Adelaide’s win over Geelong was a massive result for the club but a viral photo is a reminder there are bigger things than footy.
Sometimes the footy world can get too into wins and losses and forget about what really matters.
But while the AFL world was blown away by the Crows becoming the first wooden spoon side to beat a grand finalist in a round one match since 1971, the post-match scenes showed the Crows stars won’t let them forget what is most important.
Watch the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Every match of every round Live on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
Scenes of some of the club’s biggest stars with their kids and families celebrating the win had hearts melting.
But a shot of Taylor Walker’s son Hugo and Rory Sloane’s son Sonny standing together quickly went viral on the Adelaide Football Club social media accounts with more than 22,000 likes on Facebook and more than 10,000 on Instagram.
While the photo is undoubtedly cute on its own, the boys were both the first born after their older brothers died before being born.
Both the Walkers and Sloanes suffered their unspeakable tragedies within months of each other in 2018.
Rory Sloane and Taylor Walker were co-captains at the time.
Sloane has been open talking about the loss of firstborn son Leo over the years, including partnering with Red Nose for the Lion Warrior program, with an aim to reduce the preventable stillbirth rate.
Sloane was followed by Amazon cameras for the Making Their Mark documentary series, with the Crows skipper speaking about the loss.
Belinda said: “We have Sonny, obviously. We had his brother Leo a year before we had Sonny.
“We’d always spoken about kids and it wasn’t really happening for us, so we got some medical advice and we had to go down the IVF route in the end. We did that and fell pregnant with Leo, which was so amazing, so exciting.”
“But at 24 weeks we lost Leo,” Belinda added as she broke down in tears.
“It sounds so weird but it’s just, it’s such a tough thing to go through but we wouldn’t change it for anything because he’s such a big part of our lives, even though he’s not physically here with us.
“He’s taught us so many lessons, to be grateful for things in life and he’ll always be a part of our family.”
Rory said he “struggled really early on” with Leo’s death, but gradually “learnt that you can grieve in different ways”.
“It took me a couple of months and I remember I went for a surf and (it was) one of the most beautiful moments, and it reminded me of Leo,” he said.
“This is a really happy moment reminding me of my son, and then I started realising you could grieve in a really positive way. I started to grieve by finding different, really nice moments in day to day life that made me think of Leo.
“We’ve got a beautiful boy, we’ll certainly remember forever.”
The couple welcomed their third son Bohdi Leo earlier this year, with Sonny also sporting his late brother’s name as his middle name.
Walker followed an eerily similar path to his teammate, taking leave before the 2019 pre-season began after revealing he and his partner Ellie Brown had lost their unborn baby.
But a year later, Walker and his now wife Ellie welcomed Hugo James to the family.
Earlier this season, Walker welcomed his third son Louis Jack to the world in January.
On the field, the win was a massive result, after the Crows won the wooden spoon with just three wins in 2020.
Making Their Mark went behind the scenes at the horror season and the Crows win over the Cats showed the pre-season form wasn’t a true indicator of where they were.
But the pictures of the celebrations speak louder than words and show just what really matters.
