Last weekend, the Saigon contingent of the Vietnam Swans went on a Footy Boot Camp down to Vung Tau.

Big Joe & Little Lek, Mighty Matty Johnsy, Muzzaaaaagh!, Captain G Very Angry Train, Drew Truckie and Fabulous Phil were all there. A special appearance by the Little Guy, Pacey Stacey at the Dog Races on the Saturday night was specially disappointing for the bookies.

The weekend was in preparation for the hit out against Malaysia on 8 March.

Speaking of the dogs, that’s where we trained: in the middle of the dog track for a couple of hours in the searing temperatures. Literally, half the team was sick (the night before). Fairly soft performance that.

“Geelong sits four games clear on top of the ladder and is already the minor premier. It has won 14 games in a row, the second-longest winning streak in the club’s history and one of the 12 longest by any club. The previous three clubs to compile similar sequences — Carlton 1995, Essendon 2000 and the Brisbane Lions 2002 — all won premierships, emphatically.”

The story looks good. But Baum then points out Geelong’s well known flip side:

“Geelong has not won the flag since 1963. Among clubs of the former VFL, only Footscray is more starved. In the interim, the Cats have lost five grand finals, also losing six preliminary finals.”

In conclusion, Baum thinks “a defeat now for the Cats would be a hitch, not a crisis. But Geelong knows that its biggest threat at the moment is Geelong. So do punters.”

The Swans Blog decided to get to the bottom of this story and contacted Bomber Thompson for his own thoughts. According to Bomber, Cats’ supporters should not worry. He spoke reassuringly and enthusiastically about the Cats, and described their recent form as “priceless”.

Meanwhile, for those Vietnam Swans in Hanoi, training will be on tonight as usual at Dead Cat Stadium, commencing at 7.15pm. Only 2 1/2 weeks before the Hong Kong Dragons get here.

Max was mighty because he brought the footy with him which allowed everyone to go through a few drills. The photographic evidence is impressive if not conclusive.

However, it seems that Greg was ridden twice which means he’s the one who most needs to work on his defensive skills. Admittedly, it looked like nothing would have stopped Rehnie or Max.

Best climb? Possibly Max but like his brother in Laos and all of his Elephant mates, doesn’t seem to find it necessary to be anywhere near the ball.

For my money, it’s Micky J in his vote-catching red pants. Note the open mouth in case the ball penetrates through his hands. Also, no one used Mick’s rat’s tail to ride him. In fact no one rode him at all. Must be the best defender and attacker in that group of illustrious Swans. 

For this scribe currently based in Saigon, I was stunned to see the “lost” Clint Lambert’s name reappear on some email lists. I was thinking his reappearance might suggest he was a closet Gaelic Footballer. However, rumours have started surfacing this week, in the chase for sponsorship support, that previous President Taber may have banished him from the club after he obscured sponsors’ logos (Jaspas and Red Apron) in a footy match way back in March of last year! That’s how seriously the Swans treat their sponsors.

Cambodia and our Elephant Friends in Laos had their training session on Thursday as well – but still, no photographic proof. Despite all the modern technology, those of us in the Swans Control Room are still relying on hope. 

On Saturday in Melbourne, 4 managed to get to Princes Park for a training session with Max Sharples and contrary to earlier rushed reports, Max was the one to bring the footy.  Apologies to Bar Fly and Tommy for inadvertently not getting your names on the original email.

Also on Saturday, Dead Cat came back to life with the Magnificent Sherrin. 7 tried out in a scratch match. Growds and Trav performed particularly strongly.

In the deep south, Saigon’s training was delayed until Sunday evening at Parkland (due to the RMIT pitch being under repair). 12 of us turned up – but without our Super Savvy Coach,  Scotty, who is in Malaysia. We welcomed Peter Grave for his first ever session. Other highlights included the return of Kris, Johnny, Euan and Pago who replaced his normal Sunday session with training.

The lights came on at 6.45 and they were just bright enough to make it glary when you looked at them.  

In Sydney, Singapore and Canberra, the line has gone quiet…    

Optus Oval with its silly warped roof. Carlton with its disgraced puffing ex President. Yesterday, their footy team received a 100 point pummeling from the resurgent Hawks who dished out another brown & gowwwwwwwwwwwld performance…

It was all looking grim until the Vietnam Swans descended upon Optus Oval this weekend to meet up with Max Sharples, gun recruit for the Swans in Bangers.

Joining Max for a kick of the footy outside Optus were Sri Swaminathan, Micky J, Greg Banova and Dave Rehn. Apologies came in from Josh Magennis, Daniel Hogarth and Chris Canty (no word from the Bar Fly or Ryan).

Even though they were in the home of footy, Max didn’t have one. Greg didn’t have one either as he generously gave his only footy to the Hanoi Swans when he left town… 

Anywhere in the world, as always, there seems to be more Swans than footies.

Meanwhile, how can we mention Rehnie’s name without reminiscing about “that” champagne piece of play in Hanoi last year on 25 March against the Jakarta Bintangs… History, of course, has recorded that the Swans went on to win their inaugural victory finishing the match 6.8.44 to the Bintang’s 2.2.14.

