chris Scott's endorsed.
Speaker 1: So they have these quirks about them that are a
Speaker 1: little bit more laid back, and I think that's very attractive.
Speaker 1: And because he's done so well, he's got people wanting
Speaker 1: to come and play for him, and that means that
Speaker 1: they don't need to look at the draft all the
Speaker 1: time because they're an attractive prospect and they don't necessarily
Speaker 1: need to pay overs. No, because if you want to
Speaker 1: get a star player to go to the Gold Coast,
Speaker 1: arguably you have to pay attax that they are going
Speaker 1: to take themselves out of the market for geelong. If
Speaker 1: you want to have a hobby farm and a couple
Speaker 1: of cows and a relaxed life that also be in Victoria.
Speaker 1: They seem to get these great players and pay never
Speaker 1: above market value, do they, which is so helpful with
Speaker 1: the salary cap Well, they've just made smart decisions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean getting Jeremy Cameron, I know, and getting Patrick
Speaker 1: Dangers playing like he was twenty one against Port and
Speaker 1: it has to be said they be Port Adelaide by
Speaker 1: eighty four points. It was an absolute pansying and poor
Speaker 1: Port Adelaide. Because this again leads into our next question
Speaker 1: of Ken Hinckley. Has ever a coach coached a team
Speaker 1: to be second on the ladder and then been under
Speaker 1: this amount of pressure because he consistently performs well during
Speaker 1: the season and Port Adelaide consistently are there or thereabouts
Speaker 1: in the top four, but they get to the finals
Speaker 1: and they choke, and I just wonder if Ken Hinckley's
Speaker 1: going There's only so many different ways that I can
Speaker 1: try to present this where I just don't know what's happening.
Speaker 1: And I think the other thing is like when your
Speaker 1: own fans have booed you earlier this season, which I
Speaker 1: mean it's a crap thing for any coach to have
Speaker 1: to go through. And then he performs and they finished
Speaker 1: second on the ladder and so and he was tearful
Speaker 1: and the players got around him and it was you know,
Speaker 1: it was a special moment to see how much the
Speaker 1: players meant him be. You're right, he has been under
Speaker 1: this scrutiny all year when his contract was only affirmed
Speaker 1: in August of last year. But at some point you
Speaker 1: have to look at the KPIs and you have to say,
Speaker 1: all right, every club's KPI is I want to win flag.
Speaker 1: Some clubs recognize it's going to take longer. But then
Speaker 1: you look at Hawthorne and you go maybe not, maybe not.
Speaker 1: And they owned the r word, they owned the rebuild.
Speaker 1: But Ken Hinckley holds the record for most games coach
Speaker 1: without a Grand Final, so that's twelve seasons and you
Speaker 1: just think, oh, it would be so uncomfortable. And he's
Speaker 1: the first person to own it. Because after the match
Speaker 1: again where we mentioned they got absolutely smashed by Geelong
Speaker 1: on Thursday, he was questioned about if their poor showing
Speaker 1: in finals recently had come from mental issues and he said, look,
Speaker 1: I can appreciate that question because they're the facts, and
Speaker 1: we deal in facts. The reality is we believe this
Speaker 1: group are better than that. But for the next twenty
Speaker 1: four hours we have to live with that performance. We
Speaker 1: have to live with the fact that our last three
Speaker 1: or four finals haven't been at the level we need
Speaker 1: them to be. Those questions come and once those games
Speaker 1: turn it badly. So he's basically going, well, I think
Speaker 1: we have to wear this because the performances aren't there,
Speaker 1: and my goodness, they're up against a Hawks team that
Speaker 1: have nothing to lose, whereas port Alaide have their coach
Speaker 1: to lose. I think at some point they have to
Speaker 1: look at it, and they can't just go who do
Speaker 1: we have in our ranks that could come up and
Speaker 1: be the next Ken Hinckley. I find that when you
Speaker 1: know you're looking at assistant coaches within your side, they've
Speaker 1: already played in your system. They've already been exposed to
Speaker 1: one way of thinking. How easy would it be for
Speaker 1: them to break out of that mold and create something dynamic,
Speaker 1: creates something new. I don't know if you can do
Speaker 1: that if you've got somebody who's already been in that system.
Speaker 1: So I think he'll be under scrutiny rightly. So, I
Speaker 1: mean they haven't played that game yet, but the Hawks
Speaker 1: are on fire. They had the home ground advantage and
Speaker 1: they lost by eighty four points. Yeah, so this is
Speaker 1: a crust room and Adelaide it's a two team town.
