Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

The MCG has brought Sydney undone in September for the ninth straight time in a streak dating back to 1936, following a 51-point loss to St Kilda in the second semi-final at on Friday night.

The Swans, playing their second successive final in wet conditions after winning in the torrential rain and lightning in Sydney last week, simply ran out of legs and fit players against a St Kilda side determined not to go out of the finals in "straight sets" after its brilliant home and away season.


After being so thoroughly overwhelmed and intimidated in Brisbane last week, Saints coach Grant Thomas recalled experienced players Stephen Powell and Justin Peckett for the knock-out semi-final against the Swans and the decision proved a masterstroke.

Along with the Saints' oldest player in 33-year-old Robert Harvey and fellow veteran Andrew Thompson, the pair set the standard for the Saints' ferocious attack on the ball in the second quarter when Thomas' team put their stamp on the game after a slow start.

After just one goal in the opening term the Saints booted four goals to two in the second term to go in at half-time with an eight point lead and already the Swans were looking in trouble with key running players Paul Williams (corked thigh) and Ben Mathews (ankle) off the ground injured.

And the Saints put the game beyond doubt with a brilliant opening to the third term and it was Peckett who kick-started it with a fantastic goal on the run. Then, when Steven Baker and Stephen Milne goaled immediately afterwards, the Saints had a match-winning 26 point lead in the slippery conditions.

The Swans launched one last bid to get back into the match and three quick goals to Jason Ball, Michael O'Loughlin and Jude Bolton - after a 50 metre penalty - saw them get within 11 points at the 26 minute mark.

However any hope the Swans had of breaking their MCG finals drought soon disappeared when Milne goaled again from what appeared a soft holding free against Paul Bevan and then Nick Dal Santo goaled right on the three-quarter-time siren to ensure the Saints went in at the last change with a four goal lead.

It was more than enough against a tiring Swans side and with O'Loughlin also showing signs of injury in the final term they just did not have the firepower to get back into the game.

With Barry Hall well beaten by Max Hudghton and Adam Goodes struggling against Jason Blake - who was a real surprise packet for the Saints and not only performed a great blanketing job on Goodes but also had a hand in several goals - the Swans just could not kick goals.

But at the other end, with the marvelous Harvey continually forcing the ball forward, the Saints had no trouble as 2004 Coleman Medalist Fraser Gehrig booted four last quarter goals to finish the Swans off.

Gehrig finished the game with six goals to take his season's tally to 98 and he will have the chance to bring up his first century of goals in next week's preliminary final.

He was ably supported by Nick Riewoldt, who was a constant menace across centre-half-forward in providing the kind of marking target the Swans lacked so badly at the other, as well as the lively Milne - who booted four goals to totally justify his recall to the side.

And considering that Milne, Powell and Peckett - the three players recalled to the side this week - all starred in the win it could well be argued that the Saints' team selections on Thursday night played a significant factor in the club's first finals victory for seven years.

Sydney coach Paul Roos said his side needed everything going right for them if they were to win against St Kilda, but he conceded it didn't turn out that way.

"I don't want to take anything away from St Kilda - they're a very good side - but it does (make it difficult). You just find yourself shuffling names and numbers and you can't do the things you normally would do," Roos said post-match.

"How much (that affects you) in terms of goals and points, it's very, very difficult to translate into how much on the scoreboard, but it is difficult when you've got two quality midfielders down and we rotate our midfield, obviously, very regularly.

"It does have a massive impact on what you're really trying to do."

St Kilda: 1.4 5.6 10.9 16.11 (107)
Sydney: 2.3 4.4 7.4 8.8 (56)

Goals: St Kilda: Gehrig 6, Milne 4, Baker, Ball, Dal Santo, Koschitzke, Peckett, Riewoldt
Sydney: Hall 2, Ball, J.Bolton, Buchanan, Nicks, O'Keefe, O'Loughlin
Best: St Kilda: Riewoldt, Gehrig, Jones, Harvey, Dal Santo, Thompson, Powell, Peckett, Ball, Blake, Hayes
Sydney: J.Bolton, Maxfield, Kirk, Buchanan, Ball, Crouch
Injuries: St Kilda:
Sydney: Mathews (ankle), O'Loughlin (corked thigh), Williams (corked thigh)
Changes: St Kilda: Black replaced in selected side by Guerra
Sydney: Nil
Reports:
Umpires: Allan, McLaren, McInerney
Crowd: 50,671 at MCG

