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Round 23 – Sydney v Carlton: No bridge too far

 

No Bridge Too Far

Sydney versus Carlton
4:35pm, Saturday 26 August
SCG, Sydney

Daniel Saunders (age 15)

 

The Swans have all but sewn up a spot in the finals, and whatever the result they cannot drop below 6th. What a season for the Bloods. Arguably the best team in the league, and after a horror opening month-and-a-half, we have lost just two games since then, to a team who will not be featuring in finals in Hawthorn. What could possibly go wrong?

 

The answer is a lot. In a lot of cases, the last round has produced a lot of upsets, and halted a team’s momentum. Sometimes, things that were expected to pan out a certain way end up not doing so, and in this season, the most topsy-turvy season in history, the possibilities are endless. We have already seen Collingwood defeat Melbourne, and those finals hope the Dees fans had are out of their hands now.

 

Despite this game looking like a cakewalk on paper, I am not so sure. They are the last team to beat us other than the Hawks, and the time before that, we beat them by a solitary goal, and I sat in the stands sighing a breath of relief. Who knows what they could dish up today? They have a plethora of talented youngsters like Boekhurst, Curnow and SPS (Sam Petrevski-Seton). The Swans have been known to drop the odd game in the final round, so who knows what we will dish up today.

 

We cannot afford to take the foot off the gas now; there is so much at stake, as well as a top-four spot! We start quite well, with Tippett kicking the first after getting his own tap, but our complete and utter dominance is not showing on the scoreboard. Young Boekhurst scores the first for the Blues, and all of a sudden, we are leading by just 16 points at the first change.

 

In the second quarter, things go from good to bad when Tippett and Sinclair find themselves on the bench with crotchety ankles. Kreuzer starts to dominate Towers and Parker (don’t even ask why they are backing up). And this is where Carlton started to get on top. Charlie Curnow hits the scoreboard. Murphy and Docherty keep finding the footy. Simpson is a brick wall down back, and Boekhurst, who I rate very highly right now, is providing them with the X-factor.

 

Late in the second term, the Blues are within a kick of us, and we are still mucking around. But we eventually find Hayward in the goalsquare, who is yet to touch the ball, but he puts it through the sticks on the half-time siren. Buddy has been good so far without exceeding expectations, but we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. I think Buddy will eventually roll over the top of Carlton.

 

After the break, Hayward manages to get his second, from just his second touch. Looks like he has good kicking efficiency. This is where Buddy turns it on. He kicks his fourth after dropping a mark in the goalsquare, but the ball falls into the back of his foot.

 

Late in the term, the ball spills out the back of the pack, and it looks like a rushed behind. But for a split second, crowd favourite Gary Rohan just enters the frame. That’s all he needs to soccer the ball through. He ends up over the fence. He’s too quick for his own good! Buddy then kicks his fifth on the run, and Hayward gets another.

 

The margin is good right now, but we are yet to see the best. Within the first 30 seconds of the last, Kennedy crashes through and blasts the goal. Things only get worse for Liam Jones, who gets pinged for a deliberate out of bounds, and Buddy squeezes it through for number seven. He then follows up with two more, and soon, the ball comes in the Buddy direction again. He stays down, crumbs and goals. His second bag of 10, and first for the Swans.

 

Looks like the first half was just us messing around. We finish 81 point victors. In Dennis Armfield’s last game, we have routed his team, and taught Liam Jones a little bit of a lesson when playing on Franklin. In the end, it was very exciting for us Swans fans. Sure, we will probably end up in sixth position, but who cares? We have already shown the class that we have; why can’t we go all the way? Four wins on the trot is definitely a feasible task. If I haven’t said it enough, I will say it again. CARN THE MIGHTY BLOODS!

 

SYDNEY       3.4   6.7  13.10  21.12 (138)
CARLTON     1.0   5.1    8.4     8.9 (57)

 

GOALS
Sydney: 
Franklin 10, Rohan 3, Hayward 3, Tippett, Reid, Kennedy, Newman, Heeney
Carlton: Boekhorst 3, Curnow 2, Pickett, Kreuzer, Casboult

BEST 
Sydney: 
Franklin, Kennedy, Grundy, Parker, Jones, Newman
Carlton: Murphy, Weitering, Gibbs, Simpson, Kreuzer

UMPIRES: Chamberlain, Gavine, Mitchell                         CROWD: 38,965

Our Votes: Franklin (Syd) 3, Parker (Syd) 2, Jones (Syd) 1

About Daniel Saunders

Yes, that's my Swans hoodie. Yes, those are swans in London. If you're reading this, I hope you enjoyed the ramble.

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