Plenty of storylines threaded through the fabric of this contest. The Swans season is on the line, their domination at home has come to a sputtering halt this year - Fortress SCG is in danger of being breached; the red and whites are 2-4 at home this season - and our premiership captain, Barry Hall, returns to his old stomping ground, fresh off announcing that he's going to end his exciting and turbulent career at the end of the season.
It should be interesting to see what sort of a reception Big Bad Bustling Barry gets when he takes the field at the SCG on Saturday afternoon. There are all sorts of stories doing the rounds suggesting that he has a long-term rift with former coach Paul Roos and the soundbite where he explained to all who were listening that he would be a Bulldog for life has perhaps ruffled the feathers of the Swans faithful who were among his biggest supporters, those fans who brought the big man to tears during his lap of honour farewell at the SCG a few years ago.
Of more interest to me is seeing whether the Swans can play a full four quarters of football and recapture their trademark discipline. They took two quarters off last week and discipline issues were part of what cost them the win against Fremantle in a game that was marred by some questionable and certainly over-zealous umpiring from everyone's favourite, Razor Ray Chamberlain. That ill discipine manifested in a scuffle that became a melee and spilled over the boundary line, one that cost Ben McGlynn and Shane Mumford some money during the week, when the AFL levelled $1200 fines.
It will be nice to have Jude Bolton back. His cool head might've convinced others to remain cool and calm during the umpiring malestrom and the niggling of Fremantle's Hayden Ballantine and others. If nothing else, the veteran presence in the midfield should make things less chaotic. Jude Bolton is a steadying presence in the midfield just like Craig Bolton was a steadying presence down back. The kids in the team have a great football mind to absorb.
A dry track would be nice, too, but Sydney has been lashed by wild weather all week, and the forecast is for more of the same on Saturday. Of course, our worst performances of the season - including last week - have come in the rain. It doesn't bode well, but you'd hope that the Swans understand that their season is on the line here, and that another loss would put them in serious jeapoardy of missing the finals. After the impressive run last season - one that ironically came to an end at the hands of these Bulldogs - missing the finals this season would be a definite backward step, and not what John Longmire will have wanted from his first season as head coach at the Swans.
This is a must-win contest. The frustrating thing about last week was that the Swans looked like they had enough to beat the Dockers, despite being MIA for two quarters, and may very well have pulled off the W had there not been some contentious umpiring decision go against them at crucial moments. This Saturday, the Swans need to play focused football for four quarters. If they do that, they can win the football game and somewhat solidify themselves in the eight as we head into the stretch run, that includes other finals hopefuls, St Kilda, Essendon and Richmond, as well as a daunting trip to Skilled Stadium to take on Geelong.
Saturday is perhaps where Season 2011 motors ahead, or where we start looking ahead to next year. I hope it's the former rather than the latter.
Fearless Prediction: Swans by 10.
Go Swans!!
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