All-Australian glory for Hall, Kirk and Barry - AFL - www.smh.com.au

All-Australian glory for Hall, Kirk and Barry - AFL - www.smh.com.au

All-Australian talent is now sprinkled throughout the Sydney Swans, with defender Leo Barry, forward Barry Hall and midfielder Brett Kirk all selected yesterday in the 2004 side.

Swans coach Paul Roos said the selections were indicative of rising standards at the club. Swans utility Adam Goodes, a joint Brownlow medallist, and midfielder Paul Williams were selected in the All-Australian side last year.

"I think it's fantastic, it's great for the club," Roos said, "and to have players selected in defence, the midfield and forward, it's really good to have one of each. Their selection in the All-Australian team is a credit to all their teammates and the coaching staff.

"Hally, Leo and Kirky, they've all had good seasons back to back. They were perhaps a bit stiff to miss out last year. Our talent level is rising and their selection is a good indication of that."

Players were selected from 12 of the 16 AFL clubs but this season's top eight teams - Port Adelaide, Brisbane, St Kilda, Geelong, Melbourne, Sydney, West Coast and Essendon - supplied the majority of the team, with 18 representatives among them. Brisbane, the defending premiers and favourites for the flag this year, had five players, with Jason Akermanis and Nigel Lappin picked as All-Australians for the fourth time.

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Defender Tadhg Kennelly said yesterday he was proud of his Sydney teammates' achievements.

"It's a good year," he said. "Last year we had two. It just shows the progress of the team.

"It's good to know . . . that playing down back with Leo [Barry] you helped in some way to get there. It's the same with all the boys playing midfield or playing in the forward line to help them get an All-Australian. It's great."

Kennelly said confidence among the side was high and that playing Richmond in round 22 at the MCG had been good preparation for Friday's night semi-final against St Kilda at the ground.

"It was great for us, just getting familiar with the size of the ground," Kennelly said. "I don't think St Kilda has played a whole lot there [the MCG] this year. They've only played three times, they are used to Telstra Dome. It's good."

West Coast forward Ashley Sampi's high-leaping chest mark against Melbourne in round seven was named mark of the year.

Brisbane also had cause to celebrate last night after key forward Jonathan Brown was cleared to play in the finals.

Brown was reported for rough play against St Kilda's Jason Blake at the Gabba last Friday night but the tribunal ruled such a charge could not be sustained, as play had stopped before the umpire laid the report.

Field umpire Stephen McBurney confirmed he had laid the charge after the quarter-time siren had sounded. Brown's defence advocate, Sean Carroll, asked the tribunal, "How can a player be involved in an act of rough play if there's no play taking place?"

Earlier, Geelong forward Kent Kingsley was suspended for one week for striking Port Adelaide's Chad Cornes. Kingsley will miss Saturday's semi-final against Essendon at the MCG.

2004 ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM: Backs: C Johnson (Bris) M Scarlett (Geel) L Barry (Syd).
Half-backs: A Jones (SK) C Cornes (Port) A McPhee (Ess).
Centres: N Lappin (Bris) S Black (Bris) C Judd (WC).
Half-forwards: J Akermanis (Bris) W Tredrea (Port) N Riewoldt (SK).
Forwards: B Hall (Syd) F Gehrig (SK) L Power (Bris).
Followers: J White (Melb) M Ricciuto (Adel).
Rover: S West (WB).
Interchange: J Clement (Coll) C Fletcher (WC) B Kirk (Syd) M Lappin (Carl)

Rising Star

The Border Mail
Rivers riding success wave

Melbourne key defender Jared Rivers celebrates his Rising Star success yesterday.



AFL Rising Star winner Jared Rivers attributed his runaway victory in the award to his junior playing days, which included playing in a senior premiership as a raw teenager in country South Australia.

