It went down to the wire, but the Swans have come away with their ninth win of the season.
After leading the Cats by five goals at three-quarter time, the Swans outlasted Geelong to take out Friday night’s match by six points.
With less than two minutes remaining, Swans utility Andrejs Everitt converted a difficult goal to put the Swans in front.
Speaking to SwansTV after the match, Swans midfielder Jude Bolton said there was nothing the team could do but sit back and watch Everitt’s kick.
“It was certainly nerve wracking in the last little bit before Dre (Andrejs Everitt) kicked that last clutch goal for us,” he said.
“It was certainly great to hear the crowd on the other side of the ground start to rise and we certainly knew then that it was going through.”
Click on the video player above to watch Jude Bolton speak to SwansTV in the rooms after the match
Bolton said while the team was pleased with their first-quarter efforts, which saw Sydney kick seven straight goals, there was no doubt the team needed to work on playing four-quarter football.
“I thought the way we started was super by the boys in the way we were switched on, and we got off to the start we wanted and kicked seven straight,” he said.
“Obviously our last quarters have been real issues lately, and we’ve just got to sort that out.
“What happened was that we went not just a little bit defensive, but a little bit flat-footed and we weren’t winning the footy, and once we were behind we just threw caution to the wind and just went after the footy a little bit and fortunately it came off.”
When the Cats hit the front in the latter stages of the final term, the Swans back six were called together by defender Rhyce Shaw.
“We usually talk as a backline, but we just wanted to stay calm,” Shaw said after the match.
“It was important that we got back to what we did in the first quarter and stick to our basic footy, and we weren’t doing that as a whole group and as a backline.
“I just wanted the boys to just stay calm and do what we do best.”
According to Shaw one of the Swans pillars of strength in defence was Ted Richards, who stood tall with 18 disposals and eight marks.
Speaking to SwansTV after the match, Richards said his team need to return to consistent football.
“It’s two weeks in a row of playing like that,” he said.
“The positive is that we’re getting off to great starts, but the negative is making my job at full-back pretty intense.
“What would be ideal is if we were playing four quarters of footy instead of playing in waves at times.
Click here to watch Ted Richards speak to SwansTV in the rooms after the match
“Hopefully we can get back to playing four quarters and really running over teams throughout the game and not giving teams a chance to get back.”
The Swans will now turn their attention to GWS, who they will host at ANZ Stadium next Saturday night.
