A crack in the chops is fine
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 19
FEARLESS Swan Kurt Tippett is set to take on Geelong in Friday night’s preliminary final just 13 days after breaking his jaw.
Tippett missed Saturday night’s 36-point win over Adelaide after X-rays revealed a hairline fracture in his jaw following a clash with GWS ruckman Shane Mumford.
After meeting with a specialist last week and being cleared of any need for surgery he trained last Thursday and again on Saturday.
Swans football manager Tom Harley indicated the ruckman was on track to return.
“He didn’t require surgery which is positive,” Harley told The Daily Telegraph.
“He trained on Thursday and did some more over the weekend. He needs to get through training but he certainly won’t be ruled out early.”
Grand designs
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 19
SYDNEY’S dream and Melbourne’s nightmare of a Swans-GWS grand final is edging closer to reality after John Longmire’s men found their mojo against Adelaide on Saturday night.
Victorians are hoping the AFL’s Cinderella men, the Western Bulldogs, can take on the perennially successful Geelong but the harbour city’s teams are perfectly poised to rain on the grand final parade.
The Swans will start outsiders against Geelong at the MCG on Friday but despite injury worries have all their big-name stars playing well and will draw confidence from their comfortable 38-point win in round 16 at Simonds Stadium.
Josh Kennedy led a revitalised Sydney midfield with a massive 42 possession including 21 contested in the win over Adelaide.
His effort along with regular performers Dan Hannebery, Luke Parker, Kieren Jack and Tom Mitchell was the key difference between last week’s disappointing effort against GWS.
Kennedy believes the midfield clash against Geelong’s guns led by Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield will be pivotal on Friday night.
“All the games we’ve seen this finals series the contest in the midfield has been a big one,” Kennedy said.
“Geelong are a class act, they’ve got a lot of senior players who have played a lot of finals games and grand finals.”
Papley not about to let dream chance go down the drain
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 19
TOM Papley might be the best plumber turned footballer since Kevin Sheedy.
His career-best four goals in Saturday’s impressive semi-final win over Adelaide confirmed his temperament as a finals performer and came on the back of two majors in last week’s qualifying final loss the Giants.
Now he’s primed to make an impact against Geelong in Friday night’s preliminary final at the MCG.
His bloodlines are pure red and white: both his grandfather’s Max Papley and the late Jeff Bray played for South Melbourne in the 1960s.
Not surprisingly he grew up barracking for the Swans and cheered them on to victory as a nine year old at the 2005 grand final.
Even when he was supporting the Swans as a kid he was also being indoctrinated into their culture.
“I knew we would bounce back after the Giants game,” Papley told The Daily Telegraph.
“That’s what the Swans do. I’ve been barracking for them all my life. They don’t get beaten twice very often.”
Tippett in line for return but McVeigh, Rohan unlikely
Andrew Wu
SMH, September 19
Sydney forward Gary Rohan is expected to be cleared of major structural damage to his knee but he and captain Jarrad McVeigh are unlikely to play in Friday night's preliminary final against Geelong.
Star big man Kurt Tippett, however, is set to make a remarkable recovery less than two weeks after fracturing his jaw.
The Swans will learn on Monday the extent of the pair's injuries but there is more optimism than on Saturday night when the important duo's semi-final was abruptly ended.
Grave fears were held for Rohan's knee after the speedster was driven off the ground on a medi-cab in visible distress.
It appears whatever damage Rohan sustained occurred in a mid-air collision at a marking contest rather than when he landed, which lessens the chance of a possible rupture to his anterior cruciate ligament.
Heeney ready for key role in prelim
James Buckley
SMH, September 19
Playing for a spot in the AFL grand final at a capacity MCG was the last thing on Isaac Heeney's mind when he was dropped to the Swans' reserves two months ago.
Physically exhausted from the endless rigours of his second season, Heeney was given a week off football in round 16 then made to earn a senior recall playing a NEAFL game at Blacktown in front of just a few hundred fans.