The Melbourne defender was the unanimous choice of judges yesterday, the leagues best young player polling the maximum votes ahead of team-mate Aaron Davey, with Brisbanes Richard Hadley third.

Rivers won top marks from all nine judges on the 5-4-3-2-1 basis to poll 45 votes and finish well clear of Davey (26), Hadley (20) and the Western Bulldogs Adam Cooney and Sydneys Paul Bevan, who were equal-fourth on 17 votes.

Rivers has played 21 matches this season, mainly at centre half-back, and lined up on some of the biggest forwards in Port Adelaides Warren Tredrea and St Kildas Nick Riewoldt.

That a 19-year-old can perform well in such a key position is remarkable, but Rivers has taken on bigger and older opponents most of his life, from when his parents sneaked him into the juniors as a five-year-old to when he played in a senior grand final aged just 15.

“I played a lot of senior footy back home in North Adelaide and also at Port Augusta,” he said.

“I think, and playing centre half-back, you need to know a fair bit about the game and reading the game, so Id say that was my main attribute.”

Still, he learnt how difficult an opponent Riewoldt the 2002 Rising Star was in round 15, when the big Saint kicked five goals in a half and nine for the day.

“Just the size how tall he is and the size and strength and the way he moves, which is just incredible for his size,” Rivers said.

“Hes so young as well so Ive just got to try and match him in that kind of area and work and improve on that and hopefully be as good a player as he is one day.”

Rivers had his parents, Donna and Peter, by his side when he was named the winner, and they will stay on for the weekend to watch him play Essendon in Saturdays elimination final at the MCG.

His parents also flew over to witness their sons first AFL match against Geelong late last season, when he did not get a touch.

Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club
Sydney Swans midfielder Paul Williams believes his team has all the tools necessary for a successful September campaign.

The Swans are in a semi-final against St Kilda next week after a comfortable 41-point victory over the West Coast Eagles, a result that continued a recent run of good form and yet again highlighted their evenness across the park and ability to win the footy in close.


"We're pretty happy with the way things are going. The brand of footy that we do play is conducive to finals footy," Williams said at the club's swim session at Coogee beach on Sunday.

"It's a contested brand and we do stack up reasonably well in the big games. Everything is looking okay."

"There's no secret to the way we play, we rely heavily on every player that goes out there. We do need the 22 guys contributing and we don't have a Michael Voss, Simon Black in our side, we've got a lot of honest, hard goers."

Despite the mauling the Saints received at the hands of the Brisbane Lions in Friday night's Qualifying Final, Williams doesn't expect that result to have any impact on their opponents' capacity to be at their best next weekend.

"I don't think they'll be any softer by it. I've got no doubt that they are going to be as hard as ever and with a game like that - it happened to us when we played Port this year - you've just got to dismiss those ones and get on the track for next week."

"We're all professional enough to realise that they'll just dismiss that straight away. It'll be just a normal hard, contested final. There'll be no extra venom on either side I wouldn't think."

Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club

The Sydney Swans' September ambitions are very much alive after their 41-point demolition of the West Coast Eagles at Telstra Stadium.

The Swans totally outclassed their West Australian opponents, putting the contest beyond doubt with a five-goal-to-nil second term and going on to claim a deserved 11.9 (75) to 4.10 (34) victory.


The 40,282 fans in attendance on Saturday night were treated to a vintage performance by the home side - unrelenting in the clinches, potent in attack and suffocating down back.

The result earns them a semi-final at the MCG next weekend against what will be a shell-shocked St Kilda, likely to be held on Friday night.

It represents a terrific opportunity for the Swans to become only the second side since this top eight formula was introduced to progress to a preliminary final from the bottom part of the eight.

Also, the Swans are on the opposite side of the draw to the all-conquering Brisbane Lions.

While Brisbane made the remaining premiership aspirants shiver with their demolition of St Kilda, the Swans, like the bolts of lightning that flashed across the ground during a rain-swept second quarter, have sent shockwaves of a similar magnitude with this performance.

The forward line trio of Barry Hall, Michael O'Loughlin and Adam Goodes each kicked two goals, as did Craig Bolton.

It was an unrelenting wave of red and white shirts that commanded the footy at the clearances, Paul Williams leading the charge with 25 touches.