Speaker 1: Like you think the word dictated by AFL here it
Speaker 1: is life in Adelaide. And the fact that they've come
Speaker 1: out and basically already said that Josh Carr is going
Speaker 1: to be our next coach. They've all but affirmed that,
Speaker 1: and he's currently their midfield coach and he has a
Speaker 1: decorated history of being First off, he was at Port Adelaide,
Speaker 1: went to North Adelaide, went to Frio and then back
Speaker 1: to Port and of course he was a player as
Speaker 1: well in his own time. But they've basically come out
Speaker 1: and said this is going to be picking from within,
Speaker 1: so the culture is not going to change. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know the Hawks sort of did that with Sam Mitchell,
Speaker 1: didn't they. Yes, And I mean it's an interesting question
Speaker 1: for me how they might have been this year if
Speaker 1: Alistair Clarkson was still at the Helm. I think it
Speaker 1: would have been so different. Whether he would have been
Speaker 1: You can't imagine Clarko saying go for a bersun, you'll
Speaker 1: be fine, just even just embracing the young flashiness, right.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Yes, I think with Ken Hinckley, you know,
Speaker 1: he's been around long enough to know that at some
Speaker 1: point is going to come up. They're going to have
Speaker 1: enough and they're going to say, you know what, Yes,
Speaker 1: you've got a good record of getting us to finals,
Speaker 1: but ultimately we're not here just to keep doing that.
Speaker 1: It's bizarre to think that over his career where he
Speaker 1: was appointed as the senior coach in twenty thirteen, so
Speaker 1: you're talking like eleven years of service. If they win
Speaker 1: their next two games, all of a sudden, he's a hero. Yep.
Speaker 1: That's the role. That's the game, isn't it. That's the role.
Speaker 1: It's unforgiving, there's no patience. Sometimes, speaking of unforgiving and
Speaker 1: no patience, the Swan's our minor premiers absolutely copped it
Speaker 1: towards the tail end of the season about the fact
Speaker 1: that they'd peaked too early. They were so strong and
Speaker 1: then they were fading away. They were so gettable all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, And I know you were covering the
Speaker 1: game on the weekend seeing the office going, oh my god,
Speaker 1: they're coming back, and I've got to recut this package
Speaker 1: so that I've got to change the narrative because every
Speaker 1: sign looked like GWS, we're going to take that home.
Speaker 1: And the Swans now all of a sudden, win their
Speaker 1: way through and they have to be Premiership favorites. I
Speaker 1: would say after the week, and they have to be.
Speaker 1: If you'd ask me towards the end of the home
Speaker 1: and away season, would have said no, I agree. But
Speaker 1: you know they've got their players back that they were missing.
Speaker 1: They found their mojo again. I mean it's very hard
Speaker 1: for a team to maintain the level that they did
Speaker 1: through the whole season. They were the hunted. They were
Speaker 1: the hunted and that's a hard tag to carry, as
Speaker 1: Collingwood found out this year. But they just stood up.
Speaker 1: They found a way. Their midfield stars just delivered. Isaac
Speaker 1: Keeney are just the guy is not human. No, it
Speaker 1: was an incredible and doesn't look human. No, he looks
Speaker 1: like the pinup boy and he's just he's actually the
Speaker 1: nicest person as well, Isaac, Like, he's just you couldn't
Speaker 1: hope for a better ambassador for your club. Yep. And
Speaker 1: I think after that performance backs against the wall and
Speaker 1: finding a way, Yeah, finding a way when it mattered,
Speaker 1: and that's all you need, you know, you get little
Speaker 1: bit of belief that momentum. Three quarters, as Adam Kingsley,
Speaker 1: the GWS coach said, you can play three quarters of
Speaker 1: really good footage, which they did, and it doesn't matter, yeah,
Speaker 1: because if you come out on top in the end,
Speaker 1: that's what matters. And so for me, as much as
Speaker 1: we talk about you know, Hawthorne being hard to beat,
Speaker 1: given the belief, I think, you know, Sydney's just got
Speaker 1: a lot more experience. They've got a coach who has
Speaker 1: a ton of finals experience as well, has obviously won flags.
Speaker 1: So for me, if they can continue to find those
Speaker 1: players in those moments which they have been, yes, then
Speaker 1: they're going to stand up. They've got a home final,
Speaker 1: a home preliminary final, so they get a break now
Speaker 1: and then they get to play at the SCG again.
