Fans hold their breath after AFL massacre

The Sydney Swans will watch the rest of Round 23 intently as they wait for the Tetris pieces that will shape their finals destiny to fall into place.

The Swans took care of their end of the bargain at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon, exacting ruthless revenge on the floundering Gold Coast Suns in an 87-point demolition job.

Up to five other games can still shape where the Swans finish and who they play.

Watch every 2021 Toyota AFL Finals Series match before Grand Final Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >

With Brisbane favoured to defeat West Coast Saturday afternoon and GWS expected to topple Carlton on Saturday night, the most likely scenario sets up a mouth-watering all-Sydney elimination final between the Swans and the Giants.

Shame is, due to Covid-19 lockdowns, it is unlikely to be played in Sydney, with the AFL understood to be considering three venues – Adelaide, Brisbane and Tasmania – for its first-week finals clashes. If not GWS, the Swans could instead face an improved Essendon, the Eagles or even Fremantle, depending on results.

Sydney coach John Longmire had some payback on his mind before the match: “These guys have got us a couple of times”, he said, the Suns having won three of their previous four meetings, in Round 6 inflicting the Swans’ heaviest loss of the season.

But, with the spectre of finals looming, the Swans left nothing to chance, putting the pedal to the metal from the first bounce in a domineering performance that will only serve to heap more pressure on embattled Suns coach Stuart Dew.

It was hard to find a Swan who lowered their colours as the Suns had no answers for superstar forward Lance Franklin, while Isaac Heeney was at his creative best, Jake Lloyd provided rebound, run and carry and Jordan Dawson continued his impressive development. Longmire would be particularly pleased with Justin McInerney’s work in defence, standing tall with Nick Blakey gone for the season.

For the Suns, Touk Miller registered a 16th consecutive match of 30 or more disposals – an AFL record – while young gun Noah Anderson tried to lift his side with 15 second-quarter touches. Ben King’s set shot from the boundary in the third quarter – one of his four goals – underlined why the Suns must do everything possible to ensure he remains on the Gold Coast.

A finals venue and opponent isn’t the only thing Sydney will be sweating on: Callum Mills has had ongoing drama with his Achilles and he looked proppy for most of the match, requiring treatment on the sideline early before he was subbed out in the third quarter with what appeared to be a toe or foot complaint. He still had 18 disposals and booted a goal.

After finishing 15th in 2019 and 16th in 2020, Longmire and the Swans have produced one of the more dramatic turnarounds in recent memory, with a top-six finish sealed.

In awe of Buddy

The Swans could find themselves in Tassie for an elimination final next week and that might be music to the ears of Lance Franklin.

Big Bud’s had some memorable days down south, including the famous “thir-teen, THIR-TEEN”! With 986 career goals before the Suns game, there was an early sniff that the legendary Swan might give the 1000 a shake on Saturday afternoon when he wheeled around on his trademark raking left boot and slotted one from outside 50m, just 20 seconds into the match. He still finished with a bag of six.

He was the most dangerous man on the ground all night and there’s a reason Mick McGuane had him in his All Australian team – he makes every other Swan in the forward line stand taller.

It’s a long time ago now, but he did kick eight against the Doggies in the 2008 elimination final. With eight to get for the magical mark, it’d take something special – but not beyond his ability – to get the job done in the first final.

He did achieve one career milestone against the Suns – 700 behinds.

No favours for under fire Dew

If the Suns were playing for coach Stewart Dew, you wouldn’t know it.

With very little incentive – except maybe their coach’s future – the Suns didn’t turn up, conceding six goals to none in the first quarter.

The first goal didn’t come until Josh Corbett converted a free kick at the 10-minute mark of the second quarter and, while the Suns did lift through the middle of the match, the damage was done.

This effort will only intensify the beat of the jungle drums, with Dew’s position becoming more tenuous by the day.

Nice touch for Harbs

Every Gold Coast Sun wore No. 5 on their warm up top before the match, honouring retiring foundation player Jarrod Harbrow.

The 33-year-old had not worn the Suns’ guernsey since Round 5 – against his former club Western Bulldogs – but, against the Swans, was given a 262nd and final farewell game.

While he took a while to get going, Harbrow will bow out as one of the Suns’ better players against the Swans with 21 disposals and eight marks. It was sad to see him subbed out with a shoulder injury late.

The Suns also farewelled ruckman Zac Smith, who is the owner of a small piece of club history – he registered its first ever score, a behind against the Blues in 2011.

Finals questions

The Swans are in the dark on their finals venue and opponent – not that coach John Longmire is bothered.

After finishes of 15th and 16th the past two seasons, Longmire lauded his troops as they sewed up a top-six spot on the ladder with a destructive 87-point finals tune up over Gold Coast.

