AFL Grand Final 2022: Diehard Sydney fan Sam Collins drives more than 3000km from Bremer Bay to MCG for game

A diehard Sydney Swans fan from a tiny country town in WA has made an epic 3250km solo road trip to watch his team vie for premiership glory. Sam Collins was among thousands of fans that turned out for the AFL Grand Final Parade at the Yarra River on Thursday after making the pilgrimage across the Nullarbor for Saturday’s premiership decider. Hailing from Bremer Bay, a seaside town with a population of about 420, he will be one face in a massive crowd of more than 100,000 people on Saturday. At the start of the year, the 21-year-old had a “feeling” his Swans were in for a good season, so he coughed up $1500 for a seat at the biggest game on Australia’s sporting calendar. The Swans played their part, winning through to grand final, and all that was left was for Collins to find a way from his home on WA’s south coast to the hallowed turf of the MCG. An apprentice electrician, he took off from his hometown last Saturday and reached Melbourne in his Suzuki Vitara on Wednesday. He was pictured at Thursday’s grand final parade holding a sign on the back of a beer carton which said: “I drove from Bremer Bay WA 6338! Go Swans!”. “I went on a bit of a mission to get here from Bremer,” Collins said. “I hightailed it and kept driving for a couple of days. “On the second day I got a flat tyre and I stayed a night at the Nullarbor Roadhouse. “I bought a ticket at the start of the year and took a punt, really, and the Swans got in it so even better. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip and now I get to watch my boys in the grandy. Hopefully they get the job done.” Collins said it was the first time he had been to an AFL grand final and he was “soaking up” the atmosphere ahead of Saturday. “I’m with my mate Reece, who is from Bremer and now lives in Melbourne, and we are going to the game together,” he said. “The parade was pretty mint, seeing the Yarra and all the players. “We got thirsty and hungry so we ended up at the pub. “I’m stoked to be here — it’s the best thing I’ve done.”