Speaker 1: They can probably go in the Geelong basket of my god,
Speaker 1: do you ever rebuild like Sydney always there and thereabouts?
Speaker 1: Which again to be doing that in a non AFL
Speaker 1: state and the fact that there is definitely a Sydney
Speaker 1: tax you pay on getting players to go up and
Speaker 1: be in New South Wales because cost of living is
Speaker 1: so much higher and you're taking people out of an
Speaker 1: AFL market. Like I remember when I was living in Sydney,
Speaker 1: I saw the entire group of Swans at a pub
Speaker 1: and not a single person with to them and bothered them.
Speaker 1: And I just thought, oh my gosh, if you were
Speaker 1: in Melbourne there would be a line for selfies. So
Speaker 1: that does appeal to some people, but you are in
Speaker 1: a demo where it is hard and to see that
Speaker 1: packed scg for what was an all New South Wales final,
Speaker 1: and then for me it was to see that the
Speaker 1: next day Isaac Keeney was actually on the cover of
Speaker 1: the Daily Telly, which again just doesn't happen in New
Speaker 1: South Wales. They've managed to have such a cut through
Speaker 1: and now you're looking and you're just going, okay, So
Speaker 1: this team not only could be near about the Grand
Speaker 1: Final again, but we could also have It's very plausible
Speaker 1: a Giants Swan's Grand Final and I think the AFL
Speaker 1: would love it that Melbourne would be like, wait what
Speaker 1: Melbourne would hate it? We would hate it. Victorians would
Speaker 1: just be like, well, who are we throwing a parade for?
Speaker 1: We have been robbed? We have you know, like, isn't
Speaker 1: that just the marvel of it? Yep? And that's the
Speaker 1: season though, right Yeah. It once again comes back to
Speaker 1: this conversation of what has this year been? How many curveballs?
Speaker 1: Have we been thrown Oh it is just going to
Speaker 1: have no right to be there, you know what, They
Speaker 1: absolutely no right and yet they're up against it in
Speaker 1: my view against GWS. I think GWS will be devastated
Speaker 1: after what happened on the weekend. And I actually pegged
Speaker 1: them as Premiership favorites before the season began. I thought, no,
Speaker 1: this is going to be there, and they started so well.
Speaker 1: They were my pick and it's going to age very
Speaker 1: well if they get up. But I'm also on the
Speaker 1: Giants bandwagon, I agree, so I think, Yeah, I still
Speaker 1: think at the moment, based on that performance on the
Speaker 1: weekend that Sydney, you'd fear them, You one hundred percent
Speaker 1: would go. Look at those players, look at how they
Speaker 1: lift when they need to, and the coach is just
Speaker 1: so seasoned. Yes, at this time of year. I mean,
Speaker 1: I do think back to the twenty twenty two Granny
Speaker 1: where they just didn't rock up and we could see
Speaker 1: a Geelong Swan's Grand Final again and how different it
Speaker 1: would look. Or twenty sixteen when the Dogs beat them. Oh,
Speaker 1: there it is. It is to drop that in. I'm
Speaker 1: going to put you on the spot because speaking of
Speaker 1: things aging, well, who do you think is going to
Speaker 1: be in the Grand Final? Okay, so if we're looking
Speaker 1: at the we're looking we've got we've got our chart
Speaker 1: in front of us, which is so handy to see
Speaker 1: where all the finals sort of play out. And what
Speaker 1: we're looking at this is the mind map. What do
Speaker 1: you reckon? So you're looking at the Swan's playing either
Speaker 1: the Hawks or Port Adelaide in a prelim in Sydney though,
Speaker 1: so for mine, I think the Swans they'd win that
Speaker 1: I reckon they'll go through. And then you've got Geelong
Speaker 1: playing either the Lions or Gws at the mcg The
Speaker 1: Lions that held Carlton's schooreless while they ran away to
Speaker 1: sixty points. It was a demolishing but you could argue
Speaker 1: they barely paid a final and that's at the Gabba. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so given that games at the mcgin, So so I
Speaker 1: think that I think it'll be a Giants Geelong prelim.
Speaker 1: That's a tough one to call. Look, the Victorian in
Speaker 1: me is going to say Geelong. I'm going to will
Speaker 1: that we get the Victorian team in the final. So
Speaker 1: Geelong Swans, Geelong Swans. And then do we have the
Speaker 1: same result we had two years ago. Imagine if Geelong
Speaker 1: do it, I mean, that would be amazing. But also,
Speaker 1: you know, being Tom Hawkins and not knowing if you're
Speaker 1: going to play in that side in your final season
Speaker 1: is a little bit. He's about the narrative to come
Speaker 1: out of it because he played in the VFL on
Speaker 1: the weekend kicked one. He's announced that he is going
Speaker 1: to be retiring, but he's just going to see what happens.
