All Damon Rowett pictures: Brooke Sleep / @brookesleepmedia
All Judeland Antony pictures: Kiara Blake / @sidelinestills_bykiarablake
THE BACK of Damon Rowett's jumper features the No.5, like his idol, Sydney superstar Isaac Heeney.
Like Heeney, Rowett is versatile. He's predominantly a forward, but if his team needs him, he can be thrown into the midfield.
And just like Heeney, Rowett strives to be the best he can be.
The 27-year-old, who represented the NSW/ACT Rams in this year's four-day Toyota AFL Open tournament for wheelchair players and footballers with an intellectual disability, feels that it's important to choose your favourite players carefully.
Because, according to Rowett, if you choose role models who have achieved great things, then you in turn will achieve amazing things.
"He's always been my favourite player," Rowett said of Heeney.
"His accomplishments, his accolades. If you've got a favourite player who has accolades, then you will get the same achievements as them."
And it seems Rowett is on the right track.
Both he and Heeney have been named three-time All-Australians, coincidentally in the same years, 2022, 2024 and this year in 2025.
There's also another reason Rowett admires Heeney.
The pair grew up playing football at the same club, the Cardiff Hawks, about an hour west of Newcastle.
Rowett's first sporting love was soccer, which he began playing at six, following in the footsteps of his grandfather John Pettigrew, who represented Australia at the 1956 Olympic Games.
But with mad Sydney supporters as parents, Rowett also fell in love with the Swans.
The family would venture down to the SCG from Newcastle, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive, to watch them play.
Rowett's mum, Sharon, initially found that attending matches was tough for her son, who had been diagnosed with autism.
"He was diagnosed when he was about five, because he didn't have speech," Sharon said.
"As a child, he could not cope with noise at all. He used to go to the Swans and walk around with earmuffs on. It was a sensory thing."
Rowett describes the feeling as having "screams in his head".
"It was the loud noises from the crowd that really got me distracted, like getting some screams in my head," Rowett said.
"I decided to use earplugs until I was probably like 10 years old.
"I've got used to it now and I'm really happy because I can get into the crowd's energy and that's why we love playing football and watching the game so much."
Rowett played football all throughout his junior years at Cardiff, when in 2016 he discovered inclusion football.
"My old cricket coach sent me a text message saying that there were tryouts at Blacktown in the Giants facilities," Rowett said.
"I didn't know they had the state team in the inclusion carnival. I thought it was very interesting."
Rowett has played in the National Inclusion Championships every year since, where he has become a leader, captaining the side since 2024.
Sharon can't believe how much the championships have helped shape her son.
"It's been unbelievable. I'm just so proud," she said.
"His behaviour has changed as he's got older, having to deal with a team.
"I was in tears last year when he actually got chosen in the All-Australian team.
"We've been to every carnival the last eight years. We've been to Tassie, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Tassie.
"We love it and we support him. Anything he wants to do, we've always done it."
The family still makes it to as many Swans games as they can, with Rowett often catching Heeney before and after to say hello.
Like Rowett, wheelchair footballer Judeland Antony is also driven to be the best he can be.
He's competitive, hard-working and thrives in a team environment.
With a smile on his face, Antony laughs when he also describes himself as "annoying".
"I am a defender, I'm quick and I'm annoying," said Antony.
"Defending is one of the hardest positions in the court – you have to have an eye on the player and on the ball.
"So the tactic is just keep moving, and just push as hard as you can when the ball comes into your lane."
Antony was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Australia when he was 13.
His family was fleeing a civil war that had put Antony himself in the line of fire.
"Back in 1996 when I was in Sri Lanka, we had a bomb blast," said Antony.
"Sri Lanka itself had a civil war happening and I just got caught up in the crossfire.
"When I was 11 years old, I got hit by a bomb on my spine and it affected my nerves and so I was paraplegic, T12 incomplete, and since the injury I lost the ability to walk."
Antony had an uncle living in Australia at the time, who sponsored his family's move to Melbourne.
"Back in those days, I did not have much of a future in Sri Lanka, so it was a challenge for me and for my family as well," Antony recalled
"We're blessed that back then, my uncle was able to give us a future like this, which allowed us to play, and enjoy, and represent, and be valued in this country."
When Antony moved to Australia, like many people from overseas, he thought that Australian football referred to soccer.
"When I came here, they would say football, and I was a bit confused," Antony recalled.
"I was like, what is this sport they play? I thought it was rugby. Then I realised rugby is different, soccer is different, football is different, footy is different, so I tried to find the difference.
"I figured out it was Aussie rules, which is AFL, which is only played in Australia, and it's so important, like a religion for Australians, which is great that I'm being a part of that."
Antony quickly fell in love with the game after being told about wheelchair football by a friend.
"It just gets your excitement levels high," he explained.
"It's something that if you play once, you're never going to get away from it, you will keep coming back. It's kind of like an addiction."
Like Rowett, the 2025 Toyota AFL Open is also Antony's eighth appearance.
Watching the Victorians play, it's physical, hard and competitive – everything football should be.
"I've seen people break their feet, I've seen people injure their elbows, their hips," Antony said.
"People do get injuries, but you can't play Aussie rules softly.
"We don't want to take that aggression away from football just because we are playing in a different league. We don't want people to look at it any other way.
"So we want to make sure we keep footy as footy, respect what is involved in the court, and be mindful, and play to your maximum."