Player of the Year - Round 3, 2021

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 the previous form. The player with the highest number of votes at the end of the season wins. Simple.

Round 3 saw the Swans return to the MCG for the first time since 2019 to take on the Richmond Tigers on Saturday afternoon.

Richmond threatened to score early, but Sydney wrested control of the game and never relinquished the lead, running out 45-point winners.

Sydney's small forward line of Tom Papley, Sam Wicks, and Errol Gulden was superb, kicking 7-goals between them, while Sam Reid, Hayden McLean, Isaac Heeney, and Logan McDonald couldn't be quelled.

Midfielder-come-forward star Isaac Heeney booted the goal of the game from the pocket in the third quarter to quash any hope of a Richmond comeback, while Wicks' 2nd goal of the match after the siren blew the Swans lead out to 40 points.

On a superb 30-degree April day in Melbourne, the only thing brighter than the sun was the Cygnet's giving the Tigers a thorough declawing.

Chad Warner (20 disposals, 2 goals) was a force in midfield again, while co-captains Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, and Dane Rampe lead the side brilliantly.

Ruck recruit Tom Hickey continued his stunning start to the season with 15 hit-outs and 2 goals, but it was his influence in the ruck that utterly dominated the Tigers.

Three-time premiership ruck and former Swan, Toby Nankervis, simply couldn't get near the ball in centre contests, with Tom Hickey dishing the ball on a platter to his midfield brigade, namely Josh Kennedy.

Hickey's 2 intercept marks and a goal in the first quarter were some of the major reasons why the Swans were able to establish a lead early on.

VOTES ROUND 3
5 - Sam Wicks
4 - Tom Hickey
3 - Callum Mills
2 - Tom Papley
1 - George Hewett

LEADERBOARD
9 - Callum Mills
8 - Errol Gulden
6 - Tom Hickey
5 - Chad Warner
5 - Jake Lloyd
3 - Braeden Campbell

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.

dismiss x

Since you're here...

... we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading The Swans Blog than ever, but we don't accept advertising, and don't want to do so in the future. Unlike many other news and media organisations, fan forums and fan media, we haven't put up a paywall, or displayed ads - we want to keep our content as open as possible.

The Swans Blog is an independent fan blog and community platform. Our content takes a lot of time and hard work to produce. We do it because we love what we do and we believe our perspective matters - because it may be your perspective too.

If everyone who reads our blog, who likes it, is supporting it, our future would be much more secure.

Make a one-off contribution →

Want instant access to the latest blog and news content from The Swans Blog?
Download our Android App from Google Play today.

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

Subscribe to The Swans Blog

Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox.

or subscribe via RSS with Feedly!