Rampe’s “Bittersweet” Grand Final Opportunity
Acting Sydney captain Dane Rampe has revealed his heartbreak over the Swans’ decision to leave out Callum Mills for Saturday’s AFL Grand Final, but says he will approach the decider with a clear mind after having experienced the “worst” of the big stage.
Rampe described the situation as “bittersweet,” leading the Swans against the Brisbane Lions without his close friend Mills who was named stand-alone captain at the start of the season after sharing the captaincy with Rampe and Luke Parker for two seasons.
Mills was omitted despite training fully on Wednesday, hoping to return from the hamstring injury he sustained in the days following the Swans’ qualifying final victory.
Coach John Longmire told reporters before Friday’s grand final parade that Mills had reacted “as you’d imagine” to the news, which was made jointly by the Swans coaches and medical staff.
“It’s tough, because Callum is a great person and a great leader of our football club,” Longmire said.
“(He reacted) as you’d imagine, I probably don’t need to describe it – he was disappointed, but that’s what happens sometimes.
“The risk of going into a game like this – it just seemed to weigh against Callum in that moment, even though he trained well (on Wednesday).”
Rampe, who will lift the premiership cup aloft should the Swans triumph, said he cried with Mills after receiving the selection news but quickly had to move on to prepare for the grand final.
“I think bittersweet is exactly the word. First of all, I’m shattered for a mate, one of my great mates and the leaders of our club. We’ve been through a lot together,” Rampe said.
“We had to push that aside, me and him had a cry after the news on Wednesday afternoon, but as soon as that was done, the way Millsy would want it is moving on and business as usual, and that’s what it had to be.
“As for my prep … I’ve been doing what I can in a leadership sense all year, and nothing for me changes – I’ll be going out and doing what I need to do.”
Rampe joined the Sydney list immediately after the 2012 premiership and has since lost all three of his grand finals, including heavy defeats in 2014 and 2022 and a close upset loss to the Western Bulldogs in 2016.
He said the pain of those defeats had left him clear-minded coming into the Lions clash.
“I’ve experienced the worst, let’s be honest. There’s a little bit of peace knowing I’ve experienced that, and been able to work through that and get back here,” Rampe said.
“What I’ve learnt over the couple of losses that I’ve had is that no one cares about your story, really.
“It would be great for us to get back there and win after ’22, it would be great for Brisbane to get back and make amends for last year, but they don’t care about our story, and we don’t care about theirs, and that’s the way it is.”