Speaker 1: And I wonder, because Chris Scott is famously a loyal
Speaker 1: coach and an emotional coach that sticks by his people.
Speaker 1: I wonder how difficult it is, given how well they
Speaker 1: performed against Port Adelaide, to roll the dice and include
Speaker 1: someone who changes your forward line so much. But he
Speaker 1: is a champion and a games record holder of your club.
Speaker 1: I think in a Grand final sentiment goes out the way.
Speaker 1: See I would say, I think in a Grand final
Speaker 1: sentiment so important. I think it is. But you want
Speaker 1: to win the flag. That is your objective. Your objective
Speaker 1: is you lift the cup and you need But he wouldn't,
Speaker 1: Tomahawk wouldn't. I don't know. Ah they do have a
Speaker 1: very good relationship. Chris Scott and Tom Hawkins. They are
Speaker 1: very close. He's the People's champion. Yeah, so you know
Speaker 1: they're very possibly could be away in our hypothetical land
Speaker 1: that they make the Grand Final, that he is selected.
Speaker 1: But I think you want to win that flag. That's
Speaker 1: what you're there for. And we have touched on only
Speaker 1: a few, genuinely, only a few of the storylines in
Speaker 1: the lead up to that moment and that flag. And
Speaker 1: that's why we love our job so much, because you
Speaker 1: feel like you can blink and you could spend hours
Speaker 1: talking about all these different narratives. But the beautiful thing
Speaker 1: about two good sports is that we only dig this
Speaker 1: back up if it ages well, Laura, So this can
Speaker 1: go into oblivion now like and if you end up
Speaker 1: to be an absolute messiah on how that you've called this,
Speaker 1: we will make sure that it's clipped up for you.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much for that. We've absolutely loved it,
Speaker 1: and I guess we're just gonna wait and see. But
Speaker 1: you've got an airport to go to, don't you, or
Speaker 1: a press conference or somewhere to sit on the floor.
Speaker 1: That's my glamorous life, you know it. We love it, Hey, Laura,
Speaker 1: we have a segment called fun fact, So would you
Speaker 1: like to hear a fun fact? And usually Georgie drives
Speaker 1: this one, but I have got one for you and
Speaker 1: it's AFL themed. Love it ready. So Fitzroy, we are
Speaker 1: going back to nineteen sixteen when they won the Wooden
Speaker 1: Spoon and also the flag in the same year. You
Speaker 1: think nineteen sixteen, what was going on in the world, Well,
Speaker 1: World War One and so many players were at war
Speaker 1: that there's only four clubs that could beat and then
Speaker 1: Fitzroy came fourth on the ladder but actually went on
Speaker 1: to win the flag. So maybe that's an omen for
Speaker 1: the Lions potentially. I mean, if all it takes is
Speaker 1: war to win a flag, oh my goodness, you forget
Speaker 1: what the AFL has actually been through, or that there
Speaker 1: would have been times where there were players that actually
Speaker 1: had to go off and fight in war. It's actually
Speaker 1: quite unbelievable. It is unbelievable, and it's just how it's
Speaker 1: changed in that time. And I think this is a
Speaker 1: good reminder that previously players had other stuff they had
Speaker 1: to do to make a living, and now serve their
Speaker 1: country and serve their country. It's probably a good reminder
Speaker 1: for us all really, isn't it. But that's wild. I
Speaker 1: also think it just reminds you of the history, Like
Speaker 1: there's something about I know you and I are footy people,
Speaker 1: when it's so nice to say footy and not have
Speaker 1: to qualify that. I'm not talking about NRL again, Tunney,
Speaker 1: I miss you. But also this is you've got to
Speaker 1: reflect what state that we're in. But there is such
Speaker 1: as drawid history and those that get to lift the
Speaker 1: you're part of that folklore forever. And I just looked
Speaker 1: at that and I went, what do you mean that
Speaker 1: you could possibly win the wooden spoon but also come
Speaker 1: home with the flag. But that is our fun fact.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Too Good Sports. It's an
Speaker 1: iHeart production. Laura. I'm going to rope you in for
Speaker 1: another one of these, so we'll see how we go.
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Instagram at two Good Sports Podcasts.
Speaker 1: We'll catch you next week, but until then, be good Sport.