Semi Final 2: Ainslie Tricolours v Sydney Swans Reserves

**ugg** · 3rd September 2010, 06:46 PM

AFL Canberra Semi Final 2
Ainslie Tricolours v Sydney Swans Reserves
Saturday 4th September 2010 2.00pm
Manuka Oval

After missing out last year in somewhat dramatic circumstances, the Reserves will once again compete in the AFL Canberra finals series. They have a fantastic record having converted their past 4 Finals appearances into Premierships. Having surged to an almost unassailable lead on top of the ladder midway through the season, injuries have hit the team hard and they have just fallen over the line to claim the minor premiership

Final Regular Season Ladder

Team	Wins	Losses	Draws	Points	For	Against	Percentage
Reserves	11	6	1	46	1962	1596	125.05%
Ainslie	10	7	1	42	1675	1416	118.29%
Eastlake	9	9	0	36	1582	1536	102.99%
Queanbeyan	9	9	0	36	1683	1786	94.23%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belconnen	8	10	0	32	1498	1596	93.86%
Tuggeranong	6	12	0	24	1350	1847	73.09%

Past Meetings
2010
R3 Reserves 21.19 (145) defeated Ainslie 15.12 (102) @ Sydney Cricket Ground

Patty Veszpremi kicked 5 and Lewis Johnston and Trent Dennis-Lane 4 each as the Reserves overturned a 21 point half time deficit to win comfortably by 43 points. Dylan McNeil and Mike Pyke were the Swans' best players.

R7 Ainslie 6.14 (50) drew with Reserves 7.8 (50) @ Ainslie Oval

A low-scoring affair in tough conditions. A few in-game injuries allowed Ainslie to come back in the last quarter and take away 2 points. Brett Meredith kicked 3 in a best on ground performance, Daniel Currie was superb rucking the whole game and Ed Barlow provided drive from the half-back line

R13 Ainslie 18.12 (120) defeated Reserves 7.11 (53) @ Ainslie Oval

Ainslie handed the Reserves their biggest loss of the year. The 12 listed players battled manfully in the first half to trail by 9 points. However they struggled in the second half allowing Ainslie to kick away with a 12 goals to 3 second half. Lewis Johnston was the only multiple goalkicker for the Swans with 2. The Swans only named 3 in the their best players - Sam Reid, Nathan Gordon and Dylan McNeil

R17 Reserves 9.7 (61) defeated by Ainslie 12.11 (83) @ Sydney Cricket Ground

Just 9 listed players participated and they put on a strong defensive showing, restricting Ainslie to only 6 goals at three quarter time. However, Ainslie kicked another 6 in the last quarter to pull away quite comfortably. Tall forwards Sam Reid and Lewis Johnston kicked 3 each. Reid, Nathan Gordon and Dylan McNeil were ajudged to be the better Swans.

2009
R3 Reserves 16.15 (111) defeated Ainslie 17.6 (108) @ Sydney Cricket Ground
R7 Ainslie 17.13 (111) defeated Reserves 13.8 (86) @ Manuka Oval
R13 Reserves 19.23 (137) defeated Ainslie 12.11 (83) @ Sydney Cricket Ground

Recent Form
Ainslie - LWWWL
Reserves - WLLLL

Last Round
Belconnen 15.15 (105) defeated Reserves 11.7 (73)
Another depleted Reserves team could not match a Belconnen side desperate to sneak into Finals contention. Trailing by 42 points at 3 quarter time, the side managed to reduce the gap to 32 points in the last quarter. Campbell Heath kicked 3 goals after being moved forward. Heath, Dylan McNeil and Matthew O'Dwyer were the top 3 placegetters on the best list

Ainslie 9.13 (67) defeated by Eastlake 10.12 (72)

Team List (number of 2010 AFL Canberra games in brackets)
Listed players

10. Daniel Currie [16]
13. Patty Veszpremi [15]
19. Daniel Bradshaw [1]
22. Byron Sumner [13]
23. Lewis Johnston [17]
27. Kristin Thornton [7]
28. Dylan McNeil [17]
35. Campbell Heath [12]
36. Chris McKaigue [16]
43. Matthew O'Dwyer [12]
45. Nathan Gordon [18]

In: Veszpremi (Travelling senior emergency), Thornton (injury)
Out: Taylor Gilchrist (injury?)

