“Sydney loves winners,” David Marr wrote nearly 30 years ago. “Horses, shows, writers, painters, football teams, politicians, lovers and crooks. When the Swans are on a winning streak, we’re fans for life – unless they start losing.” Under a tangerine sky, nearly 45,000 people packed the SCG on Sunday, the biggest home-and-away crowd at the ground this century. But they didn’t belt out Sweet Caroline with the usual gusto at quarter-time. Their Swans were sluggish, unusually reactive and six goals down to Geelong.
What sets this Sydney side apart however is their ability to solve problems on the run, to absorb the opposition’s flurries, to adapt and to then go into hyperdrive. If Isaac Heeney is clamped, Errol Gulden will take over. If both are quiet, Chad Warner will run rampant. If by some stroke of genius you take care of all three, they have the system and the talent to find another way. They are so adaptable, and have the perfect blend of superstar midfielders and lockdown players; between chaos-wreaking lizards and orthodox shutdown defenders.
