Geelong insults the Sydney Swans as city begins planning an AFL grand final VICTORY parade

The deputy mayor of Geelong has given the Swans plenty of motivation by revealing that the city is already planning a grand victory parade ahead of the teams clash in Saturday’s biggest game of the year.

In a statement that is sure to go down like a lead balloon for Sydney’s players and fans, Trent Sullivan told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program that the Cats’ hometown is preparing to celebrate a premiership victory over five full days. before the first center bounce on the MCG occurs. .

“There will be a Cats holiday after the grand finale on Sunday, and I’ll even let you know that we’re already planning our grand finale victory parade through the streets of Geelong,” the Deputy Mayor told Seven’s Edwina Bartholomew on Monday morning. .

While the Cats are coveted favorites to win their 10th premiership, teams are almost always very careful not to give the impression that they take a grand final win for granted – but it seems Sullivan didn’t get the memo.

Both teams will have a hectic week filled with big final commitments, with Cats coach Chris Scott admitting that while he used to prefer to get away from the hype when he was a player, he now gives his team very different advice. .

“I used to think, 30 years ago or whenever it was, you could just isolate yourself from the week and just treat it like any other week,” Scott told reporters.

“If that was possible then, it is impossible now.

“You have almost no choice but to embrace it, which is the right way anyway.

“It’s so hard to get into this situation.

“The only way you can ruin it is to try and hide from it, I guess, so embrace the moment.”

Geelong had the oldest starting 22 in AFL/VFL history in their preliminary final in Brisbane, and has significantly more final experience than the Swans.

The Cats are sweltering favorites to win their 10th premiership (pictured, Geelong’s Jed Bews presided over from the ground after the big preliminary final win over Brisbane last Friday night)

That Cats team went into the penultimate week of the season with 339 combined finals to their name, compared to Sydney’s 142 for their thrilling one-point win over Collingwood.

Geelong will field about 14 players in the grand final who played against Richmond in the 2020 season decider, and Sydney will pick about half that number from their most recent grand final of 2016.

But Swans coach John Longmire is not worried about his younger side’s ability to seize the opportunity.

It has been bolstered this year by the grand final’s return to its traditional home in the MCG for the first time in three years, with over 100,000 fans expected to check in.

Sullivan’s statement is a good chance to be printed out and taped to the walls of the Swans’ dressing room at the SCG to use as motivation for the grand finale (pictured, outgoing club legend Josh Kennedy celebrates with Ryan Clarke after Sydney’s preliminary final had won)

“A lot of those guys hadn’t played preliminaries, let alone grand finals, so they’re experiencing it for the first time,” Longmire said at his post-match press conference on Saturday night.

“It was sweltering hot (against Collingwood), as it was against Melbourne (in the qualifiers).

Geelong coach Chris Scott has told his team (pictured after beating Brisbane) to embrace the frenetic build-up to the grand final

‘That’s what it’s all about at this time of year, who experience really red hot pressure.

“I thought our guys generally handled it well (against Collingwood).

“This week will be just a reminder of getting our Fundamentals right and our Fundamentals in the game, to get them right.

“We’re going to focus on that.”

Sydney has scheduled a feature at the SCG for Sunday night’s Brownlow medal count. They leave for Melbourne on Thursday.

The two sides will meet on Friday for the grand finale parade in Melbourne before meeting at the MCG in the traditional timeslot on Saturday afternoon.