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Our reserves team battled bravely and in their Saturday morning match against Eastlake, only to be denied a win by a controversial 50 m penalty with 30 seconds left on the clock. Disappointing: yes, but taken against the bigger aim of the competition ? to develop our younger players, there was much to like.
The game started with very few people in attendance, track work slowed all Western trains and the Moore Park buses were no where to be seen at 9.40. By dint of sharing a cab with another frustrated Swan fan, all I missed was Jayco?s only goal ? a great pity as he did bugger all for the rest of the match. Many other regulars did make it until ? time. Plenty of Swans on the other hand were on fire, notably Laidlaw and Thornton. The Swans kicked out to a substantial early lead with goals to Orreal, Thornton, Meredith, Laidlaw and Smith. The only jarring moments were the two goals to Eastlake, both originated via turnovers from two who should have done better Thornton and Meredith.
There were bad signs early on in the second quarter ? Cheese undid much of his recent good work by not committing to a contest, and from the resultant hard (easy?) ball get Eastlake kicked the first of the quarter. Ed must have felt stung, because he immediately replied with a goal from a stoppage. The next candidate in the goal for goal caper was Moose, Eastlake goaled as a result of a ruck infringement, but Moose kicked his (very shaky) set shot from a marking infringement. The Moose is marking the ball well ? he got free and received the pass from the promising top up #23, Carey. With the memory of his last shaky shot he took advantage of very slack marking to find an unattended Brabazon for the Swans next goal. Matty O?Dwyer then was indirectly responsible for two Eastlake goals, one from a free and the other when he missed Currie on a forward entry. By half time the lead was cut to 5 points.
The third quarter commenced with a lot of end to end play, but Eastlake finally broke through after 9 minutes. The swans could only reply with a point from Currie after he marked a FF entry from Smith. The previously unsighted DOK then marked in defence and initiated a sweeping move when Currie and Smith combined for a Barlow goal. Eastlake then took advantage when both Orreal and Pyke show themselves to be very ordinary at judging the flight of the ball in the wind, gifting Eastlake two marks for two goals. The only relief for the Swans came when Laidlaw kicked a good long goal and top up 51 got another from two mysterious 50 m penalties. Nevertheless, Eastlake was 14 points up at ? time and looked to be in control.
The final commenced with Matty O marking a pass from Barlow and kicking a very lucky goal. His shot from 40 started out going directly for the RH behind post, as per usual it was a mongrel and this time it veered so far it went straight through the middle. Soon after Brabazon got the hard ball in a forward scrimmage and Matty produced a kick not seen since Andrew Dunkley graced the turf ? a vertically orientated torp snap that just scraped in for another. Eastlake restored their composure after a weak Swans tackle was broken in the midfield. Young Carey showed courage and skill by hanging on to a hospital pass, despite getting smashed and then nailing the boomerang for a goal. The Swans are back in the lead when Laidlaw marks and nails a booming 55 metre set shot. Poor Matty, just like two years ago he has hit form just when the seniors have, unlike two years ago I pray he stays healthy. At the current rate, he will have no hair left (thinning rapidly) when he makes it back. As per the trend, Eastlake reply immediately to get the lead back. With about five minutes to go Brabazon took a good mark and delivered accurately (good grief!) to Thornton?s advantage. He nailed the set shot. Nick Smith could have iced the game but missed, leaving our boys one straight shot ahead with a couple to go. Unfortunately the siren was 30 seconds too late.
Laidlaw was the best for the Swans, and appears to me to be ready made to take over from Ablett. Booming kick. I?m prepared to eat a little humble pie regarding Brabazon, he turned in a much improved performance compared to his previous efforts. It has taken over three years, but finally he is showing composure and smarts in heavy traffic. Mike Pyke is using his ressies time to good advantage ? he is learning how to get into dangerous situations, and provided he judges the ball has a good pair of hands. With more possessions comes the downside ? clangers a plenty. But, the instinct is good! Apart from a couple of clangers entering the forward line, Thornton was also pretty useful, that marking skill again on display. Currie was slow to start, another who had trouble reading the ball in the wind, but his work was instrumental in the Swan?s late resurgence. I am a little worried about young Dan, he runs with an odd and ungainly gait that suggests he is not completely over his groin problems ? hope I am wrong. Apart from a couple of the now accustomed blemishes wrt getting after the hard ball, Barlow was composed, ran for miles and was clean with the ball. Still a work in progress. Nick Smith was a solid citizen as usual, but as Liz says it is difficult to judge performance when he is always semi invisible at the bottom of the pack. Matty O was responsible for some of Dan?s early woes with some deplorable passes, most of which overshot the mark by a considerable margin. His two late goals restored some credibility, but one of them was a dead set fluke. After being the ?nowhere? man in the first half DOK showed some enterprising run out of the back half later on. There is talent, but he just needs to get more involved.
16.10-106 SYDNEY SWANS
vs
16.10-106 EASTLAKE FOOTBALL CLUB
Selected Team
SYDNEY SWANS
Goal Kickers: M. LAIDLAW 3, E. BARLOW 2, K. THORNTON 2, M. O''DWYER 2, R. BRABAZON, J. ORREAL, B. MEREDITH, N. SMITH, M. PYKE, CAREY, KARAFILIS
Best Players: M LAIDLAW, K. THORNTON, R. BRABAZON, D. CURRIE, E. BARLOW, M. PYKE
EASTLAKE FOOTBALL CLUB
Goal Kickers: S. COOPER 5, D. ROULSTONE 4, B. Collins 2, S. GUMLEY 2, M. DEAN, N. CLARKE, C. GIBSON
Best Players: S. COOPER, C. GIBSON, J. STILLER, N. CLARKE, S. CLARKE, D. ROULSTONE
The game started with very few people in attendance, track work slowed all Western trains and the Moore Park buses were no where to be seen at 9.40. By dint of sharing a cab with another frustrated Swan fan, all I missed was Jayco?s only goal ? a great pity as he did bugger all for the rest of the match. Many other regulars did make it until ? time. Plenty of Swans on the other hand were on fire, notably Laidlaw and Thornton. The Swans kicked out to a substantial early lead with goals to Orreal, Thornton, Meredith, Laidlaw and Smith. The only jarring moments were the two goals to Eastlake, both originated via turnovers from two who should have done better Thornton and Meredith.
