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By Frank Ienco, reporting for AFANA from Sydney

Even late in the season, with finals beckoning and sides fighting for positions, there are some games that fans and experts alike question why they even take place. With the Brisbane Lions decimated by injuries and looking ahead to 2007, they were considered by many to be pushovers for a Sydney Swans side on their march towards an all-important Top Four position.

 

Brisbane came to Telstra Stadium with 12 players on their injury list, including key position players Jonathon Brown, Justin Leppitsch and Ashley McGrath for most of the season. The Swans on their part were missing rugged midfielder Jarred Crouch and suffered the late withdrawals of Lewis Robert-Thompson (foot) and Luke Ablett (back). Meanwhile, Sydney was on a three game winning streak over their northern neighbors, while the Lions had only won three of their last 11 matches. Indeed, everything seemed against Brisbane.

 

While Sydney did indeed take the four points and win by a convincing margin, 14.13 (97) to 6.4 (40), the match served to the young Cubs showed grit and commitment to at times match their more fancied opponents. It also raised some concerns about a Swans side appearing to suffer a drop in form, with the home side seizing control of the match only in the second half. They did more than enough to thrash the Lions, but the Swans, who lost to Geelong last week, looked rusty for most of the first half.

 

Brisbane needed to make a good impression early and they came out in the opening minutes ready to play. Lions rookie Marty Pask got the visitors to the start they needed when he marked close to the goal square to kick the first goal of the match. As usual with the Swans there were large numbers around the stoppages, but it was the Lions committing players in defense.

 

While Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, who this week called flooding the greatest cancer in the game, would have hated what he saw, Brisbane’s tactics proved effective, stifling the Swans of any of their usual run and shutting their forwards out of the contest. Their tackling and pressure was also strong, effectively beating Sydney at their own game.    

 

It took until the start of time on and with the Lions deep in attack for Sydney to finally break the shackles, when a quick transition found Adam Goodes running into an open goal. Goodes’ effort seemed to finally ignite the Swans when Michael O’Loughlin goaled from the next centre bounce.  

 

The Lions continued persevere and replied soon after when Justin Sherman rolled through a goal that caused a lengthy discussion between the umpires and on the television reply appeared to touch the goal post. Swans forward Barry Hall finally lost his markers to kick his first goal, before Brisbane captain Michael Voss kicked a rare major to again hit back, the Lions playing well to be only a point behind at the first change, 3.2 (20) to 3.1 (19).

 

Cruelly, the Lions added to their injury toll when young key defender Jason Roe was forced out of the game with a knee injury after making a tackle late in the quarter.

 

Roe's injury meant the second quarter began with the match-up of All-Australian full back Mal Michael against Hall, with both players ironically celebrating their 200th games. Sydney began the second term by continuing to dominate the clearances and winning the midfield battle, but with so many defenders inside their attacking 50 were repeatedly prevented from scoring opportunities. Amon Buchanan finally found enough space to snap at goal and he took his chance six minutes into the quarter.

 

While the Swans appeared stagnant and rusty, largely due to the negating tactics of their opposition, they were doing enough to stay a step ahead of the Lions, something which has been a trait of Sydney’s over the past few seasons. After Sherman’s second goal, the Swans began to break Brisbane’s defense down, with Nick Malceski and Tadhg Kennelly kicking goals.

 

The Lions themselves were still doing well to move forward, yet lacked any substantive forward presence. Badly missing a menacing forward target like Brown, Brisbane were forced to kick to medium sized forwards like Chris Johnson and Daniel Bradshaw to take contested marks. Even facing a deficit of just two goals, they looked unlikely to reel the margin in.

 

A holding the ball decision against Lion Brad Scott gave Hall his second goal from 45 meters out with only 40 seconds of the quarter remaining. After a difficult first half, the Swans would have been satisfied with their 20 point lead, 7.3 (46) to 4.2 (26), at the main break.

 

Sydney still appeared to struggle during the early stages of the third quarter, and were unable to assume any of their dominance on the scoreboard. Brisbane was their own worst enemy, making a number of costly turnovers that would make any comeback difficult, as was their own lack of scoring prowess which would eventually see them kick only three goals in the last three quarters.

 

One positive was the performance of young Daniel Merrett, who by now had moved to Hall and would keep him goalless for the rest of the match. It took until the 18th minute of the quarter until Jude Bolton grabbed a chance from a boundary throw in to re-open the scoring. Chris Scott answered back for Brisbane from the very next bounce, but Bradshaw wasted a chance to further reduce the margin when he missed a set shot from inside 50 moments later.

 

That miss was rued when maligned Swans ruckman Stephen Doyle drifted to full forward to mark and goal in the forward line and the Swans took a near five goal lead, 9.8 (62) to 5.3 (33) three-quarter time lead.

 

Bradshaw gave the Lions faint hope when he goaled in the second minute of the final term, but any comeback was snuffed out by Jarred McVeigh’s major soon after. The Swans finally found third gear during the last quarter, while the young legs of the Lions simply ran out of steam. A five minute flurry of goals to Matthews, Nik Fosdike, O’Loughlin and Sean Dempster midway through the term blew the margin further out, perhaps unfairly, as the Swans finally recorded a 57 point win.       

 

With a match against bottom-placed Carlton at the SCG next Sunday in their final home and away match of the season, the Swans are well placed for a crucial Top Four spot and a double chance. While the win was far from their best, there were signs of the type of football that the Swans will need to play to play come finals time. What will please the Swans faithful most is that they are again racking up wins at the right time of the season.

 

Adam Goodes (24 touches and a goal) was the star of the show, with some suggesting he is in better form than his Brownlow year of 2003. Youngster Nick Malceski (20 touches) was strong, while Ryan O’Keefe (27 disposals) is in career-best form, while ruckman Darren Jolly had an impressive 41 hit outs as Sydney owned the clearances. Interestingly, prodigal son Nick Davis had a quiet night in his first senior game for six weeks, but coach Paul Roos will be delighted his side had 12 different goal kickers despite kicking just 14 goals.

 

While the Lions were brave and committed, they simply lacked the legs and strike power to ultimately trouble Sydney. With the likes of Jonathon Brown to return next season, and a mix of exciting youngsters like Sherman (28 disposals, 10 in the first quarter) and Stiller (31 touches and 10 marks), things may change. However, with Jason Akermanis gone and the playing futures of Voss and Michael beyond this season in doubt, a return to the top half of the ladder in 2007 is questionable.

 

Brisbane can help out the Swans’ cause when they host fellow Top Four aspirant St. Kilda at the ‘Gabba next Saturday night.

 

Final Score-

Sydney   3.2 7.3 9.8 14.13 (97)

Brisbane 3.1 4.2 5.3  6.4  (40)

Goals- Sydney: O’Loughlin 2, Hall 2, Goodes, Buchanan, Malceski, Kennelly, J. Bolton, Doyle, McVeigh, Matthews, Fosdike, Dempster.
Brisbane: Sherman 2, Pask, Voss, C. Johnson, Bradshaw.


Best- Sydney: Goodes, O’Keefe, Fosdike, Buchanan, Malceski, Jolly.
Brisbane: Sherman, Stiller, Michael, Adcock, Power.


Changes- Sydney: Roberts-Thompson (foot) replaced in selected side by Bevan. L. Ablett (back) replaced in selected side by Matthews. Brisbane: Nil.


Injuries- Sydney: Nil. Brisbane: Roe (knee)

Reports- Nil.

Umpires- Davis, James, Grun.

Attendance- 37,659 @ Telstra Stadium

Article last changed on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 9:55 PM EDT


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