Glories of 1918 inspire Swans
IN 1918, against the backdrop of World War I, South Melbourne grafted out a five-point grand final win against Collingwood to claim the club’s second premiership.
A century on, the two old rivals meet tomorrow night for the 226th time and the importance of the contest hasn’t lessened.
Particularly for Sydney, which has dropped four of its past five games to fall from fourth to ninth on the ladder.
To commemorate the fighting efforts of the red and whites a century ago, the Swans will wear a specially created heritage jersey in the SCG clash.
“If you look at the club and what they’ve fought through over the years that helps us when we play,” Swans midfielder Isaac Heeney said. “We’ve been in this situation before and had our backs against the wall, it’s a matter of responding. If you look at why we are a good club it’s nothing special, we get the job done. We’ve got confidence in that. We can give Collingwood a run for their money.”
Heeney said wearing the heritage jersey put him and his teammates in touch with the club’s history and inspired him to represent it properly.
“It makes you feel proud to be part of such an amazing club,” Heeney said.
“I’m honoured to wear it for the club for what it is today but also for those players back in 1918. It was a different life, they were working men in a very difficult time for the country being at war. It’s good to know where the club started and it helps you understand where they are now. There has been plenty of adversity over the years including the move to Sydney, but now we are a successful club and will carry that with us when we run out against the Magpies.”
It won’t just be the spirit of 1918 Heeney and the Swans will be drawing on. Alex Johnson will be playing his first senior game since the 2012 grand final. It’s been 2136 days since the 26-yearold played at the top level after five knee reconstructions and 13 different surgeries.
“I’ve been at the club for four years and have never played with Alex at all so this will be special,” Heeney said.