The winning drought is over for the Sydney Swans after they defeated the Brisbane Lions by 54 points at the Sydney Cricket Ground in round 7 of the 2017 Australian Football League premiership competition. Sydney forward Lance Franklin was the star of the show booting eight goals. His tally included his usual freakish skills including a monster 70 metre bouncing goal, tight angle snaps and solid marking in the contest. It could’ve easily have been double figures if not for inaccurate kicking. He was ably assisted by Zac Jones in the midfield along with Luke Parker and Alex Lloyd.
The Star. Sydney’s Lance Franklin turned on his A-Game against the Lions Photo: Jodie Newell
For Brisbane it was a case of a sluggish start and the lack of early on-ball pressure allowing Sydney to get away on the scoreboard and were never really in the hunt. Co Vice Captain Tom Rockliff was the stand-out for the Lions with 32 possessions and two goals, whilst 50th gamer Marco Paparone put in a respectable performance with 28 disposals.
Swans midfielder Zac Jones (with ball) made a real difference around the contest. Photo: Jodie Newell
Sydney’s intentions were made very clear at the start of the game. During the positional set-ups several Swans players could be seem pushing and jostling their Brisbane opponents aggressively. It didn’t take long before Sydney slammed on several goals with Franklin opening the account. Brisbane applied little pressure, allowing the Swans to move the ball quickly and effectively with ease. It was like the Swans of old. They found their teammates through accurate kicks, they tackled hard in the contest and cashed in on the scoreboard.
No Love Lost. There was plenty of pushing and shoving between the Lions and the Swans throughout the match on Sunday. Photo: Jodie Newell
Brisbane struggled to score early with Ryan Lester and Marco Paparone making the best of very limited opportunities with well taken snaps for goal. Sydney would continue to power on with Harry Cunningham kicking two and Lance Franklin booking three for the second quarter. The Lions simply could not contain Franklin. Not even some light “jumper punches” exchanged and pulled from Franklin and Lions defender Nick Robertson during the 3rd quarter could do little to stop Sydney’s or Franklin’s momentum. Whilst some of the contact looked like it may have been concern to both players, the AFL Match Review panel on the following Monday deemed the incident as “the force used was below that required to constitute a reportable offence” Interestingly, Robertson would later kick a goal for the Lions on a day he’d rather forget.
Brisbane Lions defender Nick Robertson had a tough day against Swans forward Lance Franklin. Photo: Jodie Newell
The final two quarters of the game were really pretty much the same in terms of the Swans controlling the play and making better use of the football. Brisbane were competitive in kicking goals, but they again we unable to match Sydney in the on-ball contest or contain the running play of the Swans midfielders. Zac Jones kept presenting himself to the football and was able to set up several of his team mates with superb, tough play. Callum Sinclair who played his 5oth game did well booting 2 goals as did Will Hayward with 2 goals. For the Lions, Tom Rockliff battled hard for the remainder of the game as did Stefan Martin and Ryan Lester. Josh Schache also chimed in adding some respectability to the scoreboard with 2 goals.
Happy, but more work to be done. Swans coach John Longmire addresses the media post-game. Photo: Jodie Newell
Post match, Sydney coach John Longmire was obviously pleased to be back on winning terms, but conceded there was much work to be done on and off the field. Longmire was happy with replacement defender Harry Marsh who came into the Swans side after Aliir Aliir was dropped for disciplinary reasons after failing to turn up to a training session on time before Sunday’s game. For Brisbane, an obviously disappointed coach in Chris Fagan thought the game was lost early on, with Brisbane giving the Swans an easy start. However, Fagan was pleased in how his team never gave up trying and said their were plenty of lessons learnt for his young side.
Whilst disappointed, Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan said he was confident his young team would continue to learn. Photo: Jodie Newell
Sydney currently sit at 17th position of the AFL ladder, whilst Brisbane have moved to the bottom of the table at 18th. The winning feeling for the Swans may be fleeting as they face an in-form North Melbourne next Sunday afternoon in Melbourne. The Kangas completely smashed the previously unbeaten competition leaders in Adelaide last week and will be full of confidence. Brisbane will remain on the road to face Hawthorn in Tasmania on Saturday afternoon.
SYDNEY 7.5 12.10 17.13 20.15 (135)
BRISBANE LIONS 2.0 6.2 9.5 12.9 (81)
GOALS
Sydney: Franklin 8, Hayward 2, Sinclair 2, Cunningham 2, Towers, Kennedy, Heeney, Parker, Jones, Hannebery
Brisbane Lions: Lester 2, Schache 2, Rockliff 2, Zorko, Close, Berry, Barrett, Keays, Robertson
BEST
Sydney: Lance Franklin, Zac Jones, Luke Parker
Brisbane Lions: Tom Rockliff, Marco Paparone, Dayne Zorko
INJURIES
Sydney: –
Brisbane Lions: –
Reports: No Reports
Umpires: Leigh Fisher, Dean Margetts, Jeff Dalgleish
VERDICT: The folks in lime in our opinion, did a good job. No “bad decisions”. Hardly noticed them and that’s a good sign of umpiring. Well done!
Official crowd: 25,619 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
