Bon Voyage Footy

The Swans celebrating at their fan day on Sunday

As great as the weekend is when the AFL and NRL Grand Final are on the same weekend, the realisation that footy is gone for almost half a year is magnified on the Monday morning afterwards. I’ll miss footy, but fortunately I’m still basking in the glow of the Swans amazing victory on Saturday.

As I watched the Storm’s perfect defence and kicking game suffocate the Bulldogs into submission on Sunday, I realised that there are a lot of similarities between the two teams that claimed the premiership in the AFL and NRL. Plenty of people are commenting on the obvious similarity of the fact that they are the team from the opposite city, in that Sydney won the Melbourne sport and Melbourne won the Sydney sport, however it goes much deeper than that.

First of all the era of success for the two clubs began at a similar time. Paul Roos took over the coaching role at the Swans in 2002, however that was a transitional season and it was in 2003 when the team made the preliminary final that you could really see the culture change in the club. Craig Bellamy came to the Storm in 2003 and instantly got them on the right track, making the second week of the finals. The Swans of course won their first premiership of the era in 2005, whilst it took until 2007 for Bellamy to win one and it goes without saying that it turns out the Storm were cheating and lost their premierships until the one they won yesterday.

But the real similarities aren’t around the timing, but the way the cultures of the club and the style of play was changed and ingrained into the players to make winning a natural outcome. Both teams “play finals football all season”. They are built around structure, defence, knowing your role, doing the little things and just working harder than the opposition. When you play the Swans or Storm, win or lose, you know you’ve been in a war. They say defence wins championships and these teams prove it.

Both clubs have another similarity, which I think is a big part of what makes them so good. Both clubs have become masters of finding the rejects of other clubs and turning them either into stars or at least into solid contributors to do a role around the stars already there. Whether it’s Ted Richards, Rhyce Shaw or more recently Mitch Morton for the Swans or the likes of Jaiman Lowe, Brian Norrie and Sisa Waqa for the Storm, these clubs see not only that these players have something to offer, but they know that due to the strength of the culture in the club, they will be able to get the best out of these guys, whilst not asking them to do things they can’t do.

These guys made first grade elsewhere because clearly they had the talent to be professional footballers, but for various reasons were seen to not be good enough to stick at their previous club. If these players left their club to go elsewhere, it’s no guarantee they would turn out so well, but the culture inside the Swans and Storm is so conducive to success that they work their magic with very few failed projects.

Yes both clubs also happen to have some superstars which are required to be successful. Brian Norrie won’t get anywhere without Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater. But would those three guys have become the players they are at just any club? Sure they would have been very good players, but I think growing up inside that culture also helped get the best out of them too. They aren’t just super talented; they are possibly the three smartest players in the NRL.

If I were taking over as coach or administrator at another club, I would do everything possible to copy everything the Swans and Storm* are doing. Lucky for me personally, I already support the Swans and my NRL team is being coached by Bellamy’s former assistant coach and you can already see elements of the Storm culture in what the Rabbitohs are building.

For now though I’ll have to find other sports to write about, so I hope you guys like your English Premier League and American sports such as NBA and NFL, because The Back Sage doesn’t stop just because the footy does.

*Minus the, you know, salary cap cheating bit

That’ll Do Rabbit, That’ll Do

Adam Reynolds opening the scoring against the Raiders

And so just like that the Rabbitohs season is over. Surprisingly almost all the Rabbitohs fans I’ve spoken to or seen post online seem to have a very similar mindset after the team was eliminated in the preliminary final.  Whilst the result was obviously disappointing, the loss was fair and yet so cruel due to the untimely injury to Adam Reynolds who is arguably the team’s most important player. That, in and of itself, is a huge statement to make about a rookie but there you go.

All fans seem to be very content with the result of the season as a whole, finishing third on the ladder, qualifying for the preliminary final and the emergence of several new players such as Reynolds, Everingham and Justin Hunt, as well as the development of others like Farrell, Peats, McQueen etc.

What I love most however, is that whilst the fans are quite content with how the season played out, the players themselves aren’t in the same boat. Nathan Merritt was quoted as saying he sees the season as a failure and that is exactly how I want him to feel. I don’t want him to feel like a failure, he most certainly isn’t, however if the team is happy with just being competitive, then the concern would be that 2012 is as good as it will get.

We see 2012 as a success because we naturally assume that a young team, with a first year coach will improve going forward. It makes sense that if the Rabbitohs can perform this well with youngsters and rookies in many positions as well as the first year of a new system, each year after will be even better. However, you really never know with this stuff. Look at the Tigers and Warriors change in fortunes from 2011 to 2012, or the Eels from 2009 when they made the Grand Final until now.

A friend of mine who supports the Eels warned me that I shouldn’t be satisfied with just getting this far because you never know when you’ll get this close again. When the opportunity is there, you have to take it. Not every team can be Melbourne or Manly and contend for years on end. The hope is that the Rabbitohs will be more like the Storm, where Maguire learned from Bellamy, and be able to turn a promising season into a successful era; however it is certainly not guaranteed.

As important as 2012 was for the Rabbitohs, 2013 is even more important. They will enter the season not just with expectations to be serious contenders, but anything short of the 2012 performance will be considered a failure, not just by the team but by the fans as well. Was 2012 the start of something, or one good year?

After years of being quite unlucky with injuries, 2012 was about as lucky as a club can get in that department for the Cardinal and Myrtle. Roy Asotasi was the only long term injury and he returned in time and in form to make a solid contribution to the finals series. Nathan Merritt missed the first part of the season but hit the ground running as soon as he returned. Even the Greg Inglis suspension could be considered a stroke of luck as it enabled GI to refresh his body for the backend of the season, whilst the team went 2-1 without him.

We can’t assume 2013 will be quite as lucky in that regard. The club has the depth now to cover for most positions, especially in the forwards, but it doesn’t surprise me to see rumours of interest in Blake Ayshford and Sandor Earl to add depth to the backline stocks. I’m also a fan of Jordan Tongahai who plays left centre for the Toyota Cup side.

Another question is whether Souths will be impacted more during Origin in 2013. Obviously Inglis will be missing. Te’o is another who might be selected for Queensland and then you have the possibility that Adam Reynolds might be called up for NSW or even finally Nathan Merritt might get his chance. If that happens, will the Rabbitohs have the form slump that the Storm and Broncos experienced after Origin was over and if so, will they be able to bounce back the way the Storm did and Broncos didn’t?

Optimistically I see the Rabbitohs getting at least as far as they did this year, but I certainly won’t be taking it for granted. For now I’ll spend the offseason content and very proud of the performance of a team that hadn’t won a finals game since I was a baby. Being there to see the team beat the Raiders and win a finals match is an experience I’ll never forget and for that I thank Michael Maguire and the entire team.

Now for South Sydney to march on. Glory Glory.