Sep 30, 2012

AFL

John Longmire Reflects on A Grand Final Win

Gee I enjoyed that. Winning Grand Finals is really satisfying; I’d recommend it to anyone if they haven’t tried it.

I’d also recommend Boardwalk Empire. Steve Buscemi is amazing in it. It’s set in America during Prohibition and explores the links between organized crime and politics which resulted from the Volstead Act.

But winning a Premiership is better than that. A lot better actually.

It’s like that feeling you get when you go through a preseason, 22 rounds of elite competition, two finals and then defeat a determined foe on the biggest stage of all. I’m sorry if I’m being too abstract but that’s my writing style.

I wasn’t confident going into the game. I knew we could win but we don’t achieve things at the Swans through a negative or positive frame of mind. We achieve things by doing. Confidence is a waste of time.

The mood in the coach’s box was intense. In fact I have to say it wasn’t pleasant. It was mainly due to me yelling and screaming at people, but tense all the same.

In life, I’ve always found its better to be the one making people tense, rather than others making you tense. This is true whether you’re coaching or playing. It’s true at parent teacher interviews or when relaxing with friends.

That Hawthorn though, they kept coming. You had to hand it to them. That Brad Sewell, he’s really good! He just didn’t give in. It was like that bad Terminator in Terminator 2.

But our guys, how about them?

I’ve given up trying to tell number 4 and 5 apart but they were both hard at it all day.

But our boys. Our boys just kept winning contested possessions. I hate uncontested possessions. Some coaches love them, but an uncontested possession is a lazy possession, it just makes you weak. I’ve tried to convince some of my players to drop marks just to create a contest but they just laugh nervously.

And what about what’s his name with the beard? He seemed to be everywhere, down back, up front, kicking the winning goal. Spectacular. My Assistant Coach John Blakey kept saying ‘there’s two of them’ and I know what he meant, it certainly seemed like that.

The Canadian, big Mike Pyke even played above himself. I can’t understand a word he says but he really stepped up. I hope they’re proud of him back in Montana.

Remember all those commentators who said Pyke was the worst player to ever play the game? I do. They’re names are all in a little book in my top draw. You’ll all keep. There’s time.

Apart from all I have written in the above paragraphs – and apart from not having to share this Premiership with Wayne Carey, the most satisfying thing about this Grand Final victory is the frequent flyer points I’ve collected going back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne. I’m so close to being Platinum for life.

Once you’ve achieved it, you’ll never forget the feeling: years of effort and sacrifice coming to fruition. The lounges you get access to are great. They have free drinks and food. I sometimes drive out to the airport just to get a snack.

So as I sit here on a Sunday night, penning these thoughts, I feel life doesn’t get much better than this. We’re Premiers, I’ve got two episodes of Boardwalk Empire on IQ and I just heard the kettle boil.

Thanks to all our fans. I’m getting up early tomorrow to start planning next year’s campaign.