Heartbreak kid is a one-kick wonder
By NIKKI TUGWELL
May 25, 2004
RARELY has Paul Roos made an example of an inexperienced player in front of the team in his post-match address after he manages just one kick for the afternoon.
Not just any player either but the heartbreak kid, Amon Buchanan. The stats sheet for Buchanan after the Swans one point win against Hawthorn, read: one kick, nine handpasses and six tackles, but the performance of the small forward cum midfielder prompted a special mention.
"It is unusual for a guy who had just one kick to have such an influence on a game," Roos said.
"His workrate and his tackling was outstanding. His pressure and a couple of his possessions were very, very telling. Amon contributed significantly to winning the game."
In the dying moments on Sunday afternoon with the season on the line for both clubs, Buchanan twice laid effective tackles to prevent a Hawthorn player kicking the ball into their forward line. It was less than a goal the difference at the time.
Then with three minutes to go and Hawthorn leading 78-74 Buchanan gathered the ball cleanly amongst heavy congestion when nobody else could do so and broke away from the pack. He handpassed to Jude Bolton who streamed through half-forward to kick the winning goal.
Bolton was thinking just one thing: "Well, to give it," Bolton said. "I was going, 'you give it, give it.'
"Amon was just an inspiration and Roosy highlighted him after the game because he was one of the most influential players on the ground."
The recollection of the match-winning play was less vivid for Buchanan. "There were a few stoppages together on the wing and the ball just came out," he said.
"I took a bounce and I just happened to get to it to Jude . . . then I was just hoping we could bottle it up and I was praying for the siren to go.
"In a really close game like that you look at the scoreboard and the time and you get so nervous when you're only up by a point and it's in their forward line."
It was a dose of poetic justice for Buchanan, 21 and playing just his fourth senior game, who sustained a season-ending injury last year and was delisted by the Swans.
He was redrafted with the third pick (No. 45 overall) at the 2003 national AFL draft.
The most impressive Swans unearthed last season were Adam Schneider and Lewis Roberts-Thomson while Paul Bevan, early in the season Jarrad McVeigh and recently Buchanan have stood of late.
"It typifies where we are trying to get," Roos said of Buchanan's game.
"So when young guys get into the team they really know what they need to do.
Yesterday Roos criticised the AFL's decision for the umpires to wear yellow shirts that clashed with Hawthorn's gold and brown stripes.
"It was staggering. A lot of the times we had to stop the tape and say 'that's not a Hawthorn player'," said Roos.
"We couldn't work out why our guys weren't kicking it to certain players."
By NIKKI TUGWELL
May 25, 2004
RARELY has Paul Roos made an example of an inexperienced player in front of the team in his post-match address after he manages just one kick for the afternoon.
Not just any player either but the heartbreak kid, Amon Buchanan. The stats sheet for Buchanan after the Swans one point win against Hawthorn, read: one kick, nine handpasses and six tackles, but the performance of the small forward cum midfielder prompted a special mention.
"It is unusual for a guy who had just one kick to have such an influence on a game," Roos said.
"His workrate and his tackling was outstanding. His pressure and a couple of his possessions were very, very telling. Amon contributed significantly to winning the game."
In the dying moments on Sunday afternoon with the season on the line for both clubs, Buchanan twice laid effective tackles to prevent a Hawthorn player kicking the ball into their forward line. It was less than a goal the difference at the time.
Then with three minutes to go and Hawthorn leading 78-74 Buchanan gathered the ball cleanly amongst heavy congestion when nobody else could do so and broke away from the pack. He handpassed to Jude Bolton who streamed through half-forward to kick the winning goal.
Bolton was thinking just one thing: "Well, to give it," Bolton said. "I was going, 'you give it, give it.'
"Amon was just an inspiration and Roosy highlighted him after the game because he was one of the most influential players on the ground."
The recollection of the match-winning play was less vivid for Buchanan. "There were a few stoppages together on the wing and the ball just came out," he said.
"I took a bounce and I just happened to get to it to Jude . . . then I was just hoping we could bottle it up and I was praying for the siren to go.
"In a really close game like that you look at the scoreboard and the time and you get so nervous when you're only up by a point and it's in their forward line."
It was a dose of poetic justice for Buchanan, 21 and playing just his fourth senior game, who sustained a season-ending injury last year and was delisted by the Swans.
He was redrafted with the third pick (No. 45 overall) at the 2003 national AFL draft.
The most impressive Swans unearthed last season were Adam Schneider and Lewis Roberts-Thomson while Paul Bevan, early in the season Jarrad McVeigh and recently Buchanan have stood of late.
"It typifies where we are trying to get," Roos said of Buchanan's game.
"So when young guys get into the team they really know what they need to do.
Yesterday Roos criticised the AFL's decision for the umpires to wear yellow shirts that clashed with Hawthorn's gold and brown stripes.
"It was staggering. A lot of the times we had to stop the tape and say 'that's not a Hawthorn player'," said Roos.
"We couldn't work out why our guys weren't kicking it to certain players."
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