‘Bigger than five’: Beautiful Swans family image that will stay with me forever — Will Schofield column

The image that has stayed with me from Sunday wasn’t a goal, a tackle or a celebration. It was Dean Cox embracing his daughter in the Sydney rooms after the game.

Because in the middle of everything that has happened at the Swans over the past week, that image reminded me of something we can lose sight of when football becomes the story.

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There’s been a lot of commentary around every element of this terrible situation. And, first and foremost, alleged victims central to the police investigation are entitled to care and privacy.

What I saw after the game on Sunday was just ‘people’ – and that brought up emotion in me.

I saw raw emotion. I saw that a football club is more than five players. I saw hundreds of staff – from the coaches’ box to the bench to the rooms afterwards – and all these unfamiliar faces that work so hard behind the scenes. Then there’s the tens of thousands of fans.

And then there was coach Cox with his beautiful family.

If you put that image up against some of the stuff that’s been run around last week, I don’t know if you can have a different view other than this: Football is a people industry.

Cox was a teammate of mine for the first eight seasons of my career. I’ve been really proud of how he’s handled himself in the past week, both publicly and I think internally.

He’s the head coach of a football club. That’s his job. He’s got his players to come out and perform after a really big week – and that was acknowledged by many at the club, not just in football terms.

He’s put the off-field situation well before the results of his own football side, when his job is to win games of footy. That’s his mandate.

In a really awful position for everyone to be in – including Cox himself – I’m not sure he could’ve handled himself much better in a situation where so much is out of his control.

SWANS’ ON-FIELD SPIRIT

There are many things in life that are far bigger than footy. Respect for women remains a huge issue in society and should remain the primary focus in this situation.

Seeing the Swans on Sunday made my mind go to a lot of negative experiences in terms of playing after events that go well beyind the game.

I played in the match immediately after Phil Walsh’s death when Adelaide travelled here to play West Coast. I played in games after losing people very close to me. I played in games after other players had lost siblings, parents and incredibly close friends in their lives. I’ve played in games where there’s been off-field noise and circumstances that don’t relate to the football field.

Yet if I can take a positive lens on this, footy has got a beautiful way of bringing it back to the human element. It allows us to harness everything that happens in life – negative, positive and everything in-between – and focus it into 120 minutes on a footy field.

It doesn’t mean ‘nothing else matters’ – it might mean the opposite. For 120 minutes, you can focus on the ball, your teammates and the contest in front of you.

That’s what it looked like for the Swans players on Sunday. You had no idea how they were going to play, but they ended up playing really well against North.

Who knows what the future holds for them as a footy club on and off the field. But ultimately, among so much recent commentary on footy’s standing in society, it’s a game where so many are invested in it.

I don’t think it has to be this negative thing that we can focus on the game for 120 minutes.

SHOUT OUT TO THE W TEAM

Before the Swans’ win over North Melbourne, the AFLW team had a cracking victory over Essendon in front of over 16,000 fans. To see them celebrate with each other, as well as some of the AFL players and club greats, after the game was uplifting.

The club is bigger than five people – and that’s what this all boils down to.

The AFLW program at the Sydney Swans, from afar, is a really strong piece of the club’s culture.

They haven’t been involved with what’s happened off-field. They want to play footy, make their friends and family proud. And the people who support them want to be there to cheer them on.

Football can be a vehicle for connection and escape even when awful things are happening. Because no matter what’s going on, you can get the team out on the field, bond together, focus on the ball bouncing around on the ground, kick some goals, have some fun with your mates – it can really bring everyone together.

That’s what I think the AFLW team showed. It was really cool to watch.

FINALS CHANCES

For the guys that are playing in finals who weren’t involved with this incident, life doesn’t stop for really horrific moments, unfortunately. It doesn’t matter how bad it is, life doesn’t get to just be put on pause. You don’t get to rip society apart and change things in a day.

So for these players who haven’t been involved, they’ve got a duty to everyone else involved at the football club and the AFL industry in general to do what they’re paid to do: To play footy and play at their highest level.

I think everyone’s written Sydney off – and I can understand why – but all this, from a football sense, could galvanise the team.

I still think they’re going to be extremely dangerous in finals. Many are saying it’s a fait accompli Brisbane will win through to a home prelim, but they’ve still got to go through the SCG and play Sydney after a week off.

In fact I would almost have Sydney as favourites, even without three of their best players from a football sense. There’s a lot of star players out there still: Charlie Curnow’s a pretty good player last time I checked, so too Errol Gulden. Players like Brody Grundy, Callum Mills, Tom Papley, Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd have all tasted the pain of coming close without getting the ultimate success, so they’ll be hungry for another chance.

For all the noise surrounding the Sydney Swans right now, don’t make the mistake of writing off the football team. They are still a genuine premiership threat.

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