He said the AFL was yet to give an indication of where the Swans would ‘host’ their home elimination final next week, given the tumult caused by Covid-19 lockdowns in Victoria and NSW.

“There was some discussion at the back end of that last week with the club, but it was all very much up in the air,” Longmire said.

“There’s obviously some strict conditions that will be around that as well … we’re still waiting to hear what they are, so we’re still in the dark a bit at the moment.”

The AFL is understood to be exploring venues in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

Longmire said his side – after nearly nine weeks away from home – would focus on being prepared for a final, irrespective of where it would be played.

“From a coaching and football department playing point of view, we’ll do what we have to do to get out and play in a final,” he said.

“We’ve missed the finals the last two years. It’s a fantastic effort by our players and our whole football club to be on the road for coming up to nine weeks and to embrace that and be playing good footy at this time of year and ready for a finals series, we’re thrilled to be a part of it.

“In the end, I’m not going to get caught up too much on here, there, where or what, other than the fact that it’s great to be back in the finals.”

Gun midfielder Callum Mills is in doubt for the first final after he was subbed out of the Suns clash in the third quarter, troubled by his ongoing Achilles issue.

“Clearly, he will play if he’s ok, but he’s obviously got to be in doubt and so we’ll have to see how he pulls up, he’s a bit sore at the moment,” Longmire said.

Co-captain Josh Kennedy missed with a hamstring strain and Longmire said it was too early to confirm if he would play next week.

Chad Warner, who would be a handy replacement for Mills, played in a practice match against the Bulldogs on Saturday morning and impressed.

“He was close for today (against the Suns), we have a lot of faith in what he can deliver,” Longmire said of the 20-year-old.

“He plays with real power and aggression, so we’ll wait and see. Obviously, with Josh and with Callum, it’s a bit too early to speculate on what it (the Swans team) looks like.”

Dew going nowhere

Stuart Dew says he has been given assurances from Gold Coast’s top brass that he will be the Suns coach next season.

Amid rumblings about his future, Dew gave a point blank “yes” when asked if he’d been backed in by his club’s powerbrokers, following the Suns 87-point shocker against Sydney.

Dew, contracted for next year, reinforced his belief he had the support of his players as he plans for 2022.

“Our players are really confident that this is the group to see it through and stick together,” Dew said.

“That’s the main message from all of us inside the footy club.

“Get back to work, have a rest, reload, regenerate and continue to improve and drive that.

“I feel like we’ve got a fantastic relationship, myself and the players.

“Like I said at the start, we see ourselves as the first group to commit, the first group to work together and the first group to see this through.

“This was never going to be a three year and ‘oh, look what we’ve done’.

“We know we’ve had a lot of draft picks, but they’re in their second and third year.

“When that core comes through to support that next layer, we’re really confident, we love what we see.”

The Suns won seven games in 2021, up from five wins and a draw last season.

Dew said there was no clearer example of the talent on the Suns list than that of academy product Alex Davies, who had 16 touches on debut.

“We didn’t just throw him in for a token game,” Dew said.

“It was really important that he earnt that and he showed that today. I thought he was absolutely unbelievable, the way he stood up in his first game.

“Our midfield today was Touk Miller, Noah Anderson, in his second year, Matt Rowell in his second year, Davies. There’s some signs there. We’re not asking them to play bit parts, they’re going straight into the furnace.

“We’ve got to keep exposing and work on the synergy.”

Dew said the club had a positional wishlist for the offseason.

“We’re well aware of where our gaps are … we know where we need to target,” he said.

“Like all clubs, our tall department this year, we suffered some injuries, clearly (Jarrod) Wittsy going down in Round 3, I think Sam Day played six games and one of those he was off in the first 10 minutes. Zac Smith had a serious knee injury.

“We’d like to strengthen the tall stocks and obviously look to add to our midfield depth.”

SCOREBOARD

SYDNEY SWANS 6.4 9.7 13.7 21.10 (130)

v

GOLD COAST SUNS 0.4 3.8 5.9 6.13 (49)

GOALS

Swans: Franklin 6 Heeney 3 Papley 3 Wicks 2 McLean 2 Dawson Gulden Hickey Mills Rowbottom

Suns: King 4 Corbett Sexton

MICHAEL RANDALL’S BEST

Swans: Lloyd, Franklin, Dawson, Heeney, Hickey, McInerney, Parker

Suns: Miller, Anderson, King, Ainsworth, Harbrow

MICHAEL RANDALL’S VOTES

3 – J Lloyd (Syd)

2 – L Franklin (Syd)

1 – J Dawson (Syd)

INJURIES

Swans: Mills (foot)

Suns: Harbrow (shoulder)

Umpires: Chris Donlon, Leigh Haussen, Andrew Heffernan

Venue: Marvel Stadium

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.