It’s a result and a game that will have journalists swallowing humble pie after suggesting that the Swans had lost their competitive edge and were on a downhill slide, and a result that will surely give opposition coaches many sleepless nights approaching their team’s meeting with the Swans.
What more than thirty-five thousands mostly parochial Swans fans saw on Thursday night seemed like something out of a dream. For a long period of time, it felt like a dream, because Sydney were all over Geelong, dominating the Cats like few teams have dominated them in…well, the best part of a decade, really.
Right from the outset, there wasn’t much for Geelong fans to like. Only a few seconds had ticked by before the Swans midfield had cranked into action, sending a ball deep for Kurt Tippett to mark just out of the goal square.
Yes, the kick was horribly sprayed – to the delight of Geelong fans and the horror of those, in the majority, who were clad in red and white – but it was a definite harbinger of things to come. The Cats didn’t have a goal in the first quarter. They barely had the football inside their attacking frame in the first half.
Everywhere that Sydney could be better, they were noticeably better – streets ahead – with the exception of the scoreboard, where the behind and goal totals were neck and neck. Had Sydney kicked truer on even just a handful of times over the course of the 110-point mauling, then the shockwaves surely now reverberating through the AFL world would be more resounding than they are now.
Make no mistake, the Sydney Swans are legitimate premiership contenders. On Thursday night’s form, they will take an incredible amount of beating. I mean, this isn’t the bludgeoning of hapless Brisbane or a young GWS squad. We’re talking about putting up a century-plus win against one of the great powerhouses of modern days. There were times when Swans fans were rubbing their eyes in disbelief, wondering if this wasn’t some sort of wonderful footy dream.
Not a dream, but glorious reality. They way Sydney played o Thursday night against a pretty good Geelong squad (premiership contenders in the eyes of a few, at least before Thursday night’s shellacking) was as ruthless and merciless and chock-fill unceasingly brilliant defensive and midfield pressure as any performance I’ve seen from Longmire’s men (and Roos’ men before that) in years and years – maybe ever, in fact.
Yes, the Cats were missing two key defenders that allowed the Swans forward line, spearheaded by Tippett, Lance Franklin and Adam Goodes, to get off the chain, but that doesn’t take away from how their established stars like Joel Selwood, Steven Johnson and Tom Hawkins may as well have not made the flight to Sydney for all the good they did on the SCG turf.
At every contest, there seemed to be more Swans than Cats. Every bounce of the ball seemed to go Sydney’s way. Even when things didn’t seem to be turning out well for the Swans, it wasn’t long before fortune was reversed. Some nights, you ride a streak of good luck and good fortune. This was one of those nights, but emphatically backed up by a ferocious commitment to be first at every contest, to hunt for that footy like there was no tomorrow.
As is so often the case, the Swans, winners of six straight now (including rather emphatic wins against premiership heavyweights Fremantle, Hawthorn and now Geelong) were propelled to this giant win by their midfield, almost certainly, and with apologies to Port Adelaide and Hawthorn, the best in the league, and perhaps also the AFL’s hardest working group.
Unlike in recent games, it wasn’t the big names like Kennedy, Hannebery and McVeigh who did the lion’s share of damage to the Cats’ aspirations, but some of the secondary players. Craig Bird had the best game of his Swans career, and Luke Parker continued his dream season.
Of course, footy is a team game, and seeing the load – and the touches – spread equally around this talented group is very pleasing. Right now, there isn’t one Sydney midfielder who isn’t at or very near the peak of their powers. That’s scary.
With such good ball coming in, it’s no wonder the Swans forward line dominated. Tippett kicked five – with two in the first quarter alone, and a chance for double that in the opening frame – and the Adam Goodes post-injury resurgence appears complete, for the Australian of the Year was elusive and impressive force on Thursday, chiming in with three. He will endure a few nervous days, though, waiting for a Match Review Panel ruling on what looked like suspect high contact with Selwood. It was the only negative on a night full to overflowing with positives.
The third cog in the all-star wheel, of course, is Franklin, whose dominance was limited (despite four goals to his name) as he spent time dragging Geelong defender Harry Taylor away from goal. It worked, too, allowing Tippett and Goodes to kick the Swans to a big lead. It’s safe to say that the much-ballyhooed trio had it’s best game together tonight, and the frightening thing is that there’s still some improvement to be had.
On Thursday night, the forward line was the icing on the cake. It’s quite something watching the three superstars go to work, and despite dire predictions – ones that look rather hollow and silly now – that the Bloods Culture would crash, burn and implode, thus sending the Swans plummeting towards the AFL’s scrapheap, it would appear rumours of their demise has been greatly exaggerated.
Just ask Geelong, for it was the Cats who had a first-hand look at just how good the Swans can be.
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