In a week where sport has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, a pair of Sydney Swans provided a shining light in Maitland yesterday.
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The 2014 Australian of the Year Adam Goodes and Maitland’s first AFL draft pick Isaac Heeney were in town as part of the Swans annual community camps.
For 351-game veteran Goodes, a two-time premiership winner and two-time Brownlow Medallist, it was his first visit to the city.
For 18-year-old rookie Heeney, it was the first of what he hopes to be many official visits home as a Swans player.
They posed for photos, spoke to all comers and addressed students on life as a professional athlete – including sport, health and leadership.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Heeney was sitting in the library of All Saints College, St Peter’s Campus, Maitland, listening to Swans players doing the same rounds.
Now he is the one living the dream.
It is this type of story that emphasises the importance of regional tours and keeps Goodes, one of the code’s greats, motivated to help children around the country realise their potential in whatever field that may be.
“For me it’s always great to go somewhere new, and it’s always great to break up pre-season, but it’s just always good to go and talk to kids in school,” Goodes said.
“To share my knowledge and my experiences and inspire them on their journeys.”
And now, despite being at opposite ends of their respective careers, Goodes and Heeney are training in the same squad and striving for the same goal – another Swans flag.
And following a visit to Maitland together, they could well be standing there together holding the trophy aloft at the MCG on the last Saturday in September this year.
One can only hope.
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