Conditions are perfect tonight, both teams are limber and ready to rumble and the atmosphere around the ground is electric and play is imminent. Strap yourselves in, folks, this is going to be a battle for the ages..
. Here’s a fun fact: the Swans have played just two preliminary final fixtures at the SCG and they won both games by one point. Sydney coach John Longmore will back his side’s ability to finish strongly but I’m sure his heart wouldn’t mind a fast start for a change.
We are minutes from the bounce now and the preliminaries of the preliminary final are upon us. Uncle Lloyd Walker, former Wallabies star and possessor of two of the most magic hands ever to grace a football field, is welcoming us to Gadigal land. Before tonight’s action gets under way, a quick moment of pause for one of the great gentleman of the Australian media, legendary Melbourne photographer Terry Phelan , who woke from the dream of life yesterday surrounded by family.
Aside from his magnificent eye for an image and instincts for a story, Terry was an empath, a man deeply attuned to the energies and emotions of the public he served so wonderfully over four decades in journalism. As a mate of his son Matt, I was honoured to challenge his inate humility on a few occasions and, weirdly, the story I most remember of Terry’s was one he told me of a shot he missed : that of a Tasmanian Tiger captured in the glare of his car headlights on a bush road late one night. There was not a tremor of .