The Vespa returns after 2 non-playing weeks as a senior emergency. Thornton has missed the past 5 rounds with a hamstring injury

Scholarship Players

47. Blake Guthrie [9]
48. Jackson Potter [10]

In: Potter
Out: Nathan Kenny, Mitch May

Top ups

44. Lachlan Felsman [1] (Tuggeranong)
50. Mal Fernie (Tuggeranong)
51. Kieran Emery [9] (North Shore)
52. Tim Cleaver (Tuggeranong)
53. Sam Trevillian (Tuggeranong)
54. Khai McPherson [2] (Tuggeranong)
55. Josh Cameron (?)
56. Jerome Farrell [2] (Balmain Dockers)
57. Rohan Bates [1] (Balmain Dockers)

Reserves leading goalkickers

Lewis Johnston 38 (17 games)
Trent Dennis-Lane 37 (11 games)
Pat Veszpremi 24 (15 games)

For full list: 2010 Goalkickers - RWOwiki

Reserves leading votegetters

Sam Reid 39 (16 games)
Dylan McNeil 36 (17 games)
Daniel Currie 34 (16 games)

For full list: 2010 Best votes - RWOwiki

Talking points

Bradshaw - They will not only require a big haul from Big Guns, but hopefully he can play the majority of the game as there are only 22 players in total named thus far.
McNeil - Likely to be tagged by Rob Shirley again, we will need him to win his fair share of clearances to give our defence some chance of holding out Ainslie's forwards.
O'Dwyer - Recently re-discovered his mojo and rewarded with a place in the emergency list. One area which the Swans should look to exploit is their superior fitness. Players like MOD, Heath and McKaigue will need to run hard and set up play from the halfback line.

Summary
If were we to tally up a form table of the last month of football, the Reserves would be dead last having dropped all 4 games. However, despite their poor recent form and limited number of players the Swans are not without a fighting chance of causing a boilover. The fledging plans for victory can be derived from their last outing against Ainslie 2 weeks ago. Despite having just 9 listed players on the day, the Swans led at 3 quarter time before falling away in the last quarter. They applied great pressure in the midfield and combined with some desperate defensive efforts in their own half thwarted many of Ainslie's forward surges.

On the offensive end, the Swans had troubles of their own with a lot of turnovers occuring in the transition from defence to offence. Their inability to convert their period of dominance in the 2nd and 3rd quarters into a big lead was one reason for the loss. With Bradshaw and Veszpremi joining Johnston in attack (and perhaps cameos from 3-goal hero Heath or regular top-up Emery), the Swans will field a more potent attack this time round and hopefully will be enough to get them over the line.

The winner will progress to the Grand Final, to be played in two weeks time. The loser will play the winner of Semi Final 1 Eastlake vs Queanbeyan

**Nich** · 3rd September 2010, 06:57 PM

Thanks ugg - great work! You're a machine.

**Big Al** · 3rd September 2010, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by Nich

Thanks ugg - great work! You're a machine.

Bugger, Uggs secret has been revealed.

**liz** · 3rd September 2010, 07:04 PM

Probably not a bad thing for the team to lose this weekend. (Chances are they will anyway). Means they will get a game next weekend, which could be significant if the seniors win.

(And if the seniors don't win, players like Rohan and Reid may well go back and play out the finals series with the reserves.)

**Primmy** · 3rd September 2010, 11:59 PM

Isn't it great to see Krisso's name!! Its been a whole year! Saw him at training and said good luck.....so I guess I was!
I didn't see Taylor Gilchrist at training, so perhaps injury.
Having Emery back may prove an important move for this game. He is an improving forward, and a big unit.
HOWever, avalook at the number of games the rest of the toppies have played with us! Nada!! bugger.

You are reaching legendary status ugg.

**Jesse Richards** · 4th September 2010, 11:39 AM

If you are going to Manuka, make sure you go on Saturday at 2pm, not Sunday. Have heard that a Swans text went out saying it was on Sunday... Hope our guys turn up today.

It;s cat and dogs in Canberra today so it will be a mudbath. Hope Bradshaw survives it.