The dust has finally settled on what was an unbearably hot weekend up North in the Country’s capital. Although a great weekend overall, with welcoming an AFL Asia powerhouse to Hanoi, mixing it up with friends old and new, and once again having the opportunity to represent the best sport in the world on an international level, it was a somewhat forgettable weekend on-field for the Vietnam Swans Men’s teams.

Before we move to the games, we would first like to thank all volunteers on the day that sacrificed their time and braved the heat to make sure the games had officials, and at times, that the players had water. A shout-out also to the small group of men and women that organized the weekend. The field was in great condition and the Friday, Saturday and Sunday events at The Republic and Al Fresco’s Ciputra were fantastic.

Spirits were high on the Friday evening as both North and South Swans contingents gathered at Hanoi’s AFL headquarters (and proud Vietnam Swan’s sponsor) The Republic, to watch Friday Night Footy, get quickly reacquainted as a national unit and discuss the all-important events due to unfold the following afternoon. It was also the first chance to get a look at Rick and his Volcanoes, most of whom had arrived on Thursday to acclimatize, and that were also on the waters/soft drinks during the evening in anticipation of a hot and grueling day of sport to come on Saturday.

Ladies Game – Vietnam Red vs Vietnam Black

The Swans ladies, plus the lovely Dawn from the Women’s Indonesia volcanoes team took to the field first for an in-house Women’s exhibition match which produced some great footy and got the day off to a positive start. With games against Cambodia and also The Asian Championships to come soon after the June/July break, this was a great opportunity for the girls to put together four quarters of competitive footy in the Hanoi heat, all-important minutes and conditioning for what lies ahead.

Division 1 Men’s Game – Vietnam Swans vs Indonesia Volcanoes

The Men’s Swans came into the weekend with a long list of absentees, but were confident of playing some really competitive football considering our strong start to the season. It was always going to be a big ask against a strong and well-prepared touring squad from Indonesia, with many of the Swans (again) playing together for the very first time, but the end result was quite… Unexpected.

From the first siren, signs weren’t great. We won the opening tap but the Volcanoes claimed the first clearance and put their first goal on the board within 30 seconds of the game beginning. Three more snags soon followed and the Swans went into the 1st quarter break 4 goals down. We did have our chances to put scores on the board at the start of the second quarter, which may have shifted the momentum a bit, but inaccurate goalkicking, uncharacteristic skill errors around the ground, lack of movement and bad decision making saw the Volcanoes grab the game by the throat halfway through the second quarter. With their elite fitness, skills and explosive transition footy, Rick Olarenshaw’s men had us hopelessly chasing jumpers and looking at each other for answers, answers we all knew quite early that we didn’t have on the day.

On a positive note, our defense hung tough all afternoon with standout performances by both key backmen, Matty Barton and Greg Bridges, receiving 2nd best and Best On Ground accolades respectively. These two battled tirelessly for 80 minutes against an absolute onslaught, neither coming off for a break for the entire game. Our starting midfield may all also hold their heads high after giving everything they could to stem the flow, with no experienced rotations and battling against not only an elite midfield, but also an Indonesia backline that walked the footy out of our forward zone with little resistance all day long.

Final Scores:1.6-12 vs 18.13-121

Best Players: Greg Bridges, Matty Barton, Irish Shea.

Special mentions: Rusty Clark, Ryan Tishler, Jono Mckay, Paul Villanova, James Symons

Goalscorer: Long Nguyen

Reserves Game – Vietnam Swans vs Indonesia Volcanoes

The Division 2 game was a little more competitive, with some past Swannies putting on the playing guernsey alongside some new faces, a few of the Swan’s women (kudos to you ladies that played two games in unbelievably hot conditions!) and a couple of big names returning from injury. It was a solid hitout, with Jordy returning from a PCL injury receiving Best On Ground accolades for the Swans. Runner-up BOG went to local Hanoian, Speedy, who produced one of the great runs through the middle of the ground with 7 bounces before unfortunately fluffing the kick in what would’ve been a candidate for Goal of the Year.

Final Scores: Vietnam 2.4-16 vs Indo 7.11-53

Best Players: Jordy Johnson, Speedy

Goalscorer: Tim Pickert 2

Where do we go from here? It’s clear now that we have a lot to work on if we want to match it with the best in both Division 1 and Division 3 in Pattaya this September. Fitness, consistency, preparation, priority, discipline, physicality, effort. There should still be a quiet confidence in the group, however. Our ladies National Team have some real momentum and the signs are looking great for the Women’s Swans to be a real contender at this year’s Asian Championships! From the men’s teams perspective, that beating is surely something none of our guys will want to experience again. With some big names to return and some of our workhorses now able to have a much-needed break to lick their wounds and return better than ever, we will look to come out of the break much stronger than we went into it.

Full length home and away games against Cambodia in both Men’s and Women’s divisions will be a great way to kick-off the second half of the season, and with some improvements in the aforementioned areas, we still believe our best footy will be competitive with the top teams in Asia, specifically playing the short-form of the game on shorter fields both this September in Pattaya and for the 2023 Indochina Cup later in the year.

Stay tuned to our website and social media channels for training updates and fixtures for the second half of the season!