A Brand New Year

[neilfws]

I wonder if you are feeling the same? I feel like it's a bit like a new dawn.

Seems you captured what many of us are feeling!

I was really tired of footy by the end of last season; so much negative energy, unpleasantness, sadness, distractions, very few interesting games including another one-sided GF as bad as, well, the year before...

I felt something was really different in that first Pies game and it's been the same for the next 3. The youngsters and new signings throwing themselves into it. The new ruck combo. Buddy back in full flight. Everyone heads down over the ball going hard, second, third efforts, playing for each other, helping each other out. Feels too easy to say "Kirk returns and so does the Bloods spirit", but maybe that is a big part of it! I don't doubt that competition for spots is driving a few of them on too.

I'd say the measured response to the Adelaide loss, as a "good loss", says a lot about perceptions of how the team are going about their business. Really looking forward to the rest of the season.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Difference for me is the weight of expectation is lifted. So heavily backed to be premiers the past two seasons. Every game was so stressful. This year I feel I don't really expect us to be premiers, I certainly wouldn't write us off, but I just feel I can enjoy a season unfold and watch a lot of young guns ply their trade and play some exiting footy. Much like 2012....

[mcs]

Great post OP - sums up my feelings well.

The end of the 2014 season was so awful (that is one day I've tried to erase from my memory, but won't be able to do so till we lift a Premiership Cup again), and 2015 was ruined by the awful incidents around Goodesy, so the start to this season has been so refreshing, and really got me back in the groove. Despite the disappointment of our loss last week, I'm thoroughly enjoying the footy we are playing, and seeing the young guys have such a critical role within it is really making watching footy enjoyable again (it got very depressing at times last year, despite our general decent performances). Long may the vibe continue - thoroughly looking forward to the trip up on Saturday for the game (No 3 in a 6 week consecutive live footy binge for me!)

[Maltopia]

Great post OP.

[Mug Punter]

Love this thread and totally agree with the initial post.

Last year for the first time I can remember I hated footy. All the stuff with Adam and the endless sniping of idiots like Eddie. And I hated the game itself, the hybrid game of rugby and basketball led by coached like Lyon and Roos (even though it helped us win a flag in 2005). Buddy's situation was the final straw...

I can't remember a season I've enjoyed more to date, The football is amazing, the game tonight of Hawks v Crows was worthy of a GF and amazingly surpassed our game last week.

I love the squad we are building, the way we rebuild within the top 4. We need young talent to step up and we unearth Papley - pure genius. Mills and Heeney, two 200+ gamers and maybe even a Brownlow between them.

Most of all I am enjoying my footy again. I don't think we will win the flag this year, I hope I am wrong, but somehow it just doesn't seem to matter at the moment, I am enjoying the game for what it is.

As Gerard Healy said, "Footy is back"

[YvonneH]

QUOTE:Most of all I am enjoying my footy again. I don't think we will win the flag this year, I hope I am wrong, but somehow it just doesn't seem to matter at the moment, I am enjoying the game for what it is.

As Gerard Healy said, "Footy is back" QUOTE

+1

[Go Swannies]

A postscript after yesterday's game. In a season that keeps giving it was wonderful to see Teddy as the new Buddy - kicking goals from outside 50. The grin on his face as he ran back to defence was truly wonderful.

Then in the last quarter Ted take a screamer. I said to my companions "that rolls back the clock" then corrected myself and said "No it doesn't. Teddy has never been one to take screamers. Where did that come from?"

The "Teddy" chant around the ground when he won the medal topped off a great day.

[rojo]

In a post match interview on the Swans website, I think, a very happy Ted said that it was his 4 month old son's first football game and that he had told him before hand that he was going to kick a goal for him!!!

[Meg]

In a post match interview on the Swans website, I think, a very happy Ted said that it was his 4 month old son's first football game and that he had told him before hand that he was going to kick a goal for him!!!

His partner (Ella Richards) has posted a very cute photo of young Beau Richards in his Swans' outfit on Instagram.

[neilfws]

A postscript after yesterday's game

Managed to miss Ted's goal due to a hungry daughter! but did enjoy the screamer near the end.

Another great day and I'd add: I reckon the buzz and cheers around the ground when Heeney gets the ball are not very far off those when Franklin gets it!

[bloodspirit]

I think we're straying from the topic but since people are talking about Teddy I have to throw in a shout out for whoever wrote the headline for the article about Teddy's game on the Swans' website: 'Teddy's promise coming to fruition'. ???? Got a chortle out of me.

[mcs]

Managed to miss Ted's goal due to a hungry daughter! but did enjoy the screamer near the end.

Another great day and I'd add: I reckon the buzz and cheers around the ground when Heeney gets the ball are not very far off those when Franklin gets it!

There is such a buzz around Heeney, and in time I think we will see the same around Mills - it really is great, and as much as Buddy is the headline, the supporting acts are doing their bit to really help give a fantastic (for want of a better word) vibe around the Swans this year.

It has been such a great season already, and long may it continue. I think for many, its a fact that we came in with subdued expectations, and the uplift in performance, and particularly the great contribution being made by some of our inexperienced and younger brigade, has really added to the fantastic start.

How long our form will continue is another question, and I don't dare consider us to be a genuine flag threat yet, but if we have a decent run, then who knows what we can get out of 2016. As long as the footy continues to be enjoyable as it has been so far, then it'll be a good year.

And our beloved Swans have never been one to know boundaries of what they can achieve - who honestly though before the action started in 2012 that we could win the flag. It wasn't until late in the season, when we just got beat by the Wees and Poos in around Rd 19/20 in a thriller, that I finally came to the conclusion that we could win the flag that year. There had been signs all along that we could be there or there abouts, but it was only that day, after we played sensationally but only just fell short, that I was convinced we had the mettle to beat the Hawks when it counted!