By Mark Cianfagna
AFL Switzerland Reporter

AMSTERDAM – When the final siren sounded and the Amsterdam Devils ran out onto the field to celebrate a hard-fought title defense, the Jets were already showered, cleaned up and at least a couple of beers deep. Some were waiting in a half-hour queue to find out that the facilities had run out of beer, some were watching the final more to support the umpiring of 2019 golden whistle recipient and founding president James Olle. Others still were on their phones updating friends and family back home about the day and pre-ordering ubers to be the first ones back to the hostel for a quick nap and a bite to eat before the after-party.

Despite masterful pre-tournament organisation and planning by club president Dale Halliday, things started to go wrong early for the Jets in Amsterdam. Cancelled flights led to chaos as players scrambled to find other ways to get to the city on Friday. Herculean efforts to arrange planes, trains and automobiles to get to the tournament on time must be celebrated, with no thanks given to certain budget airlines in Europe. Late arrivals to the team’s hostel were welcomed by a rowdy bunch of Londoners already deep into the beers and there was no time to wander along the picturesque canals lined with bicycles and elms just starting to bloom. A last minute withdrawal by the Farum Cats created significant changes to the schedule and restructured the day for Pool C, now including only three clubs, meaning a single loss was a sure bet to miss the semi-final draw.

Arriving at the field Saturday morning, the excitement was palpable amongst all the clubs gathered. Old rivals and former teammates greeted each other in the clubhouse while new connections were made by first time clubs like the Jets. With the schedule change, the Jets were lined up against the favoured North London side for the first game in Pool C. With a later start, the club stayed dry and warm in the clubhouse sipping coffee and watching the first matches of the day to get a feel for the competition. With rain expected on and off throughout the day, wet conditions and scrappy football were sure to favour hard ball gets and cleaning up crumbs to have the chance to kick goals.

A nervous energy surrounded the group as they headed to the change rooms to gear up for the first match. An unusual quiet hung over the players as they pulled on the yellow, red and black colours of Geneva. Although the team felt prepared and had some strong training sessions leading up to this moment, it was their first game since the AFL Switzerland Grand Final in September of last year and for some of the newer Jets, just their second or third game of footy ever. As captain Seb Permain led the team through warm-ups, the sun came out and the wind picked up. A coin toss led to the Jets kicking into the wind in the first half and as the first ball went up, London poured on the pressure in the mid-field, getting out to an early three goal lead as the shell-shocked Jets struggled to gain any footing. Taps were routinely won by the strong London ruckman and a well-established mid-field strategy allowed them to break into the forward line with ease where their outmatched size helped them take marks and set up shots on goal. The few opportunities the Jets were able to get forward were hindered by the strong winds and solid defense from the London side. With the fast pace of the game, the Jets were not able to make the proper adjustments for the second half and London rode the momentum of their strong play to a commanding eight goal win.

Disappointed, frustrated and with no time to pause and reflect, it was on to the next ground and the next game for the Jets against a fresh Edinburgh Bloods side on the artificial turf of the main ground. Another start against the wind led to a quick concession of three goals and again the Jets found themselves having to fight back from behind. A disallowed goal off a huge effort from newcomer Yanis Locatelli only made the Jets push harder to recover. Despite a mid-first half hailstorm, the Jets pushed forward and with straighter kicking, would have been able to pull close. The sentiments leading into the second half were to leave it all out there and get back to the skill game that is the modus operandi of the club. Taking advantage of the large field, the Jets were able to move the ball around well in the second half and kicked a couple of goals to get right back in the game. With little pushback from the Bloods, the opportunities kept coming, but the swirling winds and some miscalculations off the Jets boots led to a slew of behinds. With less than a minute to go and the Jets two points behind, a final push was well defended by the Bloods and the siren went just before the Jets could convert.

The 0-2 group stage finish led to a final matchup for 9th place against the Prague Dragons, a hardnut club led by mostly non-Australians. Going into this game, the leadership group stressed to forget that one kick would have meant a playoff for 5th and to make the most of this opportunity. Here the Jets efforts and skills shone through as they battled for pride and a victory to close out the day. A back and forth game with multiple lead changes finally tilted the Jets way after huge efforts by new players Clemens Bourgeois, Joe Deane and Dudley Langelier in the back half, and a timely early goal by Leo Lopez lifted the spirits of the rest of the group. On the back of their performances, a late goal by coach Tommy Ross, and a huge defensive effort in the last minute, the Jets got over the line for the first victory in Champions League history by a Swiss club.

It’s a lesson learned for the Jets as they returned to Geneva knowing there is a large gap between themselves and the best sides in Europe, but captain and team of the tournament recipient Seb Permain knows “we gave it our best and were outclassed. We are optimistic to return next year and bring those lessons with us.” Coach Tommy Ross, in his last games in the position, was disappointed to have not done better as a club and takes it as a wakeup call for the upcoming season. “We had nothing to lose going in and had good play in patches, but we are a long way off the pace of the best teams and now our focus turns to the premiership season and getting back to Champion’s League for next year.”

With their sights set on a return to biggest club event in Europe in 2023, the Jets know they can’t let up as a rejuvenated Zurich Giants team, a return of the Basel Dragons and the ever-competitive Winterthur Lions will lead to some heavy competition to fight for the AFL Switzerland premiership to earn the right to return to the big dance.  

