Can the Swans pull off a September fairytale?

Friday Sports Preview

If you’re planning on getting much done this weekend, perhaps reconsider.

September sport has reached the serious end of proceedings with AFL and NRL seasons on the line, Alex de Minaur back wearing the green and gold, Joe Ingles back home for the start of a new NBL season and world motocross titles will be decided in Darwin.

But Friday night belongs to Sydney.

Even if you’ve never considered yourself much of a Swans supporter, you could probably be forgiven for barracking for the blokes still standing.

Swans somehow still alive

A month ago, Sydney’s premiership campaign looked wrecked.

Five players — Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice — were suspended by the club for the remainder of the season for breaching club standards and behaviours.

The punishment came after an off-field incident in Melbourne became the subject of a Victoria Police investigation and te club stressed at the time that none of the five had been accused of sexual assault.

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham acknowledged the enormity of the decision, saying the club had “effectively torpedoed” its premiership chances by suspending the five.

Fair assessment, you would have thought, except somebody forgot to tell the players left behind.

Sydney responded with an emotional 53-point victory over North Melbourne at the SCG, with players in tears after the final siren. Then came the qualifying final against two-time reigning premier Brisbane.

Missing five key players, the Swans produced their best football when it mattered most and dismantled the Lions by 53 points, 141-88. Logan McDonald snagged six, Charlie Curnow and Tom Papley five each, and Errol Gulden had 34 disposals.

As if the degree of difficulty wasn’t high enough, captain Callum Mills ruptured his ACL during the opening quarter.

Now veteran Dane Rampe, 36, has been handed the captaincy for the rest of the finals series. He has played 288 games and previously captained the club from 2019 to 2023. He doesn’t even want to think about the flags he’s missed, all eyes are on this one.

Tonight, Sydney gets Fremantle at the SCG at 7.40pm AEST, with a place in next Saturday’s Grand Final waiting for the winner.

The Swans have been forced into another two changes. Mills is obviously gone, while Harry Cunningham (one of their best against Brisbane) injured his calf at training this week. Lewis Melican and Justin McInerney come in, with McInerney playing his first senior game since Round 13. Fremantle goes in unchanged.

It makes you wonder how many more punches this Sydney side can absorb.

It also makes you wonder how many neutrals might find themselves quietly barracking for them tonight.

From a premiership campaign their own chairman feared had been torpedoed to potentially being one victory from the Grand Final — if Sydney can keep this extraordinary run going, there’s a fairytale taking shape at the SCG. And September has always had a soft spot for those.

Hawks and Lions get their turn

Then comes the other AFL preliminary final.

Hawthorn hosts Brisbane at the MCG at 5.15pm AEST on Saturday, with the Lions attempting to keep their hopes of a third consecutive premiership alive.

Brisbane will be without defender Noah Answerth because of an ankle injury, while Hawthorn heads into the match unchanged.

For Hawks supporters who lived through the glory years, preliminary final weekend will feel reassuringly familiar.

For everyone involved, fingernails could be in short supply by about quarter-time.

No second chances in the NRL

Rugby league has reached its own sudden-death stage.

The Sydney Roosters host Cronulla at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night, before the Warriors and Newcastle meet at Eden Park on Sunday.

There has been plenty of attention on the casualty ward heading into the weekend, particularly around Newcastle’s Dylan Lucas and the Warriors’ Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Leka Halasima as both sides try to get key bodies back on the park.

The NRLW finals are also under way, with Wests Tigers facing Canberra before Brisbane meets Newcastle.

It’s the time of year when “carrying a niggle” can cover anything from a bruised toe to a limb being held on with electrical tape.

Demon back in green and gold

Alex de Minaur leads Australia into its Davis Cup World Group I tie against Poland at Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane on Saturday and Sunday.

De Minaur heads a squad featuring Adam Walton, James Duckworth, Rinky Hijikata and Max Purcell, with Australia playing for a place in the 2027 Davis Cup Qualifiers.

Australia has won the Davis Cup 28 times, although No.28 came back in 2003, back when Lleyton Hewitt was still the bloke on the court rather than the bloke watching nervously from beside it.

Joe Ingles comes home

The NBL27 season tips off on Saturday and there’s a familiar Australian basketball face back where his remarkable career began.

Joe Ingles is part of a refreshed Melbourne United outfit that opens its season against last year’s runners-up Adelaide 36ers at John Cain Arena at 7.30pm AEST.

Ingles last played in the NBL in 2009, when he helped the South Dragons win the championship. After a long NBA career and years as one of the Boomers’ most recognisable figures, the 38-year-old is back playing domestic basketball.

Melbourne’s opening-night clash is followed by Perth against South East Melbourne, with New Zealand hosting Illawarra and Sydney playing Cairns on Sunday.

Sixteen-plus years between NBL appearances is some sort of gap year.

World titles on the line in Darwin

For something completely different, the motocross world has descended on Darwin.

The MXGP of Australia at Hidden Valley is the final round of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championship, with the season reaching its climax in the Top End this weekend.

It may struggle to knock the footy finals off the back pages, but the world’s best riders launching motorcycles through the Darwin air with championships at stake isn’t a bad alternative.

And across the other side of the world…

The English Premier League also rolls through another full weekend of action, with matches including Tottenham against Aston Villa, Brighton against Arsenal, Bournemouth against Liverpool and Fulham against Manchester United.

So there you have it.

Two AFL preliminary finals. Sudden-death NRL. Davis Cup tennis. The NBL is back. World championship motocross. Premier League.

There are apparently lawns to mow and jobs around the house that have been sitting there for weeks, but I’m guessing they’ll still be there Monday.