Veteran defender Heath Grundy says Thursday night’s strong win against the Western Bulldogs was a culmination of persistence and the pieces of the Sydney Swans puzzle finally coming together.
Grundy was just one of many Swans who helped orchestrate the 46-point victory over the reigning premiers at the SCG, the team's fourth win from the past five weeks, to go 4-7 and sit only two wins outside of the top eight.
The home side put argulably its best team performance of the season together in the Round 12 encounter, handling the greasy conditions better from the beginning to outmuscle and outhassling the same opposition which had won the previous four meetings.
The turnaround didn't surprise Grundy who believed his team was finally reaping the rewards for weeks of hard work.
“It’s pretty simple,” Grundy told SwansTV in the rooms post match.
“(If we) keep working hard, keep playing as a team, keep building that cohesion on the field then anything’s possible.
“It’s stating the obvious, but we’ve got to keep working, keep training and keep finding ways to get better.”
Grundy collected a season-high 22 disposals and clunked seven marks, including three from opposition kicks, all the while quelling the impact of his direct opponent Travis Cloke.
It was a strong return by a man who’s been consistently good over a long period of time but, by his own admission, hasn't been able to reach the hiehgts of his All-Asutralian-worthy heights of last season in recent weeks.
He’s been striving to turn his football around personally just as much as, the 31-year-old says, the rest of the playing group on the other side of the bye.
“I’ve been a little bit inconsistent so far this year, been a bit disappointed about it, game before the bye was pretty ordinary, so I wanted to play well tonight.
“It makes it a bit easier when we’re getting a bit of support from our midfield and up forward.
“I managed to play a reasonable game tonight which was nice.
"Hopefully I can come back and do it again next week."