The Sydney Swans did what most thought they could not - lose at home to a depleted Hawthorn. Yet another close loss, feels like bloody groundhog day losing these close games, especially to Hawthorn at the SCG, but again we learned Longmire cannot out-coach Clarkson.
Pre-game
Going into the game, Sydney was forced to replace Harry Cunningham, bringing in Florent instead of Kieran Jack. This week is indigenous round, so both teams were wearing their special guernseys, Franklin wearing number 67 and Dane Rampe 50 for the week.
Sydney went in as favourites after 3 good wins.
The game
After the pre match and exchange of gifts, the ball was bounced and everything went downhill from there.
Hawthorn played kick to kick, racking up easy uncontested possessions, while the Swans chased and chased, to no avail.
Jake Lloyd, arguably the best player of the season, was taken out in the first contest of the game with concussion, slung without the ball by Mitchell into Shiels' knee.
The first quarter was mostly forgettable, albeit for Franklin's two goals keeping the Swans within touching distance.
The Swans were turning the ball over at almost every opportunity and the Hawks were punishing them on the rebound.
The second quarter continued the same trend, and while the Swans tried and tried, the Hawks could always get a goal when they needed it most.
Thankfully the Swans managed to find other goal kickers, with a superb solo effort from Captain Kennedy, but Franklin was really the only thing keeping the Swans in it.
To make things worse, Sam Reid, who up until that point in the game had no impact at all, suffered the same fate as Jake Lloyd, when he was slung to the ground by Shaun Burgoyne.
The third was certainly an improvement, with the Swans coming close right at the end with a flurry of goals, before then, trading goals with Hawthorn.
Zak Jones was showing heart, but it was certainly missed placed with this effort. He may find himself in the stands for a week or two after the bye.
Franklin put through goals four and five in the third quarter to put the Swans just 4 points behind, with Rohan splitting the difference.
The fourth started off with a brilliant team goal, with superb play on the wing by Franklin, then Florent keeping the ball in play and Heeney smashing it through.
You won't see a better team goal and it was just one example of how influential Franklin had been throughout the game.
Even though the Swans dominated the last quarter, and extended the lead to 7 points and lead for most of it, it just wasn't enough in the end.
They had plenty of opportunities with Mills and Rampe spraying efforts out of bounds, and the Swans had the ball locked inside their 50 for quite a while, but could not score.
The Hawks did as they always do, caught the Swans on the hop and hit through two long bombs to win the game. If anything can be said, the Hawks took their chances while the Swans didn't.
After two and a half quarters of scrappy, albeit poor football from the Swans, with Buddy's brilliance giving them any hope, they lifted and eventually took the lead.
Mills had a chance late to salvage a draw, but now in the post match anger some Swans have decided the 2nd year player is useless - harsh given how poor others were on the night.
It was great to see Roughead healthy, but damn, kick the winning goal another week.
I'm not sure what happened between Rampe and Hannebery, but they gave Roughead another 5 metres on the kick.
Medical room
Jake Lloyd was concussed in the first 30 seconds of the match and played no further part.
Sam Reid was concussed in a sling tackle at the end of the 2nd quarter and played no further part.
Next up
Next up the Swans have the bye, but even then they may struggle to hold it off.
| Sydney Swans | ||||
| 2.4 | 4.6 | 9.7 | 11.9 | 75 |
| Hawthorn | ||||
| 5.1 | 8.3 | 10.6 | 12.9 | 81 |
Goals:
Franklin 5, Heeney 2, Rohan, Kennedy, Jones, Papley
Best:
Franklin, Rampe, Smith, Hannebery, Kennedy, Jones
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