Australian Football

Match Report

After losing two-straight games, Sydney couldn’t have asked for a better match-up. It was an easy, confidence boosting win for the Swans, annihilating a Melbourne side that seemed to be plummeting even further. The game was all over by quarter time as the Swans piled on seven goals to the Demons’ two behinds. Although Melbourne put in some despicable efforts in the first seven weeks of 2012, many in the football world believed this was their worst performance to date. Former Swans player Tadhg Kennelly said late Demons president Jim Stynes would be turning in his grave with the way Melbourne were playing. The Demons slumped to 0-8 to languish in last spot on the ladder. The much-maligned Jack Watts was a standout for the Demons with 34 possessions. The only other highlight for the Demons was a spectacular leap from Jeremy Howe that looked to have sealed the Mark of the Year award. Exciting forward Liam Jurrah returned from a wrist injury and tumultuous off-season, where he was charged with attacking a man with a machete. He struggled and to make matters worse, he was taken off with a knee injury. It was a team performance from the Swans, with a great spread of goalkickers.



GOALS

Sydney Swans: Kennedy, Jack, Parker, Jetta 3, Dennis-Lane, Walsh, McGlynn 2, O'Keefe, Reid, Mattner
Melbourne: Jones 2, Bennell, Sylvia, Green

BEST - AFL.COM.AU



Sydney: Jack, Jetta, Parker, O'Keefe, Mattner, Grundy, Walsh
Melbourne: Watts, Jones, Howe

BEST - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Sydney: Jack, O'Keefe, Parker, Jetta, Kennedy, Parker

Melbourne: Watts, Garland, Jones, Grimes, Blease

COACHES COMMENTS
John Longmire (Syd): To win the tackles like that when we clearly had a fair bit of the ball was good. And it was good to bounce back after last week. We were really disappointed with our performance last week, as good as the Tigers were. The way the players set themselves early in the week and bounced back strongly was good.

Mark Neeld (Melb): I couldn't fault the preparation, the lead in, I couldn't fault any of that. Pre-game we thought as a group we had done as much as what we possibly could and we had the knowledge of what we wanted to do. There's always positive things. I didn't think it was complete capitulation in the second half.

Umpires: Nicholls, Hosking, Kamolins