Swans stood up to their bully

Swans stood up to their bully

GuyWhoLikesSport

Isaac Heeney said something important after Sydney roared back against Collingwood in round 22 for their first win in a month.

He said, after a game where Sydney came from the clouds, that Sydney won the game because they focused on themselves rather than getting “dictated to”.

In that game, as in the one that Sydney miraculously won on the back of some heroics from some superheroes against the Giants on Saturday, the Swans were getting dictated to.

They were consistently beaten to the punch and seemed to be stuck at arm’s length.

That was true for right up until an adage that I am coming to believe more and more came true again: seasons are about systems, but finals are about players.

With Isaac Heeney, Tom Papley, and Chad Warner on their side, Sydney is a serious contender even without a star key forward.

In the first half, the Giants stuffed Sydney in a locker.

They bullied the Swans in every facet. At half-time, GWS led Sydney 20-17 in clearances, 73-57 in contested ball, and 9-3 in contested marks.

Beyond the numbers the Giants looked bigger, stronger and more athletic. They were exuberant and energetic. They were both more arrogant and harder-edged.

It was cash poor old money aristocrat versus cashed up, new money tech billionaire

It was so dominant that I kept on thinking about Chael Sonnen quotes to describe what GWS was doing to Sydney. That kind of machismo was the only fit. The one I settled on after Tom Green won yet another contested possession at the coal face was “1 on 1, 2 on 1, 5 on 1, I’ll make ‘em all need 9-1-1.”

Like all bullies, they also severely restricted what the bullied can do and stayed in their faces constantly.

When Sydney has been at their best this season they have had sharp, aggressive ball movement with an intent to play on and run through the corridor. They also constantly changed the angle of entry inside 50 and were always unpredictable.

Their ball movement raised the level of a mediocre forward line through sheer quality of delivery and led to a season where Sydney led the competition in scoring.

Against GWS they were getting wedgies at the contest and choked when they got the ball.

In the first half the Swans were stuck dumping long kicks up the wing where GWS always had more numbers around the ball, and more physicality. On the off chance the Swans did get an inside 50, Jack Buckley, Sam Taylor and Conor Idun swept it out easily, dispensing with Joel Amartey and Logan McDonald.

Sydney looked shellshocked and outgunned.

The only player to show any willingness to stand up to the bully was Tom Papley. The Swans lacked a “fuck you” edge collectively, but Papley took it on himself to bring enough “f**k you” for everyone.

But something happened at half-time, the Swans down 21 points. Like the Collingwood game, Sydney was getting dictated to.

Also like the Collingwood game, Heeney took it upon himself to take change that.

In the third quarter, GWS came out slowly and Sydney kicked 2 goals in 4 minutes. Sydney, behind Heeney, finally stood up and looked the bullies in the eyes. It was like the darts scene in Ted Lasso, Heeney the one politely talking shit to Tom Green’s Rupert as he got another hard ball.

He had the screamer, along with a goal, 12 disposals, eight contested possessions, three marks, two clearances and a tackle.

While GWS kicked the next two, over the rest of the quarter game opened up and evened out. Sydney finally got some run and carry as a slingshot game broke out.

Separate to that, Joel Amartey, who was deplorable up until this point, showed some fight.

Midway through the third term, Amartey flashed across the screen and tackled Callan Ward which was bizarrely not called for holding the ball. Then he followed up immediately after and affected a Kelly kick.

It was like the scene in The Benchwarmers where the nerds got confidence from Rob Schneider at the pizza restaurant.

Everyone followed Heeney’s lead.

But, despite his astonishing quarter, the margin on the scoreboard was the same at ¾ time as it was at half-time. Heeney needed more help.

Enter Chad Warner.

Just like against Collingwood in round 22 Heeney and Warner completely owned the final term of a high-stakes game and, off their own boots, won it for the Swans.

I could talk about Sydney finally getting some repeat entries, forcing some turnovers off GWS. I could talk about the roles getting reversed and GWS getting stuck in the mud trying to move the ball from the back half in the final term, as Sydney went through the corridor with abandon.

I could talk even about Joel Amartey finally jumping with some intent at the ball after his two big efforts, or his unselfishness in shepherding Sam Taylor before kicking the winning goal.

But really, there are three players who won this game for Sydney: Heeney, Warner, and Braeden Campbell. I can’t remember a better sub performance from anyone than the one we got from Campbell.

He came on in the final term and owned it. His freshness was clear after an incredibly challenging and physical for the other players out on the park.

He and Heeney both kicked goals at the end, Heeney’s coming from 80m out because he was doing whatever he wanted by that point.

While they were doing that, Chad Warner showed up.

In the final term, Warner had all seven of his clearances. It felt like every time the ball was in dispute, Warner or Heeney won it and hit a tough kick into the corridor.

By the end of the game, both team’s systems had basically fallen apart around the ball. It was a get ball game in the final term, and Sydney had the blokes who got the ball.

Suddenly, they were the team with numbers, they were the team with the harder edge.

They bullied the bullies. They outworked the workhorses. They flipped the script. They won a game they should have lost.

So now Sydney is in a prelim and GWS has to play Brisbane next week.

For Sydney, while they were quite poor early, they were quite excellent late. I don’t know how much more often they can get away with that, but we’re now getting to the point where Isaac Heeney is having one of those special seasons.

Not every season is defined by a player, but sometimes a player is so dominant that you can’t write the story of the season without them on the front page. 2017, for instance, is the Dustin Martin Season. 2009 is the Gary Ablett Season.

If Sydney wins, is 2024 going to be the Isaac Heeney season? Based on that game, I wouldn’t bet against him.

For GWS, they are a resilient bunch.

Remarkably so, given the scars they have.

Of the 15 best games of the last eight years, GWS was in half of them and probably lost more than half of those.

If footy clubs are forged in scar tissue, then the Giants are Nate Diaz.

Even with that said, how do you back up after that? They led for 121 minutes. The game was borderline warfare.

Next week isn’t the point, though.

For this week, Sydney looked a bully in the eye. They gave them a taste of their own medicine and showed their own callouses in the process.

I hope we see this matchup again in three weeks.

 

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