Swans Review - Semi Final vs. Carlton (14 September 2013)

Powerful third quarter sends Sydney into a Preliminary Final.

SYDNEY 3.3 8.6 13.8 13.8 (86)
CARLTON 2.3 4.8 4.8 8.14 (62)
Goals: Sydney: L Parker 3 H Cunningham 2 J McVeigh 2 K Jack 2 J Bolton J Kennedy L Jetta R O'Keefe. Carlton: J Waite 3 E Betts 2 B Gibbs D Armfield M Robinson.
Injuries: Sydney: Kurt Tippett (knee), Tom Mitchell (ankle). Carlton: Ed Curnow (knee), Michael Jamison (head).
Umpires: Mathew Nicholls, Brett Rosebury, Dean Margetts.
Official Crowd: 37,980 at ANZ Stadium.

It was far from a promising start. Only moments after spearhead Kurt Tippett had hobbled from the ANZ Stadium turf on a dodgy knee, midfield tyro Tom Mitchell was headed in the same direction with a shattered ankle and, seeing both in succession on the big screen - about the only thing replayed more than once all night - there was a nervous murmur going through the Swans faithful. Yes, the Swans were ahead, but they had butchered some opportunities and Carlton seemed to be surging. 

Of course, the Green Vest came off Lewis Jetta and the speedster was injected into the game far earlier than he, John Longmire or just about anyone else at the ground ever expected. But there was no such luck for Mitchell, whose absence meant that Sydney were down a rotation. Thus, hope for Carlton fans and despair for the majority of the fans at the Olympic Stadium clad, as they were, in red and white.

A tough first quarter saw the scores level, and the quality of the take on a continuous nosedive. Players were falling over left right and centre, a game riddled with injuries, and questions were again raised about the quality of the playing surface at ANZ, which some refer to as a "cow paddock". Who knows? Playing on a cow paddock tonight might actually have provided a better spectacle. 

It's time something is done about the surface there. I know the AFL has a contract to play a certain number of games there, but that contract (which runs to 2016) would surely a certain minimum standard of turf condition before a game can be played. Surely what greeted the players tonight was not up to that standard? The AFL should be embarrassed for letting the game go ahead as it did. Injuries caused by that ground are nothing new, but complaints seem to fall on deaf ears. The League office needs to sit up and take notice before someone sustains a really serious injury.

Early on, it was a tough game to watch, but the Swans, in the face of a lengthening injury list, had at least withstood an early Carlton surge.Then, Jarrad McVeigh came to the party. This was a contest dying for someone to put up their hand to take control. And in walked the inspirational Swans skipper. There were times in the second quarter when it felt like he'd brought his own footy, or at least had the Sherrin they all chased on a string. He was everywhere: defending, attacking, pressuring, shadowing, chasing, tackling, inspiring. 

Of all the good games McVeigh has played in red and white - and there have been plenty - this might have been his most impressive. He led the way, fighting and scrapping, putting attacking foray after attacking foray into motion. It's not a stretch to say that he put the team on his back in that second quarter, helping the Swans to a 22-point half-time lead, and setting them up for what was to come.

Emerging from the sheds after the half, it seemed as though all of the Swans were of a mind to play like McVeigh. Their third quarter was a brilliant and ruthless one, a shellacking of the highest order, dashing football, strong tackling and dependable defence, to which Carlton had no answers. Ryan O'Keefe kept the influential Blues superstar Chris Judd quiet, the rest of the Blues turned the football over, and Sydney made them pay. Made them pay again and again.

It was as dominant a period of play as the Swans have been able to produce this year and it came at the most opportune of moments. Not surprisingly, McVeigh was front and centre, as he had been in the second, shrugging off whoever Carlton sent to him in an effort to curb his influence. The skipper finished the game with a career-high 42 disposals (twenty in that incredible team-lifting second term) and two goals: a jaw-dropping performance. Not a bad night at the office.

Two goals in three minutes from a red-hot Luke Parker changed the course of the game, and sent Swans fans scrambling to find flights to Perth. It was carnage for the Blues and euphoric for the Swans. The third term was a wonderful microcosm of everything that's good about John Longmire's team. They were kicking majors from all over the park, and every fickle bounce of the footy seemed to go their way. They ran and chased and battered the Blues into submission. From the despair of the first injury-riddled quarter to this, Swans fans were on an emotional roller-coaster of a lifetime. That's September football for you.

Six goals up, and limping though they were, Sydney kept their foot down in that third and blew right Carlton away. The game had been won and there was still a quarter of football to go.. Cunningham, McVeigh, Jack, Bolton (who had a highlight reel goal of his own in the first quarter), Hannebery Kennedy and Jetta seemed to swarm over Carlton as the game sped towards the shadows of three-quarter time, whilst O'Keefe continued his stifling of Judd, who was so much the key to Carlton's barnstorming last-start comeback win over Richmond.

By the time the siren went for three quarter time, the Swans had won the game, up by 54 points, the mountain simply too high for Carlton, who managed to stop Sydney from scoring in the last term. The Swans had done the same to them in the third. But the game was effectively iced late, and the Swans, who will have a nervous wait with Ted Richards possibly in trouble for a late and high hit on Carlton's Levi Casboult, seemed more interested in making sure they didn't sustain anymore injuries en route to the final siren. 

And with that siren, a famous September victory of grit and strength and brute force at times as well, the Swans head to Perth and a showdown for a place in the 2013 Grand Final next Saturday night with the Ross Lyon-coached Fremantle Dockers.