Australian Football

Match Report

In a lacklustre affair, Sydney has opened its premiership-defence season with a 40-point win over crosstown rivals Greater Western Sydney. In a matched billed by the AFL as the "Battle of the Bridge", GWS battled hard for much of the match but Sydney's experience and class came to the fore as the match wore on, enabling them to eke out a relatively comfortable 7-goal victory.

But the Swans certainly didn't have it all their own way, particularly after quarter-time. Sydney opened reasonably brightly, holding GWS goalless while kicking four of their own. Holding a 25-point lead at the first change, John Longmire's men could have been forgiven for believing they would cruise to a thumping win. But the Giants came out firing early in the second quarter, kicking the first five goals of the term and actually gaining the lead at the 13-minute mark.

The loss of the lead then seemed to spark the Swans back into action, and they rallied to kick the next five goals and they went to the major break leading by 27 points.

The second half saw the two sides trade goals for much of the time, with the Swans eventually kicking seven second-half goals to the Giants' six to coast to victory. New captain Kieran Jack was in fine form for Sydney, as were the ever-reliable Josh Kennedy and Ryan O'Keefe, while Treloar, Shiel and Scully were solid for the Giants.

The Swans will take on Gold Coast in their next match, while the Giants travel to Adelaide to take on first-up winners Port Adelaide.

GOALS
GWS: Patton 3; Sumner 2; Treloar, Smith, Shiel, Greene, Giles, Cameron
Sydney: Jack 3; Reid, Pike, Bolton, Goodes, McGlynn 2; Mumford, McVeigh, Kennedy

BEST - THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
GWS: Shiel, Treloar, Ward, Coniglio, Brogan, Patton
Sydney: Jack, Kennedy, Hannebery, McVeigh, O'Keefe, Shaw

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
GWS: Shiel, Scully, Treloar, Coniglio, Ward Patton
Sydney: Jack, Kennedy, McVeigh, Mumford, Bolton, Hannebery

COACHES' COMMENTS
Kevin Sheedy (GWS): It was good to win one of the quarters. We could have won a couple. [It was] a pretty solid performance by our boys. That's not our best side out there at the moment - far from it. The improvement will be really good over the next month.

John Longmire (Syd): It's the first game of the season; you want to make sure you get off to a good start and I thought that's what we did. We'll take a 30-point win every day of the week. We can improve all aspects of our game but we got some positives out of tonight. We won the contested ball by 20.

INJURIES
GWS: Hoskin-Elliott (leg)
Sydney: Rampe (leg)

SUBSTITUTES
GWS: Will Hoskin-Elliott replaced by Taylor Adams at three-quarter time
Sydney: Dane Rampe replaced by Tony Armstrong in the fourth quarter

REPORTS
Tom Scully (GWS) reported for tripping in the first quarter.

UMPIRES
Leppard, Fila, Chamberlain