The Swans staved off a rampaging young Bulldogs team, with ducking McLean at his ducking best, Bontompelli protected by the umpires, and Matt Stevic.
Turnovers in the first half didn't help, playing dreadful football for the first 40 minutes, but they got down and dirty, and ground their way back into the match.
An unanswered 6-goal run was the difference in the end, with Towers providing a fantastic chop-out to Callum Sinclair, taking a spectacular mark in the fourth quarter and getting his crack out on national TV. On ya Deano!
Chip in and help us find him a new nickname! Fawlty/Faulty just doesn't cut the mustard after tonight.
B Nick Smith, Heath Grundy, Dane Rampe
HB Callum Mills, Zak Jones, Jarrad McVeigh
C Jake Lloyd, Luke Parker, Isaac Heeney
HF Will Hayward, Harry Cunningham, George Hewett
F Tom Papley, Lance Franklin, Kieren Jack
FOL Callum Sinclair, Josh P. Kennedy, Dan Hannebery
I/C Oliver Florent, Dean Towers, Nic Newman, Aliir Aliir
3: Jarrad McVeigh | His last half, especially the last quarter, was crucial to the Swans winning the match. He would have been BOG if he wasn't disappointing in the first quarter. | ||
4: Dan Hannebery | Getting better, still butchering the ball by foot and had a shocking turn over in the 1st quarter. | ||
5: Isaac Heeney | BOG by a mile. Was immense in the second half, especially the last quarter. Kicked a clutch goal after the siren in the 2nd quarter and was awesome throughout. | ||
7: Harry Cunningham | Was pretty good, kicked a sausage in the last and had a few crucial moments in the 2nd half. | ||
9: Will Hayward | Simply couldn't work his way into the game. Kicked 1 behind and laid 4 tackles, but only had 5 disposals. AFL Ratings rated him the worst on ground by a fair margin. | ||
10: Zak Jones | We missed his zip, but we haven't missed those kicks, whatever they are and whoever they're supposed to go to, but don't. | ||
12: Josh Kennedy | Arguably his worst game for the Swans, possibly his career-worst game when he hasn't been hampered by injury. Dreadful comes to mind. | ||
13: Oliver Florent | Had his moments throughout the game, chased a lot in the first half, but had an impact in the second with 302 metres gained. Kicked the winner with 25 seconds remaining. Very Rohan-esque. | ||
14: Callum Mills | He was OK, did a lot of good things, but spilled marks he should have taken. Also caught holding the ball a few times. | ||
15: Kieren Jack | Not his best game, that's for sure. Had just 12 disposals, but laid 7 tackles. | ||
18: Callum Sinclair | Struggled in the first quarter, but smashed Tim English from then on. Finished with 36 hit outs, 2 clearances, 7 marks and 15 disposals. | ||
22: Dean Towers | Crucial in the second half. Super impressive in the ruck, won his own ball, was pretty good with disposal, took a spectacular mark and converted early in the 4th. Had 5 score involvements, 1 goal assist and more crucially, was dacked once. | ||
23: Lance Franklin | Quiet first half, ripped it to pieces in the third quarter and proved why he's still the dominant forward of the game, despite Wood wearing him like a glove. | ||
24: Dane Rampe | Was good, had his usual "Rampe" moments when you can only facepalm yourself, very, very hard. Enough to knock yourself unconscious. Like that mind-bending moment in the 3rd quarter when he tripped over his own team mate. | ||
26: Luke Parker | 21 disposals, 3 goals, 5 score involvements, 19 pressure acts and 281 metres gained. He was superb in the first half, really standing up when the Swans needed a leader. Quiet in the second, but the Swans wouldn't have been near it without Parker. | ||
28: Nic Newman | Might need a few more matches in the NEAFL. He was big in the 2nd quarter, but that 1st quarter will be one he'd rather forget, especially when he turned the ball over and watched it sail back over his head for a goal. | ||
29: George Hewett | You can't afford to carry someone that when they're beaten by their opponent, only collects 10 disposals and 4 of them are turnovers. | ||
36: Aliir Aliir | He had his moments but that miss in the last quarter is unforgivable. You can't really blame him for his performance because the ball movement inside 50 was absolute crap in the first half and he had little chance of making any impact, just like Franklin. | ||
39: Heath Grundy | Did well, but was torched on the lead more than once and had a few goals kicked on him. | ||
40: Nick Smith | Solid as usual, that's all you can ask. Rarely beaten by his opponent. | ||
11: Tom Papley | Great first half but faded afterwards. That first quarter was excellent, one of his best. | ||
44: Jake Lloyd | Not a great game. Still finished with 23 disposals and 8 rebound 50s, but some of the decisions he made were really poor and put his team mates under a lot of pressure. |
Like what you’re getting? Want more Swans Blog, and the chance to have your input into our site and what we create? We have additional content weekly on our Patreon Service. This is your avenue, what are you waiting for? Sign up today and get more content like this.
If you'd like to support us, you can head over to our Red Bubble Swans Blog Shop, and purchase one of our hideously overpriced mugs, stickers or notebooks. Help keep The Swans Blog alive.
Want instant access to the latest blog and news content from The Swans Blog?
Download our Android App from Google Play today.