There were bad signs early on in the second quarter ? Cheese undid much of his recent good work by not committing to a contest, and from the resultant hard (easy?) ball get Eastlake kicked the first of the quarter. Ed must have felt stung, because he immediately replied with a goal from a stoppage. The next candidate in the goal for goal caper was Moose, Eastlake goaled as a result of a ruck infringement, but Moose kicked his (very shaky) set shot from a marking infringement. The Moose is marking the ball well ? he got free and received the pass from the promising top up #23, Carey. With the memory of his last shaky shot he took advantage of very slack marking to find an unattended Brabazon for the Swans next goal. Matty O?Dwyer then was indirectly responsible for two Eastlake goals, one from a free and the other when he missed Currie on a forward entry. By half time the lead was cut to 5 points.
The third quarter commenced with a lot of end to end play, but Eastlake finally broke through after 9 minutes. The swans could only reply with a point from Currie after he marked a FF entry from Smith. The previously unsighted DOK then marked in defence and initiated a sweeping move when Currie and Smith combined for a Barlow goal. Eastlake then took advantage when both Orreal and Pyke show themselves to be very ordinary at judging the flight of the ball in the wind, gifting Eastlake two marks for two goals. The only relief for the Swans came when Laidlaw kicked a good long goal and top up 51 got another from two mysterious 50 m penalties. Nevertheless, Eastlake was 14 points up at ? time and looked to be in control.
The final commenced with Matty O marking a pass from Barlow and kicking a very lucky goal. His shot from 40 started out going directly for the RH behind post, as per usual it was a mongrel and this time it veered so far it went straight through the middle. Soon after Brabazon got the hard ball in a forward scrimmage and Matty produced a kick not seen since Andrew Dunkley graced the turf ? a vertically orientated torp snap that just scraped in for another. Eastlake restored their composure after a weak Swans tackle was broken in the midfield. Young Carey showed courage and skill by hanging on to a hospital pass, despite getting smashed and then nailing the boomerang for a goal. The Swans are back in the lead when Laidlaw marks and nails a booming 55 metre set shot. Poor Matty, just like two years ago he has hit form just when the seniors have, unlike two years ago I pray he stays healthy. At the current rate, he will have no hair left (thinning rapidly) when he makes it back. As per the trend, Eastlake reply immediately to get the lead back. With about five minutes to go Brabazon took a good mark and delivered accurately (good grief!) to Thornton?s advantage. He nailed the set shot. Nick Smith could have iced the game but missed, leaving our boys one straight shot ahead with a couple to go. Unfortunately the siren was 30 seconds too late.
Laidlaw was the best for the Swans, and appears to me to be ready made to take over from Ablett. Booming kick. I?m prepared to eat a little humble pie regarding Brabazon, he turned in a much improved performance compared to his previous efforts. It has taken over three years, but finally he is showing composure and smarts in heavy traffic. Mike Pyke is using his ressies time to good advantage ? he is learning how to get into dangerous situations, and provided he judges the ball has a good pair of hands. With more possessions comes the downside ? clangers a plenty. But, the instinct is good! Apart from a couple of clangers entering the forward line, Thornton was also pretty useful, that marking skill again on display. Currie was slow to start, another who had trouble reading the ball in the wind, but his work was instrumental in the Swan?s late resurgence. I am a little worried about young Dan, he runs with an odd and ungainly gait that suggests he is not completely over his groin problems ? hope I am wrong. Apart from a couple of the now accustomed blemishes wrt getting after the hard ball, Barlow was composed, ran for miles and was clean with the ball. Still a work in progress. Nick Smith was a solid citizen as usual, but as Liz says it is difficult to judge performance when he is always semi invisible at the bottom of the pack. Matty O was responsible for some of Dan?s early woes with some deplorable passes, most of which overshot the mark by a considerable margin. His two late goals restored some credibility, but one of them was a dead set fluke. After being the ?nowhere? man in the first half DOK showed some enterprising run out of the back half later on. There is talent, but he just needs to get more involved.
16.10-106 SYDNEY SWANS
vs
16.10-106 EASTLAKE FOOTBALL CLUB
Selected Team
SYDNEY SWANS
Goal Kickers: M. LAIDLAW 3, E. BARLOW 2, K. THORNTON 2, M. O''DWYER 2, R. BRABAZON, J. ORREAL, B. MEREDITH, N. SMITH, M. PYKE, CAREY, KARAFILIS
Best Players: M LAIDLAW, K. THORNTON, R. BRABAZON, D. CURRIE, E. BARLOW, M. PYKE
EASTLAKE FOOTBALL CLUB
Goal Kickers: S. COOPER 5, D. ROULSTONE 4, B. Collins 2, S. GUMLEY 2, M. DEAN, N. CLARKE, C. GIBSON
Best Players: S. COOPER, C. GIBSON, J. STILLER, N. CLARKE, S. CLARKE, D. ROULSTONE
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