Geelong insults the Sydney Swans as city begins planning an AFL grand final VICTORY parade

Geelong’s deputy mayor has given the Swans plenty of motivation by revealing the city is already planning a grand final victory parade ahead of the teams’ clash in the year’s biggest game on Saturday.

In a statement that’s sure to go down like a lead balloon with Sydney’s players and fans, Trent Sullivan told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program that the Cats’ home town is preparing to celebrate a premiership win a full five days before the first centre bounce at the MCG.

‘There will be a Cats celebration day on Sunday after the grand final, and I’ll even let you in that we are already planning our grand final victory parade down the streets of Geelong,’ the deputy mayor told Seven’s Edwina Bartholomew on Monday morning.

Geelong deputy mayor Trent Sullivan let slip that the one-team town is already planning a grand final victory parade when he appeared on Sunrise on Monday (pictured)

While the Cats are red-hot favourites to win their 10th premiership, teams are almost always very careful not to give the impression they’re taking a grand final win for granted – but it seems Sullivan didn’t get the memo.

Both teams will have a hectic week full of grand final commitments, with Cats coach Chris Scott admitting that while he used to prefer getting away from the hype when he was a player, he gives his team very different advice now.

‘I used to think, 30 years ago or whenever it was, that you could just isolate yourself from the week and just treat it like another week,’ Scott told reporters.

‘If that was possible then, it’s impossible now.

‘You’ve almost got no choice but to embrace it, which is the right way to go anyway.

‘It’s so hard to get to this situation.

‘The only way you can muck it up is to try to hide away from it, I think, so embrace the moment.’

Geelong fielded the oldest starting 22 in AFL/VFL history in their preliminary final trouncing of Brisbane, and boast significantly more finals experience than the Swans.

The Cats are red-hot favourites to win their 10th premiership (pictured, Geelong’s Jed Bews is chaired off the ground after the big preliminary final win over Brisbane last Friday night)

That Cats team entered the penultimate week of the season with 339 combined finals matches to its name, compared with Sydney’s 142 ahead of their thrilling one-point win over Collingwood.

Geelong will field about 14 players in the grand final who played in the 2020 season decider against Richmond and Sydney will pick about half that number from their most recent grand final of 2016.

But Swans coach John Longmire has no concerns about his younger side’s ability to handle the occasion.

It has been heightened this year by the grand final’s return to its traditional home at the MCG for the first time in three years, with a tick over 100,000 fans expected.

Sullivan’s statement is a good chance of being printed out and stuck on the walls of the Swans’ dressing room at the SCG to use as motivation for the grand final (pictured, retiring club legend Josh Kennedy celebrates with Ryan Clarke after Sydney won their preliminary final)

‘A lot of those blokes hadn’t played prelim finals, let alone grand finals, so they’re experiencing it for the first time,’ Longmire said at his post-match press conference on Saturday night.

‘It was red-hot (against Collingwood), as it was against Melbourne (in the qualifying final).

Geelong coach Chris Scott has told his team (pictured after beating Brisbane) to embrace the hectic lead-up to the grand final

‘That’s what this time of the year’s about, experiencing that really red-hot pressure.

‘I thought our blokes generally handled it alright (against Collingwood).

‘This week will just be a reminder of doing our basics well and our fundamentals in the game, getting them right.

‘That’s what we’ll focus on.’

Sydney scheduled a function at the SCG for Sunday night’s Brownlow Medal count. They will travel to Melbourne on Thursday.

The two sides will come together for the grand final parade in Melbourne on Friday before meeting at the MCG in the traditional Saturday afternoon timeslot.