the football blog

THE SWANS have thrashed
Hawthorn by 72 points in an awesome display of pressure football at the SCG. The
result guarantees them seventh place on the ladder and an elimination final
against Collingwood next week.

The victory was set up by a
dominant first half when the Swans scored 14 goals to three. The final score
was 22.9 (135) to 10.9 (69).

The Hawks scored the
contest’s first major after just 45 seconds,beckham galaxy shirt, but that only triggered a stunning
goal avalanche from the Swans who led by 71 at the main break.

Nick Davis
starred with four goals in the forward pocket. Adam Goodes was also impressive
while Michael O’Loughlin was equally brilliant with four majors.

This was backed up by
excellent contributions from Ryan O’Keefe, Ben Mathews and returning backman
Leo Barry in conjunction with Spida Everitt in the ruck.

Defender Teddy Richards
did well in keeping the dangerous Jarryd Roughhead quiet in the Hawks
forward line and young Ed ‘Cheese’ Barlow, in only his third senior AFL game,
was poised at both ends of the ground.

Lewis Roberts-Thomson came
in for his first game of the year and looked right at home. Spearhead Barry
Hall was rested but he was barely missed.

After conceding the first
major of the game, the Swans booted the next five goals in 13 minutes to stun
the Hawks. It was a perfect quarter of fluid footy by the home side who
pressured the man on the ball and used the football intelligently.

Thirteen Swans had five
possessions or more in a quarter that was dominated by Swans’ pressure on the
man. However, profligate finishing from Adam Schneider meant the margin was
only 28 points going into the first break.

But the second quarter was
a ‘Bloods’ bath. Davis ran amok in the forward line as the Swans
enjoyed a nine-goal second quarter. The highlight of Davis’ three-goal quarter
came after 13 minutes when he pulled down a brilliant mark inside 50 and goaled.

Davis was also provider.
Inside the 50m mark,liverpool man city, he marked well and drilled a low pass that was taken on
the chest by O’Loughlin for another major as the Swans ran away with it.
Further goals to Ryan O’Keefe, Nick Malceski and Ted Richards maintained the
home side’s dominance.

The Hawks came out firing
in the second half,manutd shirt, booting six goals to four.

Sydney’s defensive pressure
eased off as the Hawks got themselves back into the contest. But Jared Crouch �C
in his 201st game �C booted home from just inside the 50m right in front to keep the
lead at 57 points.

In the final term, it took
11 minutes for either side to score. And it was the Swans who did so first
when good work from O’Loughlin allowed young Barlow to take a contested
mark just in front of the goal square and kick his first-ever AFL goal.
The crowd went wild for the kid from Bega.

A Malceski bomb took the
lead back to 70 points after 16 minutes and with just minutes left, Goodes set
up McVeigh to score his first major for the game.

O’Loughlin, with a piece of
superb skill,shop inter milan, ended the game with an amazing goal. Wriggling past three
defenders right in front of the behind post,roma soccer club, he kicked his fourth major.

SYDNEY 5.6 14.8
18.8 22.9 (141)

HAWTHORN 1.2 3.3
9.5 10.9 (69)

GOALS

Sydney: N Davis 4 M
O’Loughlin 4 R O’Keefe 3 J Crouch 2 N Malceski 2 P Bevan B Mathews A Goodes T
Richards L Ablett E Barlow J McVeigh.

Hawthorn: B Dixon 2 S Taylor 2 L
Franklin T Boyle R Ladson L Hodge C Brown J Roughead.

BEST

Sydney: A Goodes R
O’Keefe B Kirk C Bolton N Davis L Barry P Everitt M O’Loughlin.

Hawthorn: S Crawford R Vandenberg J
Lewis S Mitchell.

Umpires: S McBurney M Stevic S McInerney

Official crowd: 27,498 at the
SCG.