Shellharbour Swans players and official (from left) Glen Bachelor, Matthew Cabor, Ruan Sampson, Tom Gillespie, Mark Gillespie, Jenny, Lachlan and Brendan Cabor, and Jeremy Bachelor will be cheering for their Sydney counterparts today. Picture: SYLVIA LIBER
On grand final day, as with all the Sydney Swans' big games, the Bachelor household at Flinders will be beholden to certain traditions.
A plate of cheeses, biscuits and other things to nibble is to be laid out ceremoniously in the loungeroom.
Jeremy, an 11-year-old bundle of nerves in neck-to-knee red and white, will fill the minutes before kick-off with absentminded small talk about the Swans' prospects.
Patriarch Glen Bachelor will don his lucky shirt and his lucky red and white socks.
The socks have been doing right by the Swans for two years now, and are vital.
"Whenever it's a tough game I always put the socks on," said Mr Bachelor, president of the Shellharbour Swans Junior Australian Football club and coach of Jeremy's under-11s side.
Sharing the colours and song of their Sydney brethren, the Shellharbour Swans fraternity will be among the keenest observers of today's premiership showdown with Hawthorn.
Mr Bachelor is hoping the Swans' first premiership outing since 2005 will cause a surge in registrations at Shellharbour.