Taylor continuing to thrive with Swans after Canberra move

Swan Districts defender Finn Taylor only moved across the country and committed to football less than two years ago, but has settled in wonderfully to already have the sporting highlight of his career by being part of the colts team reaching Sunday's Grand Final.

Taylor grew up in Canberra and played soccer for the most part growing up, but once he and his family made the move west midway through 2022, he quickly realised playing Aussie Rules might be something he gives his full attention to.

It's paid off as well with him having no trouble fitting into the Swan Districts colts team and having now played a key role as part of the back-line of a team that has qualified in spectacular fashion for Sunday's Grand Final against Claremont at Optus Stadium.

How good winning a home prelim felt

After two thrilling finals victories against Perth and West Perth, Swan Districts had the chance to play last Sunday's preliminary final at Steel Blue Oval against Subiaco with a spot in the Grand Final against the Tigers up for grabs.

To end up walking off the Bassendean ground in front of the loyal Swans fans as winners is something that Taylor is always going to cherish. He only hopes it gets topped off by winning the Grand Final.

"Because I haven’t really had the biggest highlights in my sporting career, this would definitely be at the top to make it to a Grand Final," Taylor said.

"Just the feeling after that game on Sunday walking off and knowing all the Swans faithful were getting around us the whole game, and knowing we also were down against another really good team. We found a way to win again to the feeling was pretty special."

Getting to play at Optus Stadium

Sunday will now present another first for Taylor with the chance to play on Optus Stadium. When he thinks of the global superstars who have also been out in the middle of venue like he is about to be, he can't hide how excited he is.

"It's very exciting just to think about what Sunday will be like," Taylor said.

"To get to share the same field that Coldplay has been on, that cricket legends and soccer legends have played on, and world personalities that everyone knows. Then you just have the Swan Districts colts team joining that list so it's pretty cool when you think about it like that."

Making the move to Perth

Focusing on football as his main sport is also something new for Taylor and something he only fully committed to coming into the 2023 colts season with Swan Districts once he and his family had settled into Perth.

"We moved over here as a family going back to halfway through 2022 and going back to my time in Canberra I was more of a soccer player, but I did play a bit of footy over there too," he said.

"Then when we moved over here I realised footy was the main sport so that's what I wanted to focus on. Now I would love to keep going with my footy and would love the chance to play some senior footy next year."

Life away from football

Taylor is also now in his first year since graduating from school and is beginning his law studies where he has plenty of options of where it could end up taking him in the future.

"I'm studying and working at the moment. I do some work at Swans doing some clinics and things, and I'm also at Murdoch University studying law and this is my first year doing that," Taylor said.

"I would probably like to end up starting off working in social justice and trying to help people who don’t really have the opportunity or aren’t in the best situation.

"There's heaps of different opportunities in terms of paths I could go down, but I grew up in Canberra so parliamentary stuff like constitutional law or being in parliament is quite attractive to me.

"I might even be able to be a sports lawyer so I could be someone that goes to the tribunal to represent AFL teams or things like that. So there are a few different options at the moment."

Belief of making a Grand Final

Focusing on back on business at hand and Taylor is still trying to get his head around the fact that he is preparing to play in a Grand Final on Sunday after Swan Districts have come from behind at three quarter-time in all three finals to reach it.

"It's pretty surreal to be honest," Taylor said.

"In the pre-season we were pretty optimistic just looking at our squad and there were a lot of talented players in there, but you just have to actually see how it ends up working out when you start playing.

"We then had to take the hardest way possible by winning all three games to make the Grand Final, but as a team we had belief and it ended up working out so it was good."

Fighting spirit to come back and win

What Taylor is most impressed about with this Swan Districts team of 2024 is the fighting qualities they continue to show to never feel out of a game, and to finish strongly and to have that belief within another that they can do it.

"It's a pretty awesome feeling to be part of those wins and it just gets better and better every week," Taylor said.

"You look at the Perth game when we kicked that last goal and then were able to waste five minutes on the clock to win after they were up by 15 points at quarter-time.

"It's just the mark of our team to be able to find a way to come back and win. It's just a reflection of how close we are, we don't want to let each other down so I think we just want to win and do it together as a team."

Challenge of facing Claremont

Taylor is fully aware of how tough of a challenge Claremont will be in Sunday's Grand Final with the Tigers the reigning premiers and having had the break to start the finals before beating West Perth in a second semi-final to be fresh now going into the decider.

While Claremont did beat Swan Districts twice this season, the black-and-whites had their chances in both those encounters and that gives Taylor plenty of confidence in his team now going into the Grand Final.

"I'm still very confident going in even though we know they are a very good team," Taylor said.

"A fair bit of the state team came from Claremont and they're a really good outfit, but both teams we've versed them we had opportunities to beat them.

"The little mistakes or moments are where we lost those two games or maybe a lack of concentration for a little bit that might have cost us, and a quality team like them pounced on it.

"I have confidence playing them, though, and we do take belief from the first two times we versed them so it's going to be a really good game."

Describing yourself as a player

Even though Taylor will be playing his last colts game on Sunday before he hopes to move into senior football in 2024, he's still a work in progress given his comment to the sport came relatively late.

However, he is a neat left footer, he is a strong defender with good size and is both good above his head, and at ground level and loves to apply defensive pressure when he thinks about his strengths.

"The sort of player I would say I am is someone whose strengths are my kicking and being able to defend," Taylor said.

"I'd like to think I have good vertical leap and chase down speed so I try to use that the best I can. I think I'm a pretty good defender and then if I get the ball in my hands usually most of the time I can make good decisions with it."