Player of the Year - Round 12, 2019

Each round we'll be posting our votes for The Swans Blog's Player of the Year award.

The players will be voted on their performance on the day regardless of previous form. The player with the highest number of votes at the end of the season, wins. Simple.

Round 12 saw the Swans return to the SCG to take on the West Coast Eagles, who haven't beaten the Swans at their home ground in more than 20 years.

What transpired ensured the long-lasting winning streak continued, with the Swans running rampant over the lacklustre 2018 Premiers, despite down to one rotation at half-time.

Defenders Colin O'Riordan and Jackson Thurlow suffered suspected concussions in the opening minutes of the second quarter, while veteran Jarrad McVeigh suffered a hamstring strain before half-time.

With their backs against the wall, down to just one rotation for more than half the match, the young Swans stood up to the biggest test of their fledgling careers.

Oliver Florent, George Hewett and Ryan Clarke didn't even take a break during the second half, while Tom Papley and Lance Franklin ran riot in the forward line.

Small forward Tom Papley demonstrated the gamut of plumbing abilities, finishing with a phenomenal 5 goals from 27 disposals, while having 16 score involvements and giving off another two goals.

His almost telepathic understanding with Lance Franklin produced several moments of magic, one with Papley drilling an inside 50 pass to Franklin, receiving a pass closer to goal moments later.

When the game was on the line, George Hewett was at the bottom of the clinches, registering a game-high 7 clearances - 6 of them from the centre circle.

His first quarter was phenomenal, registering 10 disposals and 3 centre clearances.

Despite prevailing by 45-points, the Eagles dominated the inside 50 count, registering 58-46 for the match.

Even though there were several small mistakes in the first half, Aliir's aerial work in the second half was superb, repelling almost every Eagles forward surge, taking as many intercept marks, as the Eagles had marks inside 50 for the game.

His form over the last 5 weeks has been nothing short of amazing, regularly beating his direct opponents in the air and at ground level, and he did exactly that against Nathan Vardy, who had no forward-half impact at all.

While Tom Papley received the player of the match award on the field, superstar forward Lance Franklin booted 5 goals in a dominant performance that will no doubt provide the blueprint for the rest of the competition.

With the Eagles already missing Shannon Hurn before the first bounce, Will Schofield and Jeremy McGovern had no choice but to take on Franklin.

Lance's work in the first quarter forced the early chance, while Sam Reid and Tom McCartin kept the intercepting defender accountable.

When the Swans needed a contested mark, co-captain Luke Parker willingly threw himself into the contest, recording an impressive four contested marks.

His 30 disposals - 15 contested - were of the highest quality, finishing the match with four centre clearances, one goal, one goal assist and three tackles.

VOTES ROUND 12
5 - Tom Papley
4 - George Hewett
3 - Aliir Aliir
2 - Lance Franklin
1 - Luke Parker

https://twitter.com/theswansblog/status/1137947792612085760

LEADERBOARD
23 - Luke Parker
20 - Aliir Aliir
19 - Josh Kennedy
16 - George Hewett
13 - Oliver Florent

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Justin Mitchell

Justin is a passionate AFL and Sydney Swans supporter, and football blogger since 2016. All articles are of his own opinion. You can reach him by twitter and Facebook at @theswansblog

Melbourne, Australia https://theswansblog.com

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