The Sydney Swans VFL side have fallen short to a dominant Werribee Tigers, in an overcast round 14 clash at Tramway Oval on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers managed to hold off a late surge from the red and white, to maintain a 14-point victory, claiming a 9.5.59 to 5.15.45 win, and their top spot on the ladder.
A slippery first half resulted in just a combined four goals between the two sides at the half way point with Matt Lloyd kicking the only first-half goal for the Swans.
Lloyd finished the game with three goals from 13 disposals.
Experienced Swans Robbie Fox and Aaron Francis both also managed to hit the scoreboard with one goal each in the fourth quarter, as the Swans fought valiantly to bring the margin from 38 at three-quarter time to 14 by the final siren.
The Swans will rue their chance at running down the Tigers, with inaccurate goal kicking and struggles to take a contested mark in the rainy conditions, dominating the inside 50 count 56 to 43 and finishing with 20 scoring shots to 14.
Despite the result, Swans VFL senior coach Damian Truslove was proud of how his team stepped up against a side currently sitting at the top of the VFL ladder.
“The boys stuck to the game plan and mostly green results for our key performance indicators,” Truslove said.
“Unfortunately we couldn't finish our work in the forward 50. We kicked far too many behinds.”
Truslove highlighted Ben Edwards, Caleb Mitchell, Francis, Patrick Snell and Byron Laws following the clash.
Caleb Mitchell fought hard to turn the game around with 23 disposals and a game high 11 clearances while Ben Edwards was busy in the midfield with 22 touches and six clearances.
The match was the first after a long injury lay-off for tall Sam Reid, who had 11 disposals and six hit outs in the ruck while Matt Roberts continued his push for a senior recall with 21 disposals and five tackles
Lachlan McAndrew was busy in the ruck with 35 hit outs, eight tackles and eight disposals.
The Swans head into Round 15 of the VFL competition, facing the Sandringham Zebras on Sunday, July 7 at 11:05am from RSEA Park.
