Sometimes inspiration can be found not in winning but in surviving.
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And there is the age-old saying persistence pays off. And that rings true for Tamworth Swans’ coach Paul Kelly.
He was on the sidelines every weekend in 2017 as his team endured a winless season.
But despite that, they remained resolute, pulling on the red and white and running onto the field every Saturday.
And then, the tides turned, and it was time to celebrate this week.
There was a euphoric inflection to Kelly’s voice on Saturday night.
So used to reflecting on a loss, Kelly finally had a win to talk about after the Swans turned the derby tide against the Tamworth Kangaroos with a nail-biting 11.13-79 to 10.15-75 AFL North West competition win.
Kelly struggled for the words to describe how he was feeling but labelled the win his finest coaching moment and one of the best moments he’s enjoyed in the sport. Up there with winning premierships in South Australia and with the Swans.
“When you go hug your son when you’ve won a game that’s pretty special,” he said.
When you go hug your son when you’ve won a game that’s pretty special.
- Swans' coach Paul Kelly
He hasn’t been able to do that for at least a-year-a-half.
That’s how long it has been since the Swans have won and the players soaked up every moment.
“I’ve won a couple of grand finals with the Swans. The way they sung the song was the best I’ve ever heard. It was loud. They were pumped,” Kelly said.
A likeable former Swans player with a ready smile, in 2017 Kelly admitted to listening to a country song, the Zac Brown Band’s Fried Chicken, to salve his coaching anxiety.
His son Cooper, a Swans player, added it to his phone’s playlist.
Kelly thought he would have his strongest squad of the year in 2017 to confront the Roos, but then the flu struck. He had previously complained of never before witnessing a team go through such an injury-ravaged season. Bad luck all round.
Still, at the time, he was doing his best to remain to remain upbeat. “We’re headed in the right direction,” he said following a Moree game, an assessment he repeated after each subsequent defeat.
“The boys don’t give up. Even when we’re down by 10 goals, they just keep fighting right out till the end.”
A mentality, he said, that everyone who pulled on the Swans’ jumper had.
“For years the boys just never give in,” he added.
“It’s something that seems to be bred into the culture of the Swans. Whoever puts on the jumper never gives in.”
Despite two losses to start the season in 2018, Kelly sensed they were building towards something. Against Inverell they were good and likewise the New England Nomads, but they couldn’t kick the goals.
“[Saturday] everything seemed to click. A lot of times when we went forward, there was a good chance we were going to get a goal,” he said.
“The boys just ran. The support was good. And when the Roos had the ball the boys kept running back.”
The result is the fruition of a lot of hard work.
“A lot of the boys are my son’s (Tom) mates. They were union or league boys and they’d come around home and watch it (AFL),” Kelly recalled.
“It’s been a long process to get them to know what’s going on.
“We’ve got a couple of older guys that have come back to help out.”
