Dockers far too good for the Swans in Perth, and into their first Grand Final
FREMANTLE 2.9 7.11 11.12 14.15 (99) SYDNEY 2.1 2.2 5.5 11.8 (74) Goals: Fremantle: M Walters 3 M Pavlich 2 N Fyfe 2 N Suban 2 H Ballantyne L Neale M Barlow P Duffield R Crowley. Sydney: G Rohan 2 H Cunningham 2 B McGlynn D Hannebery J Bolton J McVeigh L Jetta L Parker M Pyke.
Best: Fremantle: D Mundy N Fyfe P Duffield R Crowley M Johnson A Sandilands M Walters M Barlow. Sydney: J McVeigh G Rohan B McGlynn. Umpires: Matt Stevic, Simon Meredith, Shane McInerney. Official Crowd: 43,249 at Subiaco.
It is the inevitability of football after (or even during) the first week of finals. When you lose, it's the end of the season, and there is naught by the long summer slog, pre-season and trials, before a Sherrin is kicked again in anger. On a raucous night in front of a rabid Purple Haze of Fremantle fans at Patersons Stadium, and under the pump from an impressively relentless football team - who showed a bit of a rabid streak themselves - the Swans have reached that moment. 2013 is no more. They will not make a second successive trip to the last Saturday in September and the AFL Grand Final. The season is over, the dog days of summer are just around the corner, and a chance for atonement seems a long way off now.
Yet, the Swans should not be discouraged. It is true that they were beaten by a far superior team tonight, and the 25-point final margin hugely flattered the men in the red and white, but it has been an uphill battle since before the first bounce against GWS back in April, but it has ended in a Preliminary Final, which not many expected. Not with how the injury list kept growing in Sydney.
There was not one occasion this year where the team that took the field in the Grand Final of 2012 were on the field together, as a cohesive unit. Alex Johnson didn't see action at all, Rhyce Shaw was a long time on the sidelines, joined by Lewis Roberts-Tompson, Lewis Jetta, Martin Mattner, Adam Goodes and, later, 2013 revelations, Tom Mitchell and Kurt Tippett. With that many good, veteran players out, it's a wonder the Swans made the finals, let alone survived a tough encounter against Hawthorn in the first week, rebounded resiliently against Carlton last week at home and made the long trip across to the west coast to face the Dockers.
I knew it would be tough going against Fremantle. After all, they are the best team in the league as far as defensive numbers go, and they were rested, having earned a week off after - amazingly and courageously - beating Geelong in Geelong two weeks ago. They had a giant home crowd behind them, and didn't disappoint. The Dockers were magnificent, putting the squeeze on the Swans in every way possible in that first half. It was one of the great sustained pressure moments that I can recall.
Had it not been for some wayward kicking, the home side would likely have held a ten-goal lead at the half. As much as it pained me to realise, the Swans had nothing. They had been outplayed comprehensively, and how often can you say that about this team? I would imagine that the Hawthorn players watching the game tonight would have started getting nervous sometime about five minutes into the contest, when the Dockers really ratcheted up the pressure. It was a clinical effort, inspired by their midfield, which shut Sydney's star-studded one down. It was a tough night for Hannebery, Jack, Kennedy, McVeigh, all of them under constant pressure, with no room in which to move. It can't have been easy.
Fremantle are a very good chance of going to Melbourne and knocking off the Hawks next week. They are the best in the AFL in defence, and the Hawks the best in attack. It will be a colossal contest, if this weekend's games are anything to go by. The Hawks have broken the Kennett Curse, but might find themselves cursing the Purple Haze by this time next Saturday. After all, when attack and defence meet head-on, defence always wins. The Swans showed that last year against Hawthorn. The Dockers will be up and about. Ross Lyon's boys just might do it. Imagine the media narrative in Melbourne if Hawthorn lose two Grand Finals in a row that they were expected/favoured to win. Wow.
The Swans, unfortunately, will not. Perhaps, the less we dwell on that fact, the better, for there really wasn't much good to be taken from the contest today, except that they were able to kick a bunch of goals late to make the scoreboard look a little better, and you would imagine that their Young Brigade of Rampe, Cunningham, Rohan et al, will be better for having been exposed to that sort of contest and that sort of atmosphere. They will come back better for the experience. As will the entire team.
Saddest of all tonight is the farwell of a club legend. Jude Bolton played his heart out tonight as he has for every game of his glittering career. The guy that looks like Jane and plays like Tarzan knew no other way but head-on, one hundred percent at every contest. He realised that he probably wasn't the most talented player on the field, but he made up for it with courage and toughness. In a clutch situation, there would be no one you'd want to have the footy than #24.
In the greatest, most meaningful way, Jude Bolton was a Bloods warrior and the team won't be the same without him. For that matter, nor will the AFL, and you could tell during the post-game celebrations that the Fremantle players respected him, for they all went up and shook his hand. Classy and an indication of the esteem in which Bolton his held - not just by Swans players and fans, but by players and fans across the entire country. It's a sad night for the League, and a tough one for the Swans, made tougher by the fact that Jude Bolton went out in an aberration of a game that was so unlike what the Bloods culture, which he helped cultivate, was all about. Everyone has their bad nights, of course.
Farewell, Jude, we'll miss you. But we won't forget you.
Enjoy the summer - thanks for reading my Swans recaps in 2013, it's much appreciated. See you in 2014! Go Swans!!
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