At the other end, Matthew Nicks totally shut out small forward Phillip Matera, who managed only three handballs in four quarters of footy.

The Swans defence was superb throughout, with the Eagles not kicking a goal in both the second and final quarters.

The September agony continues for John Worsfold, who maintains his winless finals record after first-round exits in 2002 and 2003.

West Coast's achilles heel in those losses was an inability to score, with eight goals against Adelaide last year and 11 against the Bombers in 2002 patently inadequate returns.

It was beset by a similar problem on this occasion, the likes of Phil Matera (3 possessions), Andrew McDougall (3) and Mark Seaby (3) simply unable to provide a contest, let alone get their hands on the footy.

It was also West Coast's lowest ever finals score, eclipsing its effort of 7.9 (58) against the Western Bulldogs in the 1998 Qualifying Final.

The Eagles have also lost 10 of their last 12 finals.

It was a tight opening, with the teams intent on establishing 18 one-on-one contests across the ground.

The home side trailed by three points at the opening break but earned themselves a significant 30-point edge at the main interval courtesy of its imposing second-term of five goals, with the Eagles not adding to their quarter-time tally of 2.5 in the second quarter.

With rain starting to fall heavily and thunder claps reverberating around the ground, the Swans stunned their opponents into submission, winning the footy from the clearances and giving their forwards plenty of time and space to work with.

O'Loughlin kicked two goals and had seven possessions in the second quarter, proving too fast and nimble for Daniel Chick.

The soap-like footy didn't pose any problem, with the Swans brilliant in getting the footy to a team mate by hand or by foot.

Also, wet-weather footy requires players to run in a straight line and get their bodies behind the ball. Sydney did that like it was the most normal thing in the world whereas their opponents were never able to come to terms with the concept.

The Eagles put up a bit more of a fight in the second term, Chris Judd posting two goals in quick succession and reducing the lead to 26 points, but the Swans had all the answers.

Sydney coach Paul Roos was more than satisfied with his players' efforts.

"If I had to pick someone out it would be Matthew Nicks. Early on he really set the tone for the team and made it really hard for Phil Matera to get hold of it and when he did he tackled him," Roos said.

"Sometimes you need a guy to set a standard for a game and I think he did that."

"(Paul Williams effort on Chris Judd) was critical to the result of the game. It's always a balance when you are playing on a really good player do you put an attacking type but 'Willo' is a very good defensive midfielder as well, so tonight the move worked out and he made it work out.

"I think to keep a team like that to four goals is pretty impressive particularly when they kicked two in the first quarter with the talent that they have got to keep a team like that to four goals in a final is a fantastic effort."

Eagles coach John Worsfold thought his team's poor ball use was the main reason it was eliminated from the finals race.

"To be bundled of the finals is disappointing, and we got bundled out because we made poor skill errors. Our skills were below what they need to be to beat a side like Sydney tonight," Worsfold said.

"We made a lot of unforced skill errors, so I wouldn't put that down to Sydney's pressure. Both teams made pressured errors, but we made more unforced errors."

On the club's future, Worsfold said: "We've got a pretty exciting young squad. We're extremely excited with the squad, the way it's played the second half of the season and we think they are good enough to improve and carry on."

"I'm not sitting here ruing the fact that we weren't good enough tonight because that is a fact and we'll just work harder to get better."

Sydney Swans: 2.2 7.5 9.8 11.9 (75)
West Coast Eagles: 2.5 2.5 4.8 4.10 (34)

Goals: Sydney Swans: C Bolton, O'Loughlin, Goodes, Hall 2, O'Keefe, Schneider, Buchanan 1
West Coast Eagles: Judd 2, Banfield, Sampi 1
Best: Sydney Swans: Williams, Nicks, C Bolton, Barry, O'Loughlin, Goodes, Hall, Kennelly, Matthews
West Coast Eagles: Fletcher, Judd, Cox, Banfield
Injuries: Sydney Swans: None
West Coast Eagles: None
Reports: None
Umpires: Allan, McInerney, Vozzo
Crowd: 40,282 at Telstra Stadium, Sydney