Teddy Swims or Teddy Sinks? The verdict on the NRL grand final pre-game show

4 hours ago 2

For a fair percentage of NRL fans, Teddy Swims would have been as anonymous as a suburban touch judge until last weekend.

But the “will he, won’t he make it” drama after the soulful American singer-songwriter with more tats than Bronson Xerri and Taylan May cancelled two performances in Hawaii when he fell ill had the league world talking.

Teddy Swims brought his big voice to the NRL grand final.

Would he recover in time? Or would the NRL have to find a late replacement? What’s Barnsie up to?

Not that Swims – real name Jaten Dimsdale – is little-known around the world.

His 2023 hit Lose Control has had more than two billion streams on Spotify, he has almost 9 million Instagram followers and he was up for best new artist at the Grammys this year.

Even so, it was always going to be tough matching such previous NRL grand final star acts as Cold Chisel, Barnsie solo, Hoodoo Gurus, Tina Turner and Macklemore. The Kid Laroi, who came to the grand final with the league credibility of growing up in Waterloo and supporting Souths, shone last year.

So how did Swims go?

Wearing a leopard skin print, long coat (or was it a kilt?) and more rings than Nathan Cleary, he opened with Bad Dreams, his smooth, gritty voice showing no signs of any of last weekend’s ill health.

He moved easily onto another one of his yearning songs, The Door. Then came the surprise cover Swims flagged from one of his favourite Australian bands – stripping to what could have been either a cut-down plaid suit or rocking pyjamas for AC/DC’s TNT. He crushed it.

Maybe the kilt and cut-down suit was an Angus Young homage.

Seven minutes in, Swims delivered his big number, Lose Control. “Something’s got a hold of me lately/ No, I don’t know myself any more/Feels like the walls are all closing in/And the devil’s knocking at my door”.

The rest of the set included shortened versions, but Swims delivered his monster hit in full.

It was difficult to tell how the show played to the 80,000 fans in Accor Stadium, but it worked on TV.

Fashion? Likeably eccentric. Voice? Impressively rich and strong. Stage presence? None of the marching band pizzazz of Snoop Dogg at the AFL grand final but it was a gutsy, surprisingly rocky 11 minutes.

Swims, who is starting an Australian-New Zealand tour, must have won over league fans.

While there’s a strong argument for hiring Australian artists to perform as AFL and NRL grand final entertainment – tapping into their established fan bases and reflecting the culture to international audiences – Swims turned out to be a savvy choice.

Not the biggest name. But a big voice on the biggest NRL stage.

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