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Swans in strife as Magic limps off
By James MacSmith at the MCG
August 31, 2003
The Sun-Herald
SYDNEY 14.10 (94)
MELBOURNE 9.6 (60)
As the Swans limped into the finals with a lacklustre win over lowly Melbourne yesterday, key forward "Magic" Michael O'Loughlin limped off with a hamstring tear that could end their premiership campaign.
O'Loughlin, who has been a dominant force in Sydney's spectacular success this year, spearheaded the Swans' victory with five goals before being helped off the ground at the 25-minute mark of the final quarter.
He clutched his right hamstring and pulled up after chasing the ball in the Swans' forward pocket, and after an already injury-disrupted season is only a 50-50 prospect to play in the first round of the finals next weekend.
The injury took much of the gloss off a confidence-building but scrappy Sydney win. But coach Paul Roos and captain Stuart Maxfield were still upbeat about their chances in the finals, with or without the goalscoring whiz.
Club doctor Nathan Gibbs said the extent of O'Loughlin's injury would be known after a scan tomorrow.
"I can tell you straight away it's not a bad hammy tear," Gibbs said. "It's in the minor degree in terms of hammy tears. It's a grade-one tear - the scan will tell us how bad a grade-one tear it is. He hasn't ruptured it or anything like that and it's not a hammy that needs surgery.
"I really can't say at this stage whether he will play next weekend. The worst-case scenario is he won't play next week."
The Swans need Adelaide to beat Port Adelaide today to finish fifth and secure a home semi-final against Essendon. If Port win, the Swans will finish fourth and play Port away in the first final.
Starting slowly once again yesterday, Sydney were outclassed by Melbourne in the first two quarters, but their persistence was rewarded with 11 goals to four in the second half.
The Swans led by four points at three-quarter-time and three goals from Nick Davis in the first 12 minutes of the last quarter sealed the game for them.
It was not a finals-type performance early, but Maxfield said they would be buoyed by the way they ruthlessly destroyed Melbourne late in the match, in contrast to their spirit-sapping loss to Collingwood the previous week.
"We needed to get a bit of respect back after last week," Maxfield said.
"We weren't hard enough at the footy last week and I think today we rectified the problem.
"It's often difficult to play sides in their last game when they're not in the finals - they like to go out on a high with a win.
"I thought it was a great contest. We just kept chipping away and the character of the guys showed.
"We kept sticking to our game plan and we reaped the rewards in the second half. It was an ideal preparation for the finals after last week [when] we were disappointed with our effort.
"Today was better than going out there and winning by 20 goals. It was a tough, hard contest, real tight for the first two quarters and in the second half the boys were able to get a bit of confidence and a bit of momentum going into next week."
The form of Nic Fosdike, who collected a game-high 27 possessions, was a plus for the Swans, as was the return from injury of Stephen Doyle and Brad Seymour.
Captain David Neitz tried hard for Melbourne but could manage only 2.2 in the blustery conditions.
The Swans trailed 3.1 (19) to 1.2 (8) at quarter-time and 5.4 (34) to 3.5 (23) at the long break.
They hit the front in the 27th minute of the third quarter with O'Loughlin's fourth goal and never looked back.
"Mick [O'Loughlin] has been terrific this year, there's no doubt about that," Roos said. "He's been very good on a limited preparation.
"But we can't focus on that [his injury]. We've lost Jason Ball and Jason Saddington and no one said we could win after that but we've proved we're resilient. I was rapt in the players the way they responded at half-time. I was really happy with the performance.
"We knew it was going to be tough, particularly in the windy conditions. It was always going to be scrappy.
"Two of the best teams in the competition played last night [Essendon and Collingwood] and it was a scrappy game and with the wind it was the same today. You know you're not going to win by 10 goals . . . you're not going to blow teams away. It's just a grind, and that's what we did."
By James MacSmith at the MCG
August 31, 2003
The Sun-Herald
SYDNEY 14.10 (94)
MELBOURNE 9.6 (60)
As the Swans limped into the finals with a lacklustre win over lowly Melbourne yesterday, key forward "Magic" Michael O'Loughlin limped off with a hamstring tear that could end their premiership campaign.
O'Loughlin, who has been a dominant force in Sydney's spectacular success this year, spearheaded the Swans' victory with five goals before being helped off the ground at the 25-minute mark of the final quarter.
He clutched his right hamstring and pulled up after chasing the ball in the Swans' forward pocket, and after an already injury-disrupted season is only a 50-50 prospect to play in the first round of the finals next weekend.
The injury took much of the gloss off a confidence-building but scrappy Sydney win. But coach Paul Roos and captain Stuart Maxfield were still upbeat about their chances in the finals, with or without the goalscoring whiz.
Club doctor Nathan Gibbs said the extent of O'Loughlin's injury would be known after a scan tomorrow.
"I can tell you straight away it's not a bad hammy tear," Gibbs said. "It's in the minor degree in terms of hammy tears. It's a grade-one tear - the scan will tell us how bad a grade-one tear it is. He hasn't ruptured it or anything like that and it's not a hammy that needs surgery.
"I really can't say at this stage whether he will play next weekend. The worst-case scenario is he won't play next week."
The Swans need Adelaide to beat Port Adelaide today to finish fifth and secure a home semi-final against Essendon. If Port win, the Swans will finish fourth and play Port away in the first final.
Starting slowly once again yesterday, Sydney were outclassed by Melbourne in the first two quarters, but their persistence was rewarded with 11 goals to four in the second half.
The Swans led by four points at three-quarter-time and three goals from Nick Davis in the first 12 minutes of the last quarter sealed the game for them.
It was not a finals-type performance early, but Maxfield said they would be buoyed by the way they ruthlessly destroyed Melbourne late in the match, in contrast to their spirit-sapping loss to Collingwood the previous week.
"We needed to get a bit of respect back after last week," Maxfield said.
"We weren't hard enough at the footy last week and I think today we rectified the problem.
"It's often difficult to play sides in their last game when they're not in the finals - they like to go out on a high with a win.
"I thought it was a great contest. We just kept chipping away and the character of the guys showed.
"We kept sticking to our game plan and we reaped the rewards in the second half. It was an ideal preparation for the finals after last week [when] we were disappointed with our effort.
"Today was better than going out there and winning by 20 goals. It was a tough, hard contest, real tight for the first two quarters and in the second half the boys were able to get a bit of confidence and a bit of momentum going into next week."
The form of Nic Fosdike, who collected a game-high 27 possessions, was a plus for the Swans, as was the return from injury of Stephen Doyle and Brad Seymour.
Captain David Neitz tried hard for Melbourne but could manage only 2.2 in the blustery conditions.
The Swans trailed 3.1 (19) to 1.2 (8) at quarter-time and 5.4 (34) to 3.5 (23) at the long break.
They hit the front in the 27th minute of the third quarter with O'Loughlin's fourth goal and never looked back.
"Mick [O'Loughlin] has been terrific this year, there's no doubt about that," Roos said. "He's been very good on a limited preparation.
"But we can't focus on that [his injury]. We've lost Jason Ball and Jason Saddington and no one said we could win after that but we've proved we're resilient. I was rapt in the players the way they responded at half-time. I was really happy with the performance.
"We knew it was going to be tough, particularly in the windy conditions. It was always going to be scrappy.
"Two of the best teams in the competition played last night [Essendon and Collingwood] and it was a scrappy game and with the wind it was the same today. You know you're not going to win by 10 goals . . . you're not going to blow teams away. It's just a grind, and that's what we did."
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