SYDNEY 2.2 7.2 8.4 11.5 (71) ADELAIDE 1.3 2.7 3.10 5.12 (42)
Goals: Sydney: A Goodes 3 L Jetta 2 M Morton 2 B McGlynn J Kennedy L Parker S Reid. Adelaide: G Johncock I Callinan N van Berlo R Sloane T Walker.
Best: Sydney: R O’Keefe A Goodes J Kennedy R Shaw D Hannebery T Richards J McVeigh. Adelaide: S Thompson D Mackay B Reilly B Vince M Doughty.
Umpires: Justin Schmitt, Matt Stevic, Luke Farmer.
Official Crowd: 44,849 at AAMI Stadium.
All week, aside from lauding the job that first-year coach Brenton Sanderson has done in rebuilding the Adelaide Football Club, all anyone outside of the Sydney Swans wanted to talk about was the form of Adam Goodes and how he just hasn't been at his best since coming back from the injury that kept him on the sidelines for a chunk of the middle of the 2012 season.
Perhaps that was the case. I beg to differ, but, regardless, the words printed and said, particularly out of Melbourne, seems to have had quite an affect on Goodes, to the detriment of the Adelaide Crows. Goodes is back, ladies and gentlemen. Back in the best sort of way: 20-odd possessions and three goals in a match-winning, match-shaping performance to send the Swans into a home preliminary final, proceeded by a week off to rest and recover, when most of the football world, citing a few losses in the last few weeks of the season - narrow losses, mind you, against Collingwood and Hawthorn before a mostly-competitive effort against Geelong last Saturday - as a signal that they were on the slide. It was said they could not win at AAMI Stadium.
Adelaide were red-hot favourites. No one wanted to tip the Swans. No one thought they could win. Walker, Dangerfield, Sloane, Rutten, Talia, that's all anyone wanted to talk about, the young Crows team that seemed primed for a Grand Final following a prelim final at home, after a season where, due to a fourth-last finish in 2011, saw them with a favourable draw that included two games each against AFL cellar dwellers Greater Western Sydney, Gold Coast and the Port Adelaide Power.
Now, all of that is in tatters. A vintage performance by the Swans, marked by sturdy defensive play from a sparkling back six and by a midfield and forward line, spearheaded by Goodes, who took the most of their opportunities where their opponents didn't, and it's now the Bloods who have the easier run to the Grand Final. This was a famous victory, a tough, scrappy, grinding win in a game that, although it was ugly by nature, also seemed deliriously beautiful at times. At the end, the AAMI Stadium hoodoo was squelched, as was the Adelaide hoodoo, and the Swans emphatically announced themselves as Finals Series heavyweights.
There was the run of O'Keefe and Hannebery, McVeigh and McGlynn, the ferocity of Kennedy and Bolton, watertight defensive work from Mattner and Richards, both of whom perhaps played the game of their lives today, and, in a departure from his work this season in the forward line, Lewis Roberts-Thompson made Swans fans almost want to ask, Grundy, who? Rhyce Shaw and Nick Malceski provided the necessary dash from the halfback line, springing the Swans into action so many times, off the back of stifling so many Adelaide raids.
Comprehensively beaten in the Inside 50's arena, the Swans took full advantage of their chances. Goodes was ably supported by the speedy Lewis Jetta - another man whom the media said was off his form and, now tagged, could not recapture his early season form; two sparkling goals suggest otherwise - and the unlikely hero, Mitch Morton, the late inclusion for Tommy Walsh, playing in his first ever final. Morton, a stand-out with the reserves in the NEAFL, kicked two important goals, and will be very stiff if he misses out on starting in the preliminary final.
It was the Bloods of old, a pack mentality when it came to tackling. One Adelaide player seemed to be permanently under siege, surrounded by three or four Swans jerseys, shutting down just about everything Adelaide tried. Sydney tackled themselves to a standstill. In the battle of coaches, Longmire completely outdid his opponent. It was a masterful game plan, executed to perfection by the players on the field.
The Crows, woeful in front of goal, were their own worst enemy at times, but there's no doubt that the intense pressure from the Swans got to their young players. This was quintessential finals football, and the veterans in red and white adapted better than those wearing the other jersey. The old hands needed to stand up and be counted on this day, and they did. Bolton, O'Keefe, Malceski, Shaw, McGlynn, Kennedy, Goodes, Richards....they were all spectacular and they were the keys to an impressive Swans win.
The only downside was the loss of Ben McGlynn. The tears on the nuggety midfielder's face at three-quarter time suggests that the season is done for one of the key cogs in the Swans machine. There is some hope that he could return in time for a Grand Final if the Swans progress that far, but the chances are slim, and the look on McGlynn's face suggested that he knows it, too.
Yet the day was largely positive for the Swans, who will enjoy a week to rest and await the winner of the Collingwood vs. North Melbourne/West Coast game in Sydney. Perhaps the most interesting news to come in Sydney in the next few weeks will be the availability of ANZ Stadium. Rumours abound that the League did not book the Olympic Stadium, necessitating a switch to the SCG. Not good for the fans, with renovations halving that ground's capacity, but wonderful for the Swans, who are rarely beaten there. What a day!
Go Bloods!
No comments:
Post a Comment