Sydney co-captain Dane Rampe says his facet will get “exposed” in the event that they deal with banking early AFL season wins, regardless of latest historical past suggesting overwhelmed grand finalists could be sluggish out of the blocks.
In their first probability to place final September’s 81-point humiliation by the hands of Geelong behind them, the Swans face Gold Coast on Saturday evening seeking to change into simply the second overwhelmed grand finalist in seven years to win their opening sport.
And no overwhelmed grand finalist has returned to the decider the next 12 months since 2013, when Hawthorn exorcised their demons and gained the primary premiership of their three-peat.
But removed from fearing any emotional scarring from their heavy MCG defeat, Rampe expects his rising group would hit new heights after experiencing their heartbreak.
“They’ve got a lot of experience from it, and taken confidence from being able to get there in the first place,” he stated.
“We’ve looked at (the grand final), reviewed it, it’s a new season and if we spend time thinking about what’s happened in the past we’ll play like it as well.
“We’re prepared, we have a very younger and thrilling group, fairly a quantity are able to take the subsequent step.
“It’s been a long time between drinks, the last couple of months particularly we’ve just been refining our craft. Everyone’s really excited to turn a new page.”
They’ve bought a difficult opening six weeks that features battles with Melbourne, Richmond and Geelong, however Rampe stated they’d be punished for letting that change their method.
“Every game in this competition is bloody tough,” he stated.
“If you go in with that mindset that you’ve got to get wins early, you’re going to get exposed.”
The Swans’ greatest level of distinction this season seems to be intercepting defender Aaron Francis, who struggled by way of simply 54 video games in eight years at Essendon together with solely 4 appearances in 2022.
But becoming a member of a backline group together with Tom and Paddy McCartin, Jake Lloyd, Robbie Fox and Rampe himself, the skipper hoped Francis might shortly play career-best footy.
“It takes a little while getting used to a new system, but he’s come in and is a really popular member of the group,” Rampe stated.
“You can tell he’s loving it up here and we love having him, it might take him a little while to get used to the game plan but we like what we see.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
