We're not ready to be written off yet
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, May 15
AFTER six weeks of hibernation the red and white bear has finally woken.
It wiped the sleep from its eyes last week against Brisbane and, on Sunday at Etihad Stadium, went on the hunt against North Melbourne.
Despite still languishing near the foot of the ladder, Sydney recorded back-to-back wins to warn the rest of the AFL they are far from a spent force.
The Swans led at every change before running out convincing 42-point winners, 18.12 (120) to the Kangaroos’ 11.12 (78).
It was their 11th win from their last 12 games at Etihad and came on the back of some trademark contested football, which had been sorely missing for the first six rounds of the season.
At the final siren the contested possession tally stood at 169-134, easily the Swans’ best result of the year.
Skipper Josh Kennedy led the way for the Swans’ midfielders with 37 possessions, 17 of them contested.
His usual lieutenants, Luke Parker and Dan Hannebery, ably supported him.
Sharp Swans send warning to rivals
Jay Clark
Herald Sun, May 15
FOOTY’S sleeping giant re-opened an eye at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Plenty have written off Sydney this season, and fair enough considering their struggles around the contested ball over the first six rounds.
Finals have looked like a long shot.
But Sunday’s 42-point win over a flat North Melbourne shows there is a pulse in the red and white outfit, as the big-gun midfield combination that has been MIA in the early part of the year roared back to life.
And in what is shaping as one of the most even and volatile seasons in recent years, the 81s on offer for Sydney to win the flag a couple of weeks back might have been the best bet in footy.
“You wouldn’t want to be playing them in the next few weeks,” Terry Wallace said on SEN. “They’re a side that would worry me.”
Swans hit straps but tests loom
Courtney Walsh
The Australian, May 15
Sydney’s ability to launch a surge towards September in the second-half of the season rests on their ability to successfully negotiate a testing month to come.
Having found a semblance of touch over the past fortnight when trouncing Brisbane and the Kangaroos, the latter by 18.12 (120) to 11.12 (78) at Etihad Stadium last night, the Swans will carry momentum into a difficult run.
The make-or-break month begins with a clash against the Saints, who have won their past three in a row, at Etihad Stadium next Saturday. The Swans then host Hawthorn, another side to show hints of their best form recently, at the SCG before their mid-season bye.
Another blockbuster looms at the SCG on resuming when the Swans host the Western Bulldogs, their grand final conquerors, before a return to the MCG to play the Tigers.
Negotiate that period with success and the Swans will have squared the ledger.
Much, of course, needs to be done and the percentages remain unfavourable. But the recent compression of the ladder has helped their cause, with Adelaide, Richmond and Geelong compiling a record of 1-8 over the past three rounds compared with 15-0 to start the season.
Swans' old guard continues resurgence against Roos
Daniel Cherny
SMH, The Age, May 15
Jarrad McVeigh's body has failed him this year, and the finish line of an outstanding career is in sight. Indeed he is in doubt for next week's clash against St Kilda because of hamstring tightness. But the former Sydney skipper still has some tricks, and the same can be said of his side, which has at last found form after a hellish start to the season.
McVeigh mightn't have had much of the ball on Sunday at Etihad Stadium, but a couple of moments midway through the second quarter of the Swans' 42-point win over North Melbourne typified the influence the Swans' senior core had on this game.
Swans coach John Longmire appeared pleased with his side's showing. "We were very good. A mixture of our contested advantage and our uncontested ball was spot on," Longmire said as he looked ahead to the match against the Saints next Saturday, also at Etihad.
"We've been better the last two weeks. We've got to just keep building on that."
Lloyd fired up for big test against Kangaroos
Neil Cordy
Sunday Telegraph, May 14
SWANS ball magnet Jake Lloyd says Sunday’s clash with North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium will show if last week’s improvement against Brisbane is a mirage or the real thing.
Sydney blew the struggling Lions away but face an entirely different outfit with the Kangaroos who started the season slowly like the Swans but did a demolition job on the premiership favourites Adelaide in Hobart last weekend.
“The way North came out from the start and their pressure around the footy was huge,” Lloyd said.
“They have guys in the middle like Ziebell and Cunnington who grabbed the game by the horns and gave them a great lead and it’s hard for Adelaide to come back from 10 goals down.
“They have two on the trot now after a similar start to us and have their confidence back and they will want to keep that going so it will be very tough.”
If the Swans are to win the underrated Lloyd will play a key role with his run out of defence and through the midfield.
Pain of missing 2016 AFL grand final still drives Sydney Swan Harry Marsh
James Buckley
SMH, May 14
Like most of his Sydney Swans teammates, the heartache of last year's AFL grand final provides an endless well of motivation for Harry Marsh.
But for the intercepting half-back, who plays his 14th game at the top level against North Melbourne on Sunday afternoon, it's the pain of missing out on, not losing, the 2016 decider that fuels his determination.
After featuring in all three finals games last year, Marsh was given the tap on the shoulder in the lead up to Western Bulldogs game and told he would have to make way.
Callum Mills and Jarrad McVeigh were returning from injury and coach John Longmire simply found no alternative but to remove Marsh from the grand final jigsaw.
"It was pretty tough," Marsh said. "Macca was coming back in, as well as Millsy, and I knew that I was probably the one to miss out.
"It was pretty hard to take, but it probably just gave me more motivation over the off-season and the pre-season to come back and hope that doesn't happen again.
"There's always these stories – every year I reckon there's a story about something like that. You've just got to take it and move on as quickly as you can and put your energy towards getting better."
It was a harsh end to the West Australian's breakout year in the AFL, but he refuses to dwell on what might have been given the convoluted journey he took before cracking the Swans seniors.
Marsh was drafted at the end of 2012 but failed to crack the top grade in his first three years of wearing the red and white.
The club delisted him in 2015 then redrafted him as a rookie in a shuffle of the playing roster before elevating him back to the senior side, and in round 10 last year he made his long-awaited debut against North Melbourne at the SCG.
Tippett to earn AFL return in reserves
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, May 13
KURT Tippett will have to earn his spot back through the reserves after the Swans named an unchanged line-up for Sunday’s clash with North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.
Tippett, Gary Rohan and Nic Newman were included in the initial squad of 25 but missed the final cut as John Longmire kept the faith with the team that beat the Brisbane Lions last week.
Saturday’s NEAFL game against the Canberra Demons in the nation’s capital will be Tippett’s first in the reserves since Round 4 in 2014 when he was recovering from a knee injury.
He has played just three games this year, his last in the Round 5 loss to GWS, before injuring his hip in the last training session before the defeat at the hands of Carlton at the MCG in Round 6.
Rohan is making his return after being concussed in a horrible fall from a marking contest against the Blues.
“Gary and Kurt will play in the reserves to get some continuous football under their belt, both of them haven’t played much football,” Longmire said.
“They need to be able to get back in, play the game, run around, get some conditioning and some touch.
“We obviously pick the best team we think can give us the best chance of winning. The 22 that played last week obviously did the job for us.
“While we’re always looking forward to improve, in regard to those particular players we just felt the lack of match play they’ve had counted against them so they just need to play a bit more footy.”
