Swans Review - Western Bulldogs (3 June 2012)

SYDNEY 9.0  10.5  16.9  20.12 (132)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.1  3.1  4.5  5.10 (40)

GOALS
Sydney: Jetta 4, McGlynn 3,  Dennis-Lane 3, Bolton 2, Jack 2, Roberts-Thomson 2, Reid 2, Kennedy, O’Keefe.
Western Bulldogs: Picken 2, Cordy, Wallis, Veszpremi.

BEST
Sydney:  Bolton, Shaw, Jack, Richards, Hannebery, Kennedy, O’Keefe.
Western Bulldogs: Boyd, Griffen, Cooney, Picken, Wallis.

 
Another percentage-boosting win for the Swans on an afternoon that epitomised the bleakness of winter. It was raining constantly for many hours pre-game, and during the first quarter, but the Swans, in a surprising display of accuracy, kicked nine straight to just the solitary major for the Western Bulldogs in a first term that stretched, incredibly, beyond the thirty-six minute part. Had you checked the score online or on the AFL's iPhone App at the end of the first quarter, you could've been forgiven for assuming that the contest was taking place under clear, sunny skies. It was not, but the Swans played like they thought different. It was a blistering start./

In evidence this week - and sorely lacking last week - was the hunger and ferociousness that was there in spades the last time the Swans stepped out in Sydney, their even one hundred point win over the then-winless Melbourne Demons. The Bulldogs, while not as low on the AFL's totem pole as the Dees were and are, were made to look just as inept. The midfield, up and about after a somewhat lacklustre performance seven days before, and led, as ever, by the hard-working Jude Bolton (forty-one touches in a sparkligly vintage performance) and Dan Hannebery (close behind Bolton with thirty-five gets), cut the Bulldogs to shreds early, ensuring that the game was beyond doubt even before the siren called a halt to first quarter hostilities, and a halt to another necessarily ruthless Swans performance.

When they weren't creating scoring chances for the forwards, the midfield was scoring themselves, with Jack and Kennedy and O'Keefe recording majors, playing the role of secondary scorers behind Jetta and Dennis-Lane and, somewhat remarkably, Lewis Roberts-Thompson. The Swans' new forward weapon, he probably isn't, but LRT has looked more at home in the attacking half of the ground than Jesse White has in his brief appearances up forward this year.

Yet the day belonged, largely, to Lewis Jetta, whose two highlight-reel goals and two further true kicks (and three score assists) and Bolton, seemingly everywhere on the ground, in every scrum and contest, whose combined efforts electrified the modest crowd of 13,505 who braved horrible weather conditions for much of the game, and endured not much of a contest after that. The regulation win might have ensured no one in red and white went home unhappily, but the injury to rising midfield star Luke Parker - 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone - dampened spirits as fans left the SCG, heading, mostly, to a similarly dampened car park quagmire.

Another Swans effort to be proud of, though the real test will not be against these bottom-tier sides, but against the high-flyers, and Essendon, despite their shock loss to Melbourne on Saturday night - I for one, was very glad to see the Demons win, and Mark Neeld regain at least a little of the confidence the AFL press corps has done their best to erode and destroy - the Bombers are still right up there, as far as yardsticks and Flag favourites go.

The Swans need a win in Melbourne and against a top four team - they are 2-5 against teams in the top four since John Longmire took over - to reignite talk of them being genuine premiership contenders.