Swans Preview - Richmond (14 August, 2011)

Sydney vs. Richmond
Sunday 14 August 2011
2.40pm; MCG

A week after a tough loss and a highly entertaining football game against Essendon, the Swans remain in Melbourne, to take on the Richmond Tigers. It was the corresponding game last year, a Round 14 match-up at the MCG, where the Swans jumped out to a 33 point lead deep in the third quarter after a tight first half, and it seemed as though the red-and-whites would record a percentage-boosting victory. That was certainly what I thought.

But, in a collapse that is not often seen by the Swans, and certainly not during Paul Roos' reign at the club, the final result recorded Richmond as four point winners. From the point where the Swans were up by 33, the Tigers kicked the next - and last - three goals of the quarter, to give themselves at least a glimmer of hope heading into the fourth frame. The margin was 14 points at the final change. Swans fans were starting to get nervous.

Lewis Roberts-Thompson did some heavy work early in the fourth, concussing Tiger Andrew Collins, and the Tigers rallied, an extraordinary victory for them, spearheaded by Jack Riewoldt, then a burgeoning star at full forward, and the previously-concussed Collins, who, in one of the most inspirational moments of the entire season, returned to the field late, and kicked the last two goals of the game. Riewoldt finished with five, and was credited with being the man who kept the Tigers there or thereabouts before the amazing fourth quarter rally. The Tigers didn't lead at any change, but led when it counted: at the final siren. It was one of the most difficult losses of the Swans 2010 campaign.

Simply put, Sydney absolutely cannot afford another game like this one when the two teams square off on Sunday afternoon. There have already been too many contests this year where the Swans decide, for whatever reason, to take a quarter - or two - off, and it has been their undoing. Think Fremantle at the SCG a few weeks back, and, to a lesser degree, think the game last week vs. Essendon, where poor conversion, 2.9 in the final term, and lack of basic skills cost a win.

Hopefully the team have worked on goal kicking skills this week, especially in light of the horrendous last quarter of kicking against the Bombers. Richmond are a young team, who should not be taken lightly. As if the Swans needed to be taught that lesson after last year's game. They will be as wary as any team who has ever been scalded in that manner.

Thankfully for the Swans, it seems likely now that Jarrad McVeigh will return to the line-up. The inspirational midfielder was a late scratch, not making the trip south, instead remaining in Sydney with his wife and newborn daughter, for whom doctors were concerned. That McVeigh returns is good news for the football team, but better news for a wonderful ambassador for the club, and a good person. No one deserves to go through the scenario that McVeigh has lived out over the last week or so. No doubt the realisation that doctors have pronounced his daughter to be out of the woods will spur him on to great heights on the football field.

Adam Goodes has been given the all-clearafter the match review panel cleared him of any wrongdoing in a clash with Essendon's Angus Monfries. It was a solid hit, but front-on contact was Goodes' saviour in this case. With the great man in, dare I say it, All Australian form, the Swans could ill afford seeing #37 on the sidelines rather than doing what he does best: dominating games. Say what you will about the end of last week's game, but the fact remains that Adam Goodes was by far and away the best man on the field in either jumper last week. He is back with a vengeance after a somewhat quiet middle of the season.

So the Swans should fly south to Melbourne, bolstered by the presence of their two on-field leaders, Goodes and McVeigh - and with familiar faces like Brett Meredith back, riding the pine to start the game - looking to bury the ghosts of last year's collapse. The hunt for a home elimination final is still alive, and there are good football teams nipping at their heels. A win in Melbourne is important ahead of a crucial clash vs. St Kilda in a week's time at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

Fearless Prediction: Swans by fourteen.