Griffith to celebrate Premiership milestone
2003 was a year to remember for the Griffith Swans, who beat a classy Turvey Park outfit 140 – 67 at Narrandera Sportsground to claim their maiden Riverina Football League (RFL) title.
In honour of that momentous occasion, the club is holding a reunion in conjunction with their annual ball after their Round 10 clash with Turvey Park on Saturday June 22, in the hope of bringing together all the players involved in the successful 2003 campaign.
Phil Rowston, a member of that premiership winning side and three-time best and fairest winner still has fond memories of the Grand Final victory, saying his side used the pain of a Grand Final loss to Turvey Park in 2002 as motivation the following year.
“It was the second year in a row that we played Turvey Park played in the Grand Final,” said Rowston.
“You could say that it was definitely a bit of retribution for us.
“I actually think that losing in 2002 helped us in the long run, because the previous year we went through nearly undefeated and didn’t have the same hunger I suppose.
“It was a bit of unfinished business and the guys were just very very motivated.”
No single moment in the match stood out for Rowston, rather, it was a complete team performance that netted the Swans their first premiership since entering the RFL in 1982.
“It was just a good solid performance, we started the game really well and just kept going and once we’d got our noses in front we just kept building and ended up winning by a fairly big margin.
“I wouldn’t put it down to one thing, it was just good preparation, a good start and we finished the job.”
In a sign of the camaraderie still shared amongst the 2003 playing group, almost every single member of the side will return to the Griffith Ex-Services Club to take part in the festivities.
“It’s more than just the side, there was a squad of about 35 guys playing throughout the year and everyone bar one guy is coming back so it should be a pretty good weekend,” said Rowston.
“I’m really looking forward to it, I probably see about half the guys fairly regularly who are still local, but the other half have moved away with work and some have gone away playing footy in other places so it’ll be really good.
“It’ll be good to get back and have a yarn.”
Griffith president, Jeff Harris, said that it was important for the current players to see the pride that the 2003 team still had in being part of the Swans community.
“It’ll be great for the current guys to see what it means to the 2003 team 10 years later, to see how important it is to them, and it gives the current guys something to strive for.”
He also said the club was working hard to ensure future success by implementing the best strategies to recruit and maintain the best young local talent.
“We’re working really hard to develop the best pathways to make sure that we have kids coming through and that they have the best opportunity to develop their skills.
“It’s important that our juniors can move through the ranks so we don’t have to rely on buying players to achieve success,” said Harris.
Rowston echoed that sentiment, while also saying that he sees similarities between the 2003 premiers and the current group of players.
“I’m heavily involved in the juniors, I’ve got three sons playing in the juniors and I coached the Under-15s last year so I’ve got a fairly strong connection with a lot of the kids playing in the Under-17s this year,” said Rowston.
“Our junior base has expanded, we’ve doubled in size in the last three years…so we’re starting to really pump some numbers into the senior club which hopefully will turn into some success.
“I think it’s really relevant for the current crop of guys because we went through a phase similar to what they’re going through now four or five years prior to those Grand Finals we played in, where we really struggled and we basically built our players up and ended up being one of the stronger sides in the competition.
“I think the current crop of players…they can do the same thing.
“They’ve got some really talented kids coming through and hopefully a few of the guys that are around now can become senior players and there’s nothing stopping them from repeating what we did.”
The reunion will provide the perfect opportunity to reminisce about the goals kicked, tackles made and the marks taken in one of the greatest moments in Griffith Swans history.
“I’m sure the stories will get longer and taller for sure,” said Rowston.
“We’ve been starved for success so I suppose we’re going to celebrate pretty hard.”
