The Sydney Swans AFLW side have come away with an 18-point victory over the Adelaide Crows at Tramway Oval today (Saturday, April 12) in the side’s first of four practice matches ahead of the commencement of their official pre-season.

A blistering fast start saw the red and white kick three majors in the opening term, with goals to forwards Rebecca Privitelli, Giselle Davies and young draftee Zipporah Fish building an early lead, with the 18-year old new recruit earning the highlight of the day with an explosive run and goal from beyond the 50m arc.

A lift in intensity as well as some errors from in front of goal saw the Swans take a fourteen point lead at the half time break, with Crows recruit Grace Kelly kicking the opposition’s opening goal for the game, before a single rushed behind in the third quarter saw Swans lead cut to just one.

A nice passage of play through the corridor saw Montana Ham, Cynthia Hamilton link up with Davies who ran into an open goal for her second of the match and secure the three-goal victory (4.3.27 to 1.3.9).

"Yeah, it was a good first hit out. It's always going to take a little while to get going, but I thought we saw some really good stuff today and it was great to see some of our new players come in and have a real impact," Privitelli said.

02:49

"A great thing for us to start building what our next season looks like." - Privitelli

Hear from Sydney Swans AFLW forward Rebecca Privitelli who spoke after the side's 18-point victory over Adelaide in today's practice match.

The Swans fielded 12 AFLW listed players alongside QBE Sydney Swans Academy talents and state league prospects, with Swans Cynthia Hamilton, Montana Ham, Brenna Tarrant, Paris McCarthy and Julie O’Sullivan starring as well as strong performances by new players Jas Grieson, Amelia Martin and Caitlin Reed.

The clash allowing senior coach Scott Gowans to test a handful of positional changes for the side, with Hamilton spending time in the midfield and McCarthy moving to the forwards, while providing opportunities to form new bonds and connections between the new players to the red and white.

"We saw girls play in different positions today. We saw Zippy pretty much play all over the ground and she was great at it. Obviously, Montana Ham played a really important role for us and really led the team really well and players like Cynthia going into the midfield and growing her game" Privitelli said.

"I think it's a great opportunity to play girls in different positions. Obviously, we have some of our Academy girls pls some of our training girls coming today as well and play a role for us and it's great because they've been training with us.

"They understand the structures and the way we want to play. It actually makes it really easy for us to communicate and know where everyone wants to be. So it's a great connection piece and it's a great thing for us to start building what our next season looks like."

01:44

McCarthy making the most of the move

Sydney Swans AFLW Paris McCarthy speaks after the side's 18-point victory over Adelaide in today's practice match and talks about making the most of her opportunity with a move to the forwards.

SYDNEY 4.3.27
ADELAIDE 1.3.9

Goals
Sydney: Giselle Davies (2), Rebecca Privitelli, Zipporah Fish
Adelaide: Grace Kelly

Saturday, April 26 will see the team take on a combined Adelaide Crows / Brisbane Lions outfit in Blacktown. First bounce is 12:00pm. 

Finally, the Sydney Swans will travel to South Australia to take on a merged Crows-Brisbane team at AAM Stadium from 12:15pm local time. 

Official pre-season training is set to begin on Monday, May 19 ahead of the 2025 NAB AFLW season starting in August.