Sydney Swans captain Callum Mills broke down in tears on the sideline, bringing an emotional and dark week for the club to an end
Emotion has spilled over amongst Sydney players after completing the darkest week in club history with an inspired win over North Melbourne, despite a boycott from some fans that walked out before the game.
The Swans were without Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, James Jordan and Riley Bice due to their involvement in the alleged sexual assault scandal that has engulfed the club since the events of Monday morning at a Melbourne hotel, which remain under investigation by Victoria Police.
And yet despite admitting to have effectively “torpedoed” their own season by handing down the club-imposed bans that will see the group of five miss the remainder of the year, an undermanned Sydney outfit rallied to thump North Melbourne to the tune of 53 points at the SCG on Sunday afternoon.
“They’re on their feet here at the SCG, they haven’t shied away from this venue this afternoon,” Jess Webster said on Fox Sports.
“They showed up in record numbers to support the AFLW team earlier today — 16,000 came early and doubled the previous record for an AFLW home game.
“Very emotional scenes here at the SCG on what has been a very dark and difficult week for the football club.
“The deeper conversations with continue, but for now, they’ve found a football response this afternoon, and they gave their fans something to believe in.”
Skipper Callum Mills, who earlier this week fronted a press conference alongside coach Dean Cox expressing the club’s remorse, was visibly in tears on the sidelines as he hugged club great Brett Kirk on the siren.
Star midfielder Errol Gulden also shed a tear as the pressure of the emotion-charged match was released.
Asked after the game how he was feeling, Mills said: “I don’t know, to be honest. I’m so grateful for our fans who stuck with us and how we stayed so united as a club this week, I’m really proud of that.
“They do it for us every week, but this week felt a little bit extra special.”
Mills the players who came into the side to replace the suspended five acquitted themselves brilliantly.
“Our whole footy club’s been amazing,” he said.
“We talked about it as a team. We have a system that we believe in and whoever plays will come in and do it, and today was proof of that.”
In a quiet show of solidarity against the alleged actions of the players in question, Swans players and coaches all wore tape on their wrists for the entire match.
The scandal sadly overshadowed a maiden AFLW-AFL double header at the SCG, where after Sydney’s women’s team beat Essendon by 24 points, the men won their game 17.21 (123) to 10.10 (70).
The AFLW team won in front of a record crowd of 16,672, with some fans walking out after the women’s game — which had been forecast by some as a reaction to the Pullman Hotel storm.
Sydney’s men won an effective dead rubber in front to 30,058 fans, the club’s lowest AFL home crowd of the season.
Their previous low mark this year was 33,413, with every other home crowd breaching 35,000, and with six attendances of 40,000 or more.
Several fans told AAP they still supported the club despite feeling disappointed in players involved in the scandal.
“We support the club wholeheartedly,” Swans supporter Russell Le-Guier said.
“The club itself is what this is about, not the individual players, they’ll come and go over the years, but it’s the club itself that we support.”
Sydney were already locked into second place on the ladder and will face either Brisbane or Hawthorn in a home qualifying final.
While the Swans will have next weekend off during the AFL wildcard round, in reality they face two more weeks in the spotlight before the finals.
No charges have been laid and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of the five suspended players.
Before the game, coach Dean Cox said he was confident the Swans had still prepared well despite the tough week.
His undermanned side Swans were clearly the better team and kept the Kangaroos at arm’s length
Gulden (41 disposals) stood tall along with Mills (26 disposals), Brodie Grundy (26 disposals, 27 hitouts), Braeden Campbell (20 disposals and two goals) and Tom Papley.
Boom recruit Charlie Curnow kicked 3.4 to finish his first season in Sydney with 69 goals, winning his third Coleman Medal as the AFL’s leading goalkicker. Billy Cootee and Logan McDonald also kicked three goals each.
James Rowbottom, Harry Cunningham, Angus Sheldrick, Caiden Cleary and Tom Hanily were the five inclusions.
For North, former Swan Luke Parker (26 disposals) was busy along with Jy Simpkin (26) and Caleb Daniel (26), while Cam Zurhaar kicked two goals.
Sydney took the early ascendancy and shot out to a 39-point lead midway through the second quarter.
The Kangaroos responded late in the second term and in the third to claw the margin back to 21 at the final break.
Cootee kicked a settler at the start of the fourth quarter and from there the Swans cruised.
North (9-14) finish the season in 14th place.
SOURCE: 7 NEWS
https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/sydney-players-shed-tears-after-emotional-week-ends-in-victory-over-north-melbourne-c-22765902
