We love birthday's at the blog, perhaps more than anyone else. But hey, who doesn't love a good birthday, cake and cider. Well, cider's not for everyone, but it's certainly for me!
But where people usually receive gifts on their birthday, we're in a giving mood and we'd love to reward our loyal followers. How do we reward all of our followers, you might be wondering? Well, how about a Redback membership?
We are delighted to open expressions of interest for The Swans Blog's first ever Player Sponsorship Program. We're aiming to raise enough money to purchase a Redback Double Membership in the name of The Swans Blog, at the cost of $2,418. If we receive more interest, will be aim to purchase a second Redback Double Membership!
We've spoken to the club this year and there's potential for us to nominate the player we want to sponsor. While we may not get the player we want, those that are higher profile are naturally less likely to be available, we'll put it to a vote, with everyone that's contributed having a say.
The player or players we sponsor will be made available at club functions to whoever attends as The Swans Blog's representative to the event.
Please read the Terms and Conditions before expressing interest, as your interest will determine just how many memberships we purchase. You can express your interest here.
This week The Swans Blog celebrates its very own tiny milestone, turning one! Who'd have thunk it, one year ago, the blog becoming a "thing". Not me, that's for sure. I certainly didn't expect it to gather the following that it did. One can hope, but what happened is far beyond my wildest dreams.
Not quite to the very day, in fact that's passed already, I wrote the first blog post after the heart ripping loss to the Bulldogs in the 2016 Grand Final. Livid is an understatement - I was ropable. It was a shameful display by the AFL and they got their "fairytale", appropriately named blog after all.
For all the well wishes, congratulations and plaudits the Dogs' won from their magnificent finals series, they wasted it away in short thrift, refusing to be magnanimous in victory and acting like a pack of spoiled brats.
A lot has happened since that first article, as I learned the nuances of blogging, writing and understanding the wants and desires of my readers. I covered the Bob Skilton Medal last year from my couch and received tremendous following and support, but in later posts, some of the content and imagery received mixed feedback.
I took a hiatus from writing between November and April, dedicating my free time to my work, my coaching commitments in grass roots soccer, and my desire to create The Swans Blog android app. When I had time to reinvest in the blog, so much had happened. Lockett had returned to the side, Rampe was KO'd by a fence and the Swans' first game against Port Adelaide was less than enjoyable.
April is when things started really looking up and kicking off. Contributors started coming on board, I found the time to finish the android app and we started recording the SwansCast. It's amazing to reflect back over the season, realising that almost a dozen people have contributed their own content to the blog, kicking off the evolution of the site into a community, more than a simple blog.
There have been ups and downs, more downs than ups from a footballing perspective, but that's just the way things go. I don't imagine that it'll change and I wouldn't want it to change, regardless how crotchety people get.
My introduction to the Sydney Swans was as an impressionable ten year old in 1996. I didn't have any family lineage or alignment with any team, my family having migrated to Melbourne from Adelaide before I was born. It just so happened that year the Swans made the Grand Final, and I was hooked ever since. Having followed the team through more good times than bad, I'll look fondly on these years in the future and appreciate the good times we had.
Anyway, as ever I just want to say thank you for being here. Some of you have followed from the very start, but I do what I do because I love doing it, but also because you lot keep reading it, listening to it, emailing me to complain about it, and all the rest. All of which is very much appreciated.
Right then, there's news on the horizon! Sydney news starts with the coaching shuffle, Taubert hanging up the boots after Cox was unofficially confirmed as the new ruck coach at the Swans. Taubert has been a fantastic servant of the club for 18 years and we wish him all the best.
The Swans are still "linked" with Jack Watts, but with absolutely no news from the Swans or Demons, and only persistent rumour mongering from the usual suspects (cough nab trade radio cough), it doesn't look likely.
Which is a shame, he's a quality player and would go a long way to improving the Swans. Is he the missing link? I'm not so sure, but you can't argue against the Swans being better with him in the team than out of it.
Missed the latest SwansCastLive episode? Well, it was a massive one! We had Rohan Connolly from Footyology, Adam Curley from AFL.com.au, Adam "Warnie" Child from Dream Team Talk and Sydney's own Jared Crouch, Head Coach of the Sydney Swans Academy, join us on the show.
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Got a question, a comment? You can send us an email anytime throughout the week to swanscast@theswansblog.com, or drop us a line on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #SwansCast.
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