By Mark Cianfagna
AFL Switzerland Reporter

The grounds are unusually quiet on a warm Sunday afternoon in late winter in southwestern Switzerland. A father and his son practice soccer drills at one end of the field and a few cyclists slowly roll by along the gravel path lining the pitch. There are no portable speakers blaring, no family barbecues. The crowds are still up in the mountains enjoying the last decent weekend of snow. But on the pitch, familiar sounds are heard. The dull thump of a beaten-up cleat on a worn leather ball as teammates and friends exchange pleasantries while passing a pill back and forth.

Three-time premiership coach Tommy Ross is, as usual, among the first at the ground and welcomes his players with a freshly buzzed salad and his iconic laugh. It is hard to believe now that Tommy started in the background in the founding of the club. In the first few training sessions “he sat in the weeds for a while and Benoit [Vittori] took it by the horns before Tommy came out of his shell”, as the founding president and AFL Europe Golden Whistle umpire James Olle puts it. And come out he did! Tommy’s leadership and coaching style has become iconic, not just at the Jets, but league wide.

Yet, as training starts, it is new voices that are commanding the troops, introducing drills, and stressing key points. It is not the excitable, fast-talking, ball-wielding, sometimes-incomprehensible Ross leading the charge, but the imposing yet softer-spoken, bespectacled Brad McConnachy, with his Adelaide lilt, accompanied by an unfamiliar accent in the footy world, the clear, sharp-syllabled Canadian, Mark Cianfagna. Absent due to a work trip back home to Australia is Rhys Allen, the Canberra native, current Geneva Jets Best and Fairest Runner-Up and new co-coach. This season, McConnachy and Allen will be sharing the seniors coaching duties while Cianfagna runs the reserves side.

It is a bit of a shock to the system after three straight seasons of coaching combination Tommy Ross and Benoit Vittori which included a sweep of all AFL Switzerland premierships to date, both in the seniors and reserves. So, after all that success, an upcoming trip to the European Champions League and no reason to think the Jets aren’t the favourites for another run at a premiership in 2022, why the big change?

Ross described his motivation for moving on from the post as “really a number of reasons added up and hard to pinpoint one specific thing”, citing a willingness to “just rock up and play” and the feeling that it was time for someone else to take over. This way he can focus on returning to a more relaxed environment personally and allow him time to concentrate on his role as national team coach, specifically helping to develop young Swiss players individually during training sessions. Despite this, he will have the opportunity to finish what he has started as he continues in the role of Head Coach until after Champions League in April, a moment he has been deprived of due to cancellations the past two seasons due to the pandemic. The Jets will be looking to make an impression in Amsterdam in its first Champions League appearance and Ross is certain that a good showing by a Swiss club will also help to develop the level of footy in the country and produce the space for expansion beyond four teams. There are already rumours of expansion to Lausanne as AFL in Swiss-Romande builds and with the league hosting games in Bern this year, there could be room for further growth in Swiss-Allemande as well.

Vittori reiterates Ross’ comments of wanting to allow himself to just play footy and not have to think about preparation and the ins and outs of running a club. Benoit has also stepped down from his role as a committee member, adding that he needed to focus on finding permanent work, as being coach for an Australian football club in Switzerland just wasn’t going to pay the bills (his request to have his CV added as an annex to this article was refused).

For the new and old regimes, this season’s focus is on developing the young core of Swiss players who have integrated into the club in the past year. With both former coaches having more time during training to aid new players and a new regime with some heavy footy and coaching experience, there is an embarrassment of riches at the club. Allen and McConnachy are excited to see how their collaboration can develop these new players and are ready to face the challenge of teaching the game to young men and women unfamiliar with the sport. Allen, as an adult learner of the game himself (believe it or not, he only started playing footy 6 years ago!), will be looking to use his coaching experience with the West Brunswick 3s to create a welcoming and fun learning environment. Although McConnachy has no previous coaching experience, his many years of high-level football will come in handy, giving him a balanced look at the game. He appreciates the way footy is “pure and beautiful at this level” and hopes to cultivate this love for sport within the club, while also taking a step back from his role bagging goals at full-forward and beginning the transition to an early retirement. Like Allen, Cianfagna was a late-comer to the game, but will be trying to channel his inner Ted Lasso as he brings his many years of coaching experience from the ice to the grass to help out a rejuvenated reserves team, while his Canadian French accent will be a relief to the ears of local Swiss players who had a hard time understanding the Aussie French of Ross and Vittori.

This season promises to be refreshing with a return to six rounds and the first full season with four clubs in the Seniors competition. The Jets are ready to make a splash with some new faces in the leadership of the club. As last year’s seniors captain Seb Permian puts it, “growth comes from change” and with huge numbers at early trainings this year, the Jets are growing by the week and are hoping to pull the rest of the league up with them.

The Jets celebrate having their first international coach in Cianfagna, a yearly contender for clubman of the year in Allen, and powerhouse footy star McConnachy as the new staff and have their sights set on a four-peat, while integrating more non-Australians into the seniors roster and harbouring an environment of good footy energy on and off the field.

Are we going to see a highly motivated Jets team under the new coaching staff, or one that has become complacent after three years of nothing but 100-point Grand Final wins?

We’ll see what the change will bring come Round 1 in Bern.