THE ANALOGY was probably a little too obvious as it took hold, but it fitted just right anyway. An "original", the "sequels,", a "franchise": footy had definitively entered a new domain. The only thing missing was Dominic Toretto.
Reading the name of a Vin Diesel character in the opening line of an article on AFL.com.au about Sydney v West Coast probably hits a little odd. And yet, ahead of another instalment this weekend, it's a fun time to relive THAT Swans-Eagles stretch through the prism of the biggest franchise of them all.
F9 is now out, 20 years and almost double-figure sequels after the first. We all know the drill by now but maybe for the first time it's all starting to wear a little thin. On IMDb, F9 is carrying a 5.5 out of 10; over at Rotten Tomatoes it's slapped with an underwhelming 59 per cent. "At some point, fans will likely grow weary of how hard this franchise has to work to top itself," reads the first review. Everything has to end at some point; eight sequels ain't bad. That doesn't just apply to Dom and the gang, either.
STREAMING NOW Six Thrillers In a Row on AFL ON DEMAND
More than a decade has passed since Sydney and West Coast went to page one of the Fast playbook by taking a theme and maxing it out to the most extreme of proportions. Like all franchises, it would eventually fizzle but the heights were giddy: six straight trillers, two of them Grand Finals, 13 points the combined margin, three more belters after that.
Watching it back now, there's already a retro sheen to the whole thing. It was only 2005-07, but it's striking how different it all looks: There's that darker Eagles jumper, Subiaco Oval, a TV clock counting up, basic graphics, metal signage rather than LEDs, no visible GPS units on backs, no goal-line technology, and stuff being advertised that feels from a lost world.
But that's just the superficial stuff. On another level, the Swans and Eagles' run has remained as modern as it gets.
STREAMING NOW Six Thrillers In a Row on AFL ON DEMAND
If this was an episode of The Rewatchables, universality of appeal would be the prime candidate for 'What's Aged the Best?' This wasn't Bombers-Hawks or Crows-Power, a regional rock fight, a local grudge match. Instead, it was coast to coast, Sydney v Perth, a relocation success story versus an expansion heavyweight. It was modern in that it was truly national.
Now, as franchises dominate the entertainment served to us, retrospectively it's striking how important that defining quality was to the appeal of the whole Six Thrillers Franchise. In 2019, the Harvard Business Review conducted a deep dive into the success of Marvel Studios, digitally analysing "the scripts and the visual style of each movie" and examining "the networks of 1023 actors and 25,853 behind-the-camera workers from movie to movie." The study found that Marvel's success stemmed from four key principles, with the number one being "select for experienced inexperience". In layman's terms, the takeaway was simple: established guns new to the subject matter make for box-office hits.
Or put it this way: rather than hire the done-the-superhero-thing-before director for Iron Man, hire the guy who made Swingers.
More than a decade before that principle was forensically identified and penned, Sydney and West Coast were essentially that, Jon Favreau. Together they were footy's experienced inexperience: gun teams loaded with stars but without any parameter-setting baggage in the fixturing-centrepiece genre.
Swans-Eagles was completely fresh. It spanned the country. It was ahead of its time.
And it's worth starting it from the original all over again.
STREAMING NOW Six Thrillers In a Row on AFL ON DEMAND
'Six Thrillers in a Row' is part of Footy Fan Essentials, a collection on AFL On Demand with a variety of match highlights, countdowns and milestones from the best players, the biggest moments and the fiercest rivalries. It's a must-watch for a footy fan in need of a footy fix.