However, Vietnam continually throws out fresh challenges. Just as we’re getting some momentum in the lead up to the Champs, RMIT will lock down their ovals for 4 weeks for “rest and repair”. So we need another venue badly!

Further bad news is that Noam leaves Saigon tomorrow bound for India. He is a very recent recruit to Aussie Rules and starred for Hanoi (!) in the recent match against Saigon.  But there is also some good news. On his way to India, he’ll cruise through Hanoi. When he’s there, he’ll slip straight into training with the Hanoi-based Swans on Thursday night.

Noam’s a very lucky man as he will be one of the very few from Saigon to have experienced the hallowed dirt of the world-famous, candle-lit, Dead Cat Stadium.

It’s great to have footy happening in both cities.

Thanks everyone, and congratulations to Ms Hoai for delivering a boy only 5 days later. Rumour has it that the new lad will be christened Ngo Swan.

Daryl Taber (Smooth) – Fearless, lightning quick ex-Carlton onballer and cross-dresser. Credits include teaching Polly Farmer how to handball; running the 2007 Harbour Bridge to Bondi marathon in the buff; and dacking Chopper Reid in the infamous 1984 Hanoi Swans v/s Pentridge Inmates bloodbath.

Surprised many in 2005 when he let his two daughters put soft drink in his beer esky. Went on to win “Father of the Year”. Diminutive in height, a stand out in the showers.

Bangkok Accommodation. We have two choices:

• Novotel on Soi 33 – Novotel Lotus in Soi 33 BKK. Single room rate incl Breakfast is A$147 (US$122) nett per night. Double occupancy room rate is A$162 ($134) nett /night

• Maxims, Soi 7, next to the Skytrain’s Nana Station. 990THB (30USD) per day, aircon, minibar, TV & shower.

For bookings, let us know what you need.

Airfares. Because people are arriving and departing at different times (eg some want to see the Friday night Socceroos match, others want to stay for the Monday Socceroos match), there won’t be any single “Vietnam Swans” flight. What I’m saying here is, book and pay for your own tickets!

We need Umpires! At the Champs, each team is required to provide one field umpire, one goal umpire and one boundary umpire. So you closet umpires, please reveal yourselves and get on board!

The Most Critical Information. There will be ten teams competing – Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Hong Kong (who will travel with 35!), China and Dubai. Each team will play a minimum of 4 matches. Each match will comprise 2 x 15 minute halves with a 5 minute break between halves. The two best teams then play off in the GF.

Well may it be true that too much footy is never enough – but it’s probably equally true at the moment that too much training and fitness work will also never be enough. For anyone wanting to brush up on their history of the Champs and footy in Asia, see-attached.pdf .

Recent form. The Bali Geckos are apparently in top form at the moment. They accounted for the Thailand Tigers at the Annual Anzac Day match – 9.6.60 to 3.5.23

The Socceroos. On the Friday night, the Hong Kong Boys are off to the Iraq match. On Monday, 18 of the Jakarta Bintangs boys are going to the Thailand match. In the Bintangs area, tickets are about $30. If people are keen Chris Newport has offered to try and get seats near them to increase the size of the Aussie contingent.

The Saigon Geckos Vs The Hanoi Swans – The match report from the 2nd Derby. For the full story of what really happened (from a Hanoi Swans perspective), read micky-js-match-report.pdf

The new QBE Vietnam Swans Hat judged a success! The response to the new Vietnam Swans hat has been very positive.

• The CEO of the Sydney Swans wrote to us to say “Awwwwwwwwwwwesome” (actually, that’s probably my interpretation of his “Great result – Well done!”).

• A bloke calling himself Will Sandman from the Louisville Kings Footy Club says that he is coming to Saigon in September/October and wants a hat reserved for him. Come on down Mr Sandman!
• Snags Canty from Melbourne is willing to pay hard-earned money for a hat.

• Greg Banova, also from Melbourne fame, believes that the latest Swans release will turn his Hanoi Swans hat into a collector’s edition! (But he also wants to know when you will deliver his hat, Josh!)

The Melbourne Dragons. The Melbourne Dragons, the new Vietnamese footy club in Melbourne, had a hit out last week against the Fitzroy Reds (apparently 2 ex Hanoi Swans players now play with the Reds: Andre and Jack). The Dragons won 9 – 11 – 65 to the Reds 6 – 8 – 44.

Check out the following names of the goal kickers!

Goals: Long Nguyen (2), Tony Ng, Andy Truong, Huy Vuong, Peter Nguyen, Khoa Nguyen, John Tran, Jamie Tang

If you want a look at their website, try www.dragonsfc.com.au

The Goose is none other than one, Pago, President of the Saigon Rugby Club.

Congratulations Pago on being the first person to be snapped in public wearing a Swans hat (that we can confirm).

Awesome work.

Hanoi Swans Hats are available at www.hanoiswans.com or email us for info!