Cometti: Swans appear on premiership horizon
The Sydney Swans have officially entered the Premiership race.
At least that was the feeling leaving ANZ Stadium on Friday night.
Finally John Longmire's wish list materialised in front of his eyes with Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett strutting their stuff on the same forward line.
Tippett's late start to the season meant it was the first time they'd actually played together.
And to complete a rather strange Swans jigsaw, Adam Goodes' early finish to last season coupled with Tippett's pre-season suspension meant that that pair were playing together for only the second time.
If you've followed all of that, you now realise how rare what we saw the other night was. Still, all's well that starts well!
And of the three, Tippett started best.
He had a couple of goals before most of the late arriving Sydney crowd had even found their seats.
Franklin started erratically (he eventually finished with one less behind than all of yesterday's Eagles) while Goodes, coming off three goals the previous week, had little trouble finding his seat. It was on the bench!
And therein lies the "problem" (add Sam Reid's return), Sydney was almost embarrassed with big-name big guys.
It's a problem that might take them all the way to a premiership.
Still, Hawthorn underscored, in the words of an old coach of mine, their "deep depth" by starting the game without Mitchell, Hodge, Lake, Sewell and Shiels, then losing Rioli well before they led early in the last quarter.
Looking ahead, and if both sides can be close to full strength in September, I think it's safe to say one of these sides, probably both, will play in the grand final.
But to feel confident about that, is to ignore the jigsaw Longmire was finally able to put together on Friday night ... after well over a season.
