We certainly have a dedicated band of parents and loved ones following their boys here at the Swans. Saturday night at Blacktown was testament to their boundless support. Among the crowd was Jed Lamb’s sister, who, too afraid to fly, caught the train from country Victoria to Sydney with sons Jordan and Oakley and their sharp looking haircuts, to see Jed don the red and white for the first time. Second gamer Byron Sumner had one of the most impressive entourages at the game, led by father Dean and uncle Ray who had driven from Adelaide for the match. The McNeil family made the trip from Albury to see Dylan’s first crack at AFL footy, while Luke Parkers parents were also on hand to see him debut for Swans. The parents of Mark Seaby were over from Western Australia to see him take to the field for the first time in nearly 12 months – and to see their new granddaughter Eva. While she may not have travelled as far as some, Margaret McVeigh made the trip from the Central Coast to see son Jarrad in his first hit-out as Swans co-captain.
A few weeks ago it was the Swans under siege from spies – but last week we turned tables - sending a special someone into enemy territory. Paul Roos headed out to Blacktown during the week to acquaint himself with the Giants squad as part of his new commentary duties for Fox Sports. Roos took long-time adversaries Kevin Sheedy and Mark Williams by surprise, by arriving and strolling straight into the Giants team meeting. As Choco briefed his young brigade of players about the Swans line-up, a still unsighted Roos hollered from the back of the room, “that Malceski is a good player…watch out for him!!”.
A good player and a pretty reasonable fisherman too that Malceski. During a recent fishing trip off-shore at Botany, Malceski and a mate spent 90 minutes hauling in an enormous 3.7 metre, 200kg blue marlin. Malceski has proudly shown off the photos of his prized catch around the office.
Footwear was a burning issue at Swans HQ throughout last week. A reminder from the Swans HR honchos about appropriate footwear for the Swans smart-casual Friday’s, caught a number of the coaching department with their toes out. One coach who had no issue with the ‘no thong’ directive was Stuart Dew, whose ‘urban moccasins’ are a tick in the box for the Swans HR folk, but a big cross according to the football department fashion police.
Swan Sam Reid was down in Melbourne on Thursday promoting Friday night’s clash with a Collingwood side that will feature his brother, Ben Reid. Sam was very quick to remind the gathered media that while the 2011 AFL Season Guide has both players listed at 195cm, he is in fact, all of 0.4cm taller than his brother, who is likely to match up on him throughout the match. The Swans now boast a remarkable four players with brothers at other AFL Clubs - Jarrad McVeigh (Mark, Essendon), Rhyce Shaw (Heath, Collingwood) and rookie Max Otten (Andy, Adelaide).
