Swans dismiss venue move as AFL derby final sells out
Joanna Guelas |
With their local derby emerging as the hottest ticket in town, Sydney captain Callum Mills is firm on his side playing their AFL qualifying final at the SCG.
The minor premiers kick off their post-season campaign when they host cross-town rivals GWS on September 7 at their Moore Park home.
Some fans will miss out on the fourth finals edition of the local derby after the AFL announced on Wednesday that tickets had sold out.
The SCG has a capacity of 48,000 seats, with Sydney enjoying an average of almost 39,000 fans at home this season and a total attendance of 420,226.
The teams first played a derby final at Accor Stadium in 2016, drawing 60,222 fans to fill the 83,500-capacity venue.
Moving the blockbuster clash to Olympic Park is unlikely, with an NRL match between Canterbury and North Queensland scheduled for Accor Stadium on the same day.
With the Swans boasting a 9-2 record across 11 home matches this season, Mills has no complaints about playing at the SCG.
“Isn’t it top-two, you get a home final?” Mills said on Wednesday.
“(Our home) is the SCG so we’ll take the SCG.”
Mills added the team were not concerned about not being handed a Friday night match, which would have gifted the loser of their qualifying final a longer break ahead of a week-two finals clash.
“It doesn’t bother us at all. We’ll play any day,” he said.
“Fans rock up every week and we’re really happy to play whenever.
“Every situation is different, and I think the best part about our team is we’re able to adapt to whatever we face, wherever we play, whatever time, and I think that’s one of our strengths.”
Sydney are hoping to receive a massive boost with livewire forward Tom Papley and star winger Justin McInerney expected to be available for the derby.
Papley has been sidelined since sustaining a medial ankle ligament injury in round 19 against Brisbane, while McInerney has been out with a posterior cruciate ligament injury since round 18.
“They’re going well. I think they’re a test to play,” Mills said.
“They trained a bit today, which is really good to see and hopefully they’ll keep doing more and more leading up to the final.
“They’d obviously be really great inclusions.
“But also the way that we’ve been able to play with the guys that we’ve had in the team the last couple weeks has also been great … we’ll see how the week plans out.”
The Swans will be looking to keep Jesse Hogan quiet after the Giants star kicked 69 goals across 23 games to win the Coleman medal.
Sydney defeated GWS in their two meetings this season, but have lost to their rivals in all three post-season matches since first meeting in a qualifying final in 2016.
“He’s a superstar player, and winning the Coleman is a big credit to him,” Mills said.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to try to stop him but the other part is, there’s a lot of other forwards, so we’ll do our homework.
“It’s a clean slate. We’ve got massive respect for the Giants.
“Their form has been unbelievable so we’ll lock in and do what we need to do.”
AAP