Nerves abound, but Sydney Swans ready to reboot under new coach Dean Cox

Sydney will battle nerves, but not demons, as they plot their path back to an AFL grand final.

All eyes will be on the Swans when they host Hawthorn at the SCG on Friday night in the season opener.

The match will be one of only two in opening round after Cyclone Alfred forced the AFL to postpone two games in southeast Queensland.

Sydney were already under the spotlight, with many curious to see how they would rebound from last year’s grand final defeat.

First-year coach Dean Cox’s thorough day-long review of the 60-point loss to the Lions has already been well-documented in the lead-up to Friday’s match.

Rising Sydney star Braeden Campbell admits the new factor of hosting the season opener has only added to the nerves, but his side will embrace the feeling.

“There’s always nerves when you’re starting a season, probably more so than every other game because it is the first game of the season,” Campbell said.

“Everyone wants to start off well - we’re just taking that in our stride and accepting that there will be nerves.

“We’ve obviously touched on the grand final last year. Once we had those conversations, we moved on as a team and we’ve all got each other’s backs.

“We didn’t really forget about the grand final but we had that in the back of our minds - just things that we want to fix this season.

“We’re excited to play on Friday night and just fix those areas where we went wrong and see how we go.”

Cox has been forced to throw the magnets around and debut a new-look Swans side after stars Errol Gulden (ankle) and Callum Mills (foot) suffered pre-season injuries.

Former St Kilda defender Ben Paton and rookie Tom Hanily will run out in Swans colours for the first time, with key defender Tom McCartin primed to continue his experiment up forward.

Utility Campbell has found a home as a half-forward alongside Hanily, while small forward Sam Wicks is set to be stationed in defence.

Sam Mitchell’s ‘Hollywood Hawks’ only adds to the intrigue of Friday’s spectacle, with last year’s late-season bolters promising to bring the rage.

Just as Sydney are looking to bounce back, Hawthorn are determined to avoid a repeat of their woeful start to 2024.

The Hawks lost their first five games of that season, steamrolled the competition then suffered a three-point loss to Port Adelaide in a dramatic semi-final.

Mitchell will unveil his own club debutants, with star defensive recruits Tom Barrass and Josh Battle raring to deliver straight away.

“Over the course of this pre-season, what I’ve heard about Hawthorn is that they just want to compete as much as they can,” Campbell said.

“It’ll be really hot early, lots of pressure. The new people down back will just try and intercept as much as they can.”