The strains of “Cheer, cheer the red and the white” hadn’t shaken the walls of the change rooms in five weeks, but Sydney Swans youngster Tom McCartin says belting out the victory song made for “unreal” scenes on Friday night.

Sydney held on to edge Essendon in a five-point thriller at the SCG in the Round 8 opener, chalking up an 11.11 (77) to 10.12 (72) win and setting the stage for a rousing rendition of the victory song.

“It was great to sing the club song again,” McCartin told SwansTV post-match.

“I had missed doing it, it was a really good win by the boys and singing the song with the boys after the game makes it all worth it.

“It’s unreal. I missed the feeling of winning and it was such a great win as well. All the boys put in, wore their heart on their sleeve and got the job done. It’s a great feeling.”

The win saw rising Swans Colin O’Riordan, Jackson Thurlow, Robbie Fox and Nick Blakey all get their first tastes of victory at the SCG.

It marked Sydney’s second win from the opening eight rounds of the season, building on its 19-point victory over Carlton at Marvel Stadium in Round 3.

Sydney is now set for its first trip to Tasmania since Round 22, 2016, with a match against North Melbourne at Hobart’s Blundstone Arena next Saturday night the Swans’ next challenge.

McCartin said the Swans would lap up the sweet taste of victory over the Bombers, but they’d save plenty of time to fine-tune for the clash with the Roos.

“We’ll definitely soak up this feeling but come Monday we’ll definitely start getting ready for North,” McCartin said.

“Hopefully we can attack our next game like we attacked tonight.”