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