On Friday night he'll be entertaining almost 90,000 as Sydney square off against Geelong in a mouth-watering preliminary final, fresh from his most important showing yet for the Swans.
Heeney was one of Sydney's best in Saturday's bruising semi-final win over Adelaide, thrust into midfield at stages from his customary forward role to give the Swans some extra grunt in the engine room.
His most significant contributions for the Swans this year had been through hitting the scoreboard, but against the Crows he collected 32 disposals and was strong at the contest providing another hard body around stoppages.
It gives coach John Longmire another string to his midfield bow for the Cats game, although Heeney may be required to spend more time up forward this weekend after Gary Rohan's knee injury.
Football romance, or the road to the future?
Rohan Connolly
The Age, September 19
The people versus the AFL. It sounds like a court case. And in terms of football romance and the court of public opinion over the next couple of weeks, perhaps it is.
Because there's certainly two very contrasting narratives developing heading into the penultimate weekend of this season. And sentimentally, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The case being cheered on by the vast bulk of the Melbourne football public is a Cinderella story about a favourite but historically luckless old mate. The other side is a futuristic tale of football's holy grail being fought over by not just one but two teams hailing from what was once foreign and hostile territory.
For the keepers of our code, whose 30-year-long quest to turn a provincial competition into a truly national one, the prospect of a Sydney-Greater Western Sydney grand final is mouth-watering.
When the Sydney version of the Swans first reached the AFL grand final 20 years ago, a major bridge had been crossed.
Two decades on, the club has won two premierships, played in four grand finals and been a perennial part of September. To have it joined on the grand final stage by an inter-city rival would even in 1996 have seemed the stuff of fantasy.
There's been 11 premierships now won by clubs residing outside Victoria. Three grand finals played without a Victorian participant. A fourth, most significantly between two clubs from a non-traditional football state, would be the most glowing endorsement yet of the national competition.
Eddie’s nightmare all-Sydney grand final scenario remains alive
Peter Lalor
The Australian, September 19
Parochial Victorians’ worst nightmare remains a distinct possibility with both Sydney sides one win away from playing each other in a grand final.
Who let them in? Eddie McGuire has warned the conservative Melbourne football public about the threat of being swamped by Swans and the boat people of Sydney’s greater west for some time now. A way of life is under threat. Dollars are being squandered on new arrivals.
Not that there haven’t been dark days before. No Victorian side played in the 2004, 2005 or 2006 grand finals before normal service was resumed.
The bleating has already begun over the decision to let the Giants play at home next weekend in a stadium that is too small, too far from the Melbourne CBD and too much of a reminder of what life is like in that hostile place. Never mind that the AFL doesn’t expect Spotless Stadium to sell out.
Sydney’s push for the last game of the season seemed to have been derailed by the Giants in the qualifying final, but the wobble was righted and intensity rediscovered in a command performance at the SCG on Saturday night.
Adelaide arrived assured but knew early in the match that they did not have the game or personnel to challenge the home side, who scored seven goals in the first quarter.
The Swans’ dominance continued despite the losses of co-captain Jarrad McVeigh and Gary Rohan in the second term.
It was the second physically hard game for Sydney who have a six-day break before meeting Geelong at the MCG on Friday.
Josh Kennedy starred for the Swans, racking up possessions and shrugging off any concerns following a high hit the week before that saw Stevie Johnson suspended for a week.
“It was certainly a tough game,” he said.
“We were pretty exhausted by the final siren, but you certainly pull up a little bit better when you win and you’ve got a prelim final to look forward to.
“I’d happily play it tomorrow ... we can’t wait to get into it.”
Buddy and his pals are foursome
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 18
FOUR goals each from Lance Franklin and Tom Papley last night helped the Swans win a war of attrition, downing Adelaide by 36 points at the SCG.
After being held goalless in last week’s qualifying final loss to the Giants, Franklin started inside the forward 50 and had an instant effect — booting two in a high-scoring first term.
He added another in the second and third to round out another outstanding finals performance. The former Hawk has now kicked 62 goals in his 24 finals appearances.
