Sydney Clinch Top Four Berth

By Frank Ienco, reporting for AFANA from Sydney

Sydney will enter next weekend’s finals series exactly as they did last year- with a crucial double chance and a guaranteed home final after their seamless 92-point thrashing of Carlton at the SCG on Sunday. The 21.10 (136) to 6.8 (44) defeat also consigned the hapless Blues to their second consecutive wooden spoon and third in five years.

While Carlton could have been forgiven for having one eye on Mad Monday celebrations, and at times they looked it, the Swans had everything to play for. Despite the opposition, they played an exciting and attacking brand of football that they have only shown glimpses of before in a rare 20-plus goal display. The omens for the next four weeks look good for Sydney, least of which is a repeat of last year’s qualifying final next week against West Coast at Subiaco.

As did last week against Brisbane, the Swans were simply expected to win and win well. Sydney came into the match having won their last eight against Carlton- a record dating back to 2001. On the back of a crowd just shy of 34,000, the Swans got off to the perfect start when Nick Malceski opened the scoring when ran into an open goal in the fourth minute. Lance Whitnall, who had kept Barry Hall to one goal playing at centre half back when the sides met in Round 3, answered for the Blues minutes later, but the wheels had been set in motion.

If Sydney looked uninspiring and stagnate for most of last week’s match against Brisbane they came out today full of purpose and willing to push forward at every opportunity. Maybe it was because of the quality of opposition, but the Swans changed from their usual tight, close-in style of footy and moved the ball fast, with purpose, using their potent weaponry up front to expose a weak Carlton defense.

Amon Buchanan was the next to benefit from an empty goal square for the Swans, while the Blues defense was again uncovered when a spilled Setanta O’hAilpin mark led to Nick Davis’ first goal since returning to the senior side. A Brad Fisher major at the start of time-on kept the Blues in touch, but Hall’s first late in the quarter gave the Swans breathing space at quarter time.

If the first quarter showed signs that the Swans would be dominant for the afternoon, then the second confirmed it. With ruckman Darren Jolly, backing up from 41 hit outs last week, being ably assisted by Stephen Doyle, the Swans conquered the centre of the ground and clearances. With the midfield racking up possessions, the Swans put on four goals to nil, including two to star forward Barry Hall, who is returning to good form at the right time of the year.

By the third quarter the Swans played with an assurance that shouold serve them well come September -- if anything they should have led by much more. With Sydney putting Carlton under constant pressure, the Blues themselves had limited opportunities to mount their own attacks. It took until the 13^th minute for Adam Goodes to kick start the Swans again, but his goal led to an avalanche. Sydney piled on a further four goals in the space eight minutes, before former Bomber Ted Richards’ late major pushed Sydney’s three quarter time lead to 80 points, 15.9 (99) to a measly 2.7 (19).

There was not an area of the ground where the Swans were getting anywhere. While commitment and willingness began to go missing in the Blues’ performance, Sydney continued their trademark hardness despite the score line, making tackles, winning hard balls and forcing smothers. This, and keeping the opposition to such a low score, would have been the most pleasing aspect to Sydney coach Paul Roos with similar four quarter efforts needed during the finals yet to come. 

With percentage not on the agenda, the Swans still continued to press forward as they looked to push the margin into three figures. They achieved that through another run of four straight goals during the first 13 minutes of the final quarter, before Brendan Fevola, the Coleman Medalist for leading goal kicker in the home-and-away season, kicked the Blues first goal in nearly three quarters of football.  

Despite an otherwise miserable day for the Blues, footy has a habit of throwing in a ray of sunshine. The Channel Nine television coverage noted that the Carlton ruckman told his teammates his decision to retire during the three quarter time huddle. Poetically, with seconds remaining, French was given a free kick from a ruck contest and duly goaled from his last kick in football, his teammates running from all parts of the ground to embrace him.  

For at least the third week in a row Adam Goodes (27 disposals and four goals) pressed his claim for late season Brownlow Medal votes with another best on ground display. Brett Kirk (29 disposals) again guided the Swans’ midfield, with Ryan O’Keefe (29 and three goals) another to replicate his superb form today.  

Defender Tadhg Kennelly (25 touches), buoyed on by the fact he has signed with the club for another three years despite murmurs he would be leaving, played one of his best games of the year rebounding from half-back, but in such a dominant performance, it was hard to find a Swan who had put a foot wrong.

The same couldn’t be said for Carlton, who left their most insipid performance for the season for Anthony Koutoufides’ last match as captain. While they could have been forgiven for taking their foot off the battle, the Blues were uninspiring, lackluster and times uncommitted, which against the Swans usually means trouble. The reality for Dennis Pagan’s men is that after a promising resurgence in 2004 (10 wins, 12 losses), they have since gone on to record seasons of 4-1-17 (2005) and 3-1-18. The only solace for Blues fans is that they will again pick up a priority draft pick in November.

The win sets Sydney up for another Grand Final rematch and a repeat trip to face the Eagles. The incentives for the winner are enormous; a home preliminary final and an almost guaranteed return to the MCG for the last day in September. A loss exposes a home semi final against a dangerous Collingwood side, which could reap the Swans another 70,000-odd crowd at Telstra Stadium, or the erratic Western Bulldogs, with an interstate trip the following week.  Let the finals begin.

Final Score- Sydney  5.1 9.3 15.9 21.10 (136)
             Carlton 2.3 2.6  2.7  6.8   (44)
Goals- Sydney: Goodes 4, O’Keefe 3, Hall 3, Buchanan 2, O’Loughlin 2, 
Malceski, Davis, McVeigh, Fosdike, Richards, Matthews, Schneider.
Carlton: Whitnall, Fisher, Fevola, Waite, Blackwell, French.
Best- Sydney: Goodes, Kirk, O’Loughlin, O’Keefe, Kennelly, Hall.
Carlton: Scotland, Koutoufides, Sporn, French. 
Changes- Sydney: Nil. Carlton: Nil.
Injuries- Sydney: Nil. Carlton: Nil.
Reports- Nil.
Umpires- Donlon, Avon, McInerney
Attendance- 33, 943 @ the SCG