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Thread: Swans Out-gun Demons at Windy MCG

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    Swans Out-gun Demons at Windy MCG

    SWANS v DEMONS
    Cliff Hammond - 31 Aug 2003

    The Swans produced yet another 'Jekyll and Hyde' performance at the MCG before prevailing over a determined but out-gunned Melbourne team. In front of a meagre crowd of 22,969 dominated by the red-and-white, Sydney defeated Melbourne 14.10 to 9.6

    Sydney did only what it needed to yesterday, stumbling and bumbling through the first half of a largely forgettable encounter. The wind whipped through the gap where the Ponsford Stand once stood, causing players from both sides to struggle to hit targets all day. Kicking for goal was frequently a lottery in the flukey wind, and the Melbourne weather lived up to its reputation, providing rain and dense cloud followed almost immediately by glaring sunshine, making marking very difficult.

    Melbourne led by 11 points at half-time, thanks to some fine work by Scott Thompson in midfield, after the Swans managed just three goals for the whole of the first half. The Swans were struggling for goals largely because spearhead Barry Hall was being well held by Demons' youngster Nathan Carroll, who in only his seventh AFL game kept Hall goalless.

    Melbourne were kept in the game early in the third quarter when Sydney kicked four consecutive behinds into the wind. Enter Michael O'Loughlin to save the Swans once again. Firstly, sprinting into goal from a forward pocket, he produced a stroke of genius: a chip kick from the outside of his right foot, to set Paul Williams up for a goal to reduce the margin to a single point. Then Williams returned the favour at the 18-minute mark, and O'Loughlin's resulting goal gave the Swans the lead for the first time. Just three minutes later, O'Loughlin added another goal following a pass from Ryan O'Keefe, after a costly turnover from Daniel Ward.

    Nick Davis kicked two goals in the first two minutes of the final term and O'Loughlin topped off an impressive second half performance with two more goals.

    But only minutes after O'Loughlin had posted his fifth goal in his match-winning performance, Sydney's champion forward chased a wide pass from Barry Hall toward the Great Southern Stand - and the crowd groaned as he suddenly pulled up clutching his right hamstring. The remaining few minutes of the match went barely noticed as O'Loughlin was helped from the ground by a team of trainers and doctors, and the stunned crowd wondered if this meant the end of his (and possibly the Swans') season.

    Adam Goodes and Stephen Doyle were well beaten in the ruck duels - the Demons' pair of Jolly and Jamar had 51 hitouts between them - but Sydney still beat Melbourne in the middle through the determination of Nic Fosdike (game-high 27 possessions), Ben Mathews, Jude Bolton and Brett Kirk (who added Adem Yze to his list of scalps for the year). Despite finding it tough going in the ruck, Goodes dominated around the ground, although he picked up a niggling leg injury in the second half.

    For Melbourne, David Neitz could not cope with the combination of Andrew Schauble and the flukey wind and managed just two goals - Russell Robertson was thrashed by Craig Bolton. Scott Thompson was the only Demons' player to get more than 20 touches, 16 of which came in the first half.

    "We've just got to take it full on and enjoy it," said Sydney coach Paul Roos. "We have to take it the way we have been and not worry too much about the consequences. Our team plays very well when we run the ball, when we have a bit of flair and when we attack the footy. That's all we've got to worry about - playing our style of football and whatever happens will happen."

    Brad Seymour summed up the players' feelings about the O'Loughlin incident:

    "It's a shocking thing to watch. You feel pretty sick," said Seymour. "I don't know how bad it is, but it's obviously a huge blow for us. He's a magical player. He's our star. Definitely you want to feel happy about the game and we toughed it out, but it isn't a real nice note to end on."

    "It doesn't matter who's in and out of our team, and that's pretty important to the psyche of our team. If it turns out that he doesn't play next week, they'll be disappointed for Mick, but I've got no doubt they'll believe they can cover that loss," Roos added. "At this time of the year, I said to the guys, it's exciting to be involved in finals. We'll sit down on Monday and go through what that means and how the players will go about it. It's exciting, whatever happens."
    Last edited by RWO News; 31st August 2003 at 09:23 PM.

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