Dane Rampe named captain of Sydney Swans for remainder of season

Dane Rampe does not know whether he will be running out onto the SCG for the last time on Friday night, or whether one more appearance on the AFL’s greatest stage awaits him after that.

After what he describes as “the chaos” of the past month, the 36-year-old is simply grateful that either possibility still remains.

Three years after stepping down as Sydney’s co-captain, Rampe has been recalled to serve as stand-in skipper for the remainder of the Swans’ finals campaign after the season-ending injury suffered by Callum Mills.

With Mills now facing a long stint in rehab after rupturing his ACL in Sydney’s huge qualifying final win over the Brisbane Lions, and vice-captain Isaac Heeney among the five players suspended for the rest of the season for breaching club standards on a night of infamy at the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne, the Swans needed to designate a new leader for Friday night’s preliminary final against Fremantle at the SCG.

In their hour of need, they have turned to Rampe, who shared the captaincy between 2019 and 2023 – including with Mills for two of those seasons.

Rampe is coming out of contract and said he had not yet given even a moment’s thought to whether he will play on beyond this year, which means this week’s match could very well be his last in red and white.

“We’ll wait and see,” he said on Monday. “But I’m just happy to be where I am at the moment and to have that little bit of hope and belief is, I feel, a real luxury.”

The decision to appoint Rampe as skipper was made in tandem by coach Dean Cox and Mills, and their belief in him was so strong that it overwhelmed his reluctance to return to a role that he initially thought should have gone to someone younger.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was open to passing the baton on, because I feel like I’ve had my time and my opportunity,” he said.

“But I think what was overwhelming was the support for me, and it was quite humbling, to be honest. I’m obviously going to take full pride and take it with a sense of gratitude that I’m back in this position.

“Just being able to lead out the boys is a great honour ... it’s a thrill, it’s a privilege. It’s a little bit bittersweet to be honest, but this is the circumstance we’ve been dealt, and we’ve just got to keep on keeping on.”

Friday’s clash will be Rampe’s 289th game and his sixth preliminary final. He has played in Sydney’s past four grand final appearances, all of which ended in defeat. Just being in with a shot of reaching another, given everything that has happened, is a minor miracle.

The suspensions handed to five key players – Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon – for breaching team standards by partying at the team’s hotel in Melbourne into the early hours of August 17 led to the widespread assumption that Sydney would not contend for finals honours.

But they have won both of their matches since the scandal, including a phenomenal win over two-time reigning premiers Brisbane in the qualifying final at the SCG two weeks ago.

“You’ve got one of two ways you can go in these circumstances,” Rampe said. “You can get the ‘poor me’s’ and feel sorry for yourself, or you can do something about it, connect with the ones that are still here and the ones that are all in, and get to work.

“Our club’s been built on that. We’ve had plenty of down periods, failures, but we’ve always been able to bounce back.”

The Dockers, who were upset by Hawthorn in their home qualifying final, returned to their imperious best with a 14-point win over Geelong last week. Rampe chuckled at Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir’s attempt to frame his side as the underdogs, and the Swans as favourites, describing the Dockers as clearly the best team in the AFL this year.

Asked what he would say to those who have written off the Swans, Rampe declined to fire back.

“I wouldn’t have anything to say to them,” he said.

“I guess we’ve kind of leaned on each other through these last three weeks and through the noise. Of course, we’re human, we have doubts. There are six important players that have been out of the team, but I think we can take great pride and confidence in what we’ve been able to dish up since it’s all happened. We’ve got a quiet belief in our group at the moment and we’re looking forward to seeing that full expression on Friday night.”

Being captain will not change anything for Rampe this week; the only difference it has made to his preparation is that he had to stand in front of microphones and cameras on Monday for about 10 minutes before training, and before the game on Friday, he will toss the coin with his Fremantle counterpart.

“Then it’s going to be business as usual,” Rampe said. “It’s been nice taking a back seat for the last few years. As I said before, sometimes you just need to know what not to say or what not to do. I think the last few weeks are a testament to that.

“I just want to let the boys cook.”

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