Acting Sydney captain Dane Rampe was distraught over the Swans’ decision to leave out Callum Mills but says he will go into the AFL grand final with a clear mind after “experiencing the worst” of the big stage.
Rampe said it was “bittersweet” to be leading the Swans into the decider against the Brisbane Lions without his close friend Mills, who was appointed stand-alone captain at the start of 2024 after sharing the duties with Rampe and Luke Parker for two seasons.
Mills was left out of Sydney’s squad despite training fully on Wednesday in a bid to return from the hamstring injury he suffered in the days after the Swans’ qualifying final win.
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Coach John Longmire told reporters before Friday’s grand final parade that Mills had reacted “as you’d imagine” after being told of the decision jointly made 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 win, said he cried with Mills after he was told of the selection call but had to quickly move on as he prepared to lead the side into 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 arrived on Sydney’s list immediately after the 2012 flag and has lost all three of his grand finals, with 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.”
Source Agencies
