Player ratings: Sydney Swans vs Fremantle Dockers, Round 9, 2018

The Swans are back in the green at their home ground, the SCG. After several close losses – 10 points to Adelaide and 2 points to North, the Swans followed up their terrific away win against the Hawks with a flogging of the Dockers.

Fremantle were terrific in the first quarter, brilliantly lead by Fyfe and Neale, with Sinclair and Sandilands having almost no impact at all, despite Sandilands dominating the hit outs. Fyfe slowed as Hewett applied the clamps and as the match wore on, he looked physically worse with every minute played.

Cunningham, Papley, Jack and Hewett played fantastic defensive roles, while kicking three goals between them. McCartin hit the scoreboard and almost had a goal of the week contender in the last quarter, bursting through the middle and snatching the ball from his Fremantle opponent, before hilariously handballing it into Hannebery’s back. He gather it and banged it long from 60 metres, but it took an unfriendly bounce just before the post with Franklin trying to shepherd it through.

B: Nick Smith, Dane Rampe, Jake Lloyd
HB: Jarrad McVeigh, Heath Grundy, Kieren Jack
C: Zak Jones, Josh P. Kennedy, Isaac Heeney
HF: Harry Cunningham, Tom McCartin, Will Hayward
F: Oliver Florent, Lance Franklin, Ben Ronke
FOL: Callum Sinclair, Luke Parker, George Hewett
I/C: Dan Hannebery, Tom Papley, Callum Mills, Gary Rohan

	3: Jarrad McVeigh	9	Superb. Give him another contract. Highest disposals collected since 2015 but was just unstoppable and terrific. talk about winding the clock back. Can he play into his 40s?
	4: Dan Hannebery	5.5	Rusty return to football. Had his fair share of the ball, but turned it over a few times, had a couple of face-palm-worthy clangers and generally looked a bit off the pace. He'll be better for the hit out, but important, the midfield looked a lot better with him in it.
	5: Isaac Heeney	8.5	Sublime in the midfield, was arguably the best or second best player in the first half. Kept going in the second half and had a few emphatic centre clearances, several big ones in particular in the last quarter.
	7: Harry Cunningham	8	Another really good game. The chasm between his good and bad games is far too wide, but when he's playing a terrific shut down role and getting a fair bit of the ball himself, kudos.
	10: Zak Jones	6.5	Was pretty good early in the game but faded in the second half before having his bell rung.
	9: Will Hayward	7	9 marks and 16 disposals. A bit of luck and kicks more than 1 goal, but still managed 9 turnovers. He had a good game, but butchered it.
	11: Tom Papley	7.5	Finished with 2 goals, could have had goal of the year from the pocket, snapping from midair and in general was good, maybe not great.
	12: Josh Kennedy	8.5	Spent a bit more time forward than usual, given his return of three goals and his assist to McCartin for his second. Finished with 8 score involvements and 2 goal assists. Really good game from just 20 disposals.
	13: Oliver Florent	8	Another great game from the 19-year old 18-gamer. Finished with 22 with 7 contested, showed great pace and dash through the middle and looks a genuine line breaker. Give him another 100 games, he'll be a Lewis Jetta type player.
	14: Callum Mills	8	Right up there among the best in the first quarter and was pretty damn good throughout the match. Wavered in and out as the Swans got on top, but when it sailed through the air, he dominated. Point in case - Sandi had Cunningham one-out in the goal square, Ballantyne went long and Mills still managed to cut across to spoil. He's 209cm!!!
	15: Kieren Jack	7.5	He was really up and about early in the game, superb in the first quarter and bit, but faded out. He's never a big points getter, but he did the dirty work.
	16: Gary Rohan	5.5	A bit of an ordinary game but not really his fault. He did some really big things, had several big moments and took a great goal-saving mark in the fourth quarter. Spent a bit of time in the ruck - might need that one explained...
	18: Callum Sinclair	7.5	Arguably won the battle against Sandi, despite being comprehensively smashed in the hit outs. Finished with 13 disposals, 7 contested and a goal. Most importantly, took several big contested marks in the second quarter when the game was still in the balance and booted a big goal. Only player to manage 100% disposal efficiency with more than 10 disposals.
	23: Lance Franklin	9	What a return to AFL football. Struggled in the first but had his hands on the ball, started revving up in the second but exploded to life in the third. Accidentally knocked his opponent out and just destroyed the Fremantle defence in the second half. 3 goals, 9 involvements and 1 assist, to go with 9 marks, 3 contested, 3 marks inside 50, 470 metres gained and 9 inside 50s.
	24: Dane Rampe	8.5	Superb game, was really good in defence and finished with 96 percent efficiency from 22 disposals. That may well be a personal best. Just bloody good when he needed to be.
	25: Ben Ronke (R)	7.5	Definitely had Fremantle's best small defender and struggled to influence the game, but still kicked a goal, probably should have kicked another 3, especially when he gave the ball to Franklin when he won a free kick inside forward 50. 14 disposals, 7 contested, 5 score involvements, 6 marks and 3 tackles.
	26: Luke Parker	8	Really good in the middle and stepped up when Kennedy went forward. At times threatened to break the game wide open and did really well. Returning to good form.
	29: George Hewett	8	Terrific! Got on top of Fyfe and Neale, almost doing a one-man shutdown role, while still collecting 20 of his own and booting a goal.
	30: Tom McCartin	7.5	This kid can play. Should have finished with three, especially if that long bomb bounced straight or right, instead of left. Made a great contest in the first quarter that lead to a Swans goal and overall, presented well.
	39: Heath Grundy	8.5	Third game he's averaged more than 20 disposals, unfortunately this time, didn't quite reach that absurd high of 90 percent efficiency, finishing with 85 this time (laughs). Even finished with 4 score involvements and 7 marks. You know he's playing a damn good game when his opponent is scared and hiding in Row Z in the forward pocket.
	40: Nick Smith	8	Never, ever scores well in fantasy points. Never ever gets beaten by his man. Schooled Ballantyne and Walters, and even took on guys far taller and bigger than him. Terrific 200th career game and played just as good as he ever has.
	44: Jake Lloyd	10	Career best disposals, averaged more than 10 a quarter, even picking up 12 in the last. Game-high 15 marks, game-high 9 rebound 50s, just bloody good all game.

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