thanrldiva
Matthew Rodwell
By Andrew Johns
26mar06
ANDREW Johns discovers the private thoughts of Swans captain Barry Hall, and asks why he chose AFL over boxing.
ANDREW JOHNS: Great to catch up again. What has it been like since the team's grand final success?
BARRY HALL: Yeah, the interest it created was pretty amazing. But even before the game, we were getting rugby league clubs, union clubs and even soccer people sending emails wishing us luck. I know we're competing but it showed Sydney as a whole sort of came together, which was great. It changed the AFL awareness in Sydney.
AJ: I was in England at the time and even over there, the Aussie expats were buzzing about it. Did you give yourself a genuine chance of winning it two months out?
BH: Yeah, probably. We were on a bit of a roll at that stage. We'd won 13 out of our last 16 and we had no injuries. We had only one change in the last nine weeks so we had a pretty stable side and were in good form.
AJ: It was a super grand final. Did the celebrations afterwards compare favourably?
BH: It was good actually. After the grand final, we had two weeks in Sydney and you can imagine what was happening there and then we went away to Hawaii and that was really the first time we actually sat down as a group and spoke about it. It was great. We had a great week there.
AJ: What did the criticism of your playing style by Andrew Demetriou do for the club?
BH: We actually looked at it, to be honest, to see if he was right. To Roosy's (coach Paul Roos) credit, he could have changed everything and gone maybe "he is right", but he stuck to his guns and we didn't change anything at all.
AJ: Has Roosy looked to make any changes or tweak a few things leading into this season?
BH: There have been a few little things. There have been rule changes and stuff like that we've had to work around but the mindset of the players, the one-on-one style of footy we play won't be changing.
AJ: Is there a player at the Swans jumping out of the ground who is in for a big year in your eyes?
BH: Ryan O'Keefe. He was super-fit anyway but he has got himself even fitter. He has bought himself a bike and he does hundreds of kilometres a week and his practice matches have reflected his fitness.
AJ: What about the teams to beat? Who do you rate as the real chances among your rivals this season?
BH: St Kilda will be up there again. They have a heap of talent and have been thereabouts for a few years and went out to us pretty disappointingly last year. Of the others, probably Adelaide.
AJ: What about the players? Who in your eyes would be the top three players in the competition?
BH: Chris Judd from West Coast is one. The scary thing is he is only 21 and he's already won the Brownlow.
AJ: Was that his missus in the red dress that night?
BH: Yeah. You remember her before him, don't you?
AJ: She was the talk of training the next day. I don't know how he plays but he must go all right off the field.
BH: Anyway, what were we talking about? Yeah, the best players. Judd's team-mate Ben Cousins. That's why they got to the grand final - their midfield. Nick Riewoldt from St Kilda is a top-liner as well.
AJ: What about since you have come to Sydney. Do you watch any of the other codes, league or union?
BH: Yeah, I do. League's a little bit easier to follow as far as rules go.
AJ: Even the union boys would say that, I'd say. My brother has actually said he has seen you on The Footy Show a few times.
BH: A few of the boys are pretty keen on league. We've got a tipping competition going and stuff like that.
AJ: Do you have an NRL team?
BH: Soon as I got here, I just went St George for the colours. Coming from Melbourne, I hadn't really seen a lot of league but I'm just a fan of sport in general, I don't really care what it is.
AJ: I read somewhere Johnny Lewis said you could have won an Australian heavyweight title. Do you reckon you could have got to that level?
BH: (laughs) I don't know, it's real hard to say. I fought as an amateur as a kid and won a Victorian title. But as a 16-year-old, I was training twice every day and it wasn't a lot of fun.
AJ: What about the chances of the Swans this year? How hard will it be to go back-to-back?
BH: It will be the toughest year we've ever played. We used to hunt teams down - now we are going to be the hunted
26mar06
ANDREW Johns discovers the private thoughts of Swans captain Barry Hall, and asks why he chose AFL over boxing.
ANDREW JOHNS: Great to catch up again. What has it been like since the team's grand final success?
BARRY HALL: Yeah, the interest it created was pretty amazing. But even before the game, we were getting rugby league clubs, union clubs and even soccer people sending emails wishing us luck. I know we're competing but it showed Sydney as a whole sort of came together, which was great. It changed the AFL awareness in Sydney.
AJ: I was in England at the time and even over there, the Aussie expats were buzzing about it. Did you give yourself a genuine chance of winning it two months out?
BH: Yeah, probably. We were on a bit of a roll at that stage. We'd won 13 out of our last 16 and we had no injuries. We had only one change in the last nine weeks so we had a pretty stable side and were in good form.
AJ: It was a super grand final. Did the celebrations afterwards compare favourably?
BH: It was good actually. After the grand final, we had two weeks in Sydney and you can imagine what was happening there and then we went away to Hawaii and that was really the first time we actually sat down as a group and spoke about it. It was great. We had a great week there.
AJ: What did the criticism of your playing style by Andrew Demetriou do for the club?
BH: We actually looked at it, to be honest, to see if he was right. To Roosy's (coach Paul Roos) credit, he could have changed everything and gone maybe "he is right", but he stuck to his guns and we didn't change anything at all.
AJ: Has Roosy looked to make any changes or tweak a few things leading into this season?
BH: There have been a few little things. There have been rule changes and stuff like that we've had to work around but the mindset of the players, the one-on-one style of footy we play won't be changing.
AJ: Is there a player at the Swans jumping out of the ground who is in for a big year in your eyes?
BH: Ryan O'Keefe. He was super-fit anyway but he has got himself even fitter. He has bought himself a bike and he does hundreds of kilometres a week and his practice matches have reflected his fitness.
AJ: What about the teams to beat? Who do you rate as the real chances among your rivals this season?
BH: St Kilda will be up there again. They have a heap of talent and have been thereabouts for a few years and went out to us pretty disappointingly last year. Of the others, probably Adelaide.
AJ: What about the players? Who in your eyes would be the top three players in the competition?
BH: Chris Judd from West Coast is one. The scary thing is he is only 21 and he's already won the Brownlow.
AJ: Was that his missus in the red dress that night?
BH: Yeah. You remember her before him, don't you?
AJ: She was the talk of training the next day. I don't know how he plays but he must go all right off the field.
BH: Anyway, what were we talking about? Yeah, the best players. Judd's team-mate Ben Cousins. That's why they got to the grand final - their midfield. Nick Riewoldt from St Kilda is a top-liner as well.
AJ: What about since you have come to Sydney. Do you watch any of the other codes, league or union?
BH: Yeah, I do. League's a little bit easier to follow as far as rules go.
AJ: Even the union boys would say that, I'd say. My brother has actually said he has seen you on The Footy Show a few times.
BH: A few of the boys are pretty keen on league. We've got a tipping competition going and stuff like that.
AJ: Do you have an NRL team?
BH: Soon as I got here, I just went St George for the colours. Coming from Melbourne, I hadn't really seen a lot of league but I'm just a fan of sport in general, I don't really care what it is.
AJ: I read somewhere Johnny Lewis said you could have won an Australian heavyweight title. Do you reckon you could have got to that level?
BH: (laughs) I don't know, it's real hard to say. I fought as an amateur as a kid and won a Victorian title. But as a 16-year-old, I was training twice every day and it wasn't a lot of fun.
AJ: What about the chances of the Swans this year? How hard will it be to go back-to-back?
BH: It will be the toughest year we've ever played. We used to hunt teams down - now we are going to be the hunted