His less-experienced team mate looked every bit the veteran. Papley was playing in just his second final but looked like he was born on the big stage, kicking his four goals at critical times throughout the match.
It was a different-looking Swans team to the one soundly beaten by GWS last week.
“We can’t afford to stray from the way we play,” Swans coach John Longmire said.
“We brought enormous energy and intensity tonight and it was a real credit to our players. Probably five or six of the first seven goals in the first quarter were from our efforts to turn the ball over and our fierce presence and pressure around the ball.”
Sydney proving themselves to be comeback kings
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, September 18
IF there is one thing you can count on with this Swans team it is that they never play two bad games in a row.
Once again this season, they’ve bounced back from a sub-par performance, this time from last week’s drubbing at the hands of local rivals GWS.
The Giants asked serious questions about almost every element of Sydney’s game. The backbone of the team, their midfield, were outmuscled and made to look mediocre. Their defence were exposed by talented and speedy opponents while their forwards were seemingly impotent, kicking just seven goals for the match.
But right from the outset last night it was a different-looking team who won the clearances and contested possession, closed down the Crows stars including Eddie Betts and Josh Jenkins, and booted seven goals in the opening quarter.
John Longmire clearly knows how to get a response out of his players both old and young.
“The boys are a proud group,” Longmire said after the match.
“We were disappointed about how we played last week and we know we can play better than that.
“We played one of the form teams in the competition. Adelaide are a topnotch footy team. We lost a couple before the game and a couple halfway through the second term but to our players’ credit we kept going.”
Swans advance in 2016 AFL finals after overcoming Adelaide Crows at SCG
James Buckley
SMH, September 18
The method was fierce, the result positive, but the cost could prove very expensive ahead of next weekend's preliminary final against Geelong.
Sydney's ferocious 36-point win over Adelaide at the SCG on Saturday night was built on a ruthless tackling foundation, but the war of attrition took its toll as Gary Rohan's season ended on the back of a mobile stretcher with a right knee injury and co-captain Jarrad McVeigh hurt his calf.
Adelaide's Jake Lever also left the ground before halftime in a brutal contest after a heavy collision with Lance Franklin, nursing an ankle injury. Geelong's players would've watched this with a smile on their face back in Victoria as their two prospective opponents next week beat the hell out of each other.
The Cats have had the weekend off after last weekend's nail-biting triumph over Hawthorn, while the Swans have just a six-day turnaround to recover before they play for a spot in this year's grand final.
McVeigh returned for a little while after the main break and was planted up forward, his left calf heavily strapped. It boosted the Swans' body count but the co-captain was clearly favouring one leg. Whether he plays next weekend at the MCG is another matter entirely.
The semi-final battle wasn't just confined to the playing surface at the SCG with one Swans fan ejected by police before halftime for allegedly threatening to punch a female Crows supporter.
On the field the home side weren't Swans, they were lions - hunting in numbers and tackling in packs, led admirably from the king of their midfield pride in Luke Parker.
He had five tackles and nine touches to quarter time, setting the standard as the Swans were looking to avoid a second consecutive straight-sets finals exit. Parker finished with 12 tackles, showing why he was voted this week by his peers as the league's most courageous player.
It was as if he'd taken the loss to GWS personally, along with all the subsequent commentary about the Swans' paltry tackling numbers against the Giants.
Lance Franklin recovered from his ever goalless showing in a final last weekend, and the well-publicised mental-health sledge directed his way by Shane Mumford in that game, by kicking four goals. Franklin spent large chunks of this game playing as a traditional full forward as opposed to last week where he was camped well up the ground.
Young gun Tom Papley also chimed in with four six-pointers of his own.
Cats v Swans: a long awaited heavyweight clash
Rohan Connolly
The Age, September 18
Despite their pre-eminence during the AFL era, Geelong and Sydney have played just one final against each other in the past 80 years, and it's a game neither club will ever forget.
The 2005 second semi-final, and more specifically Nick Davis' last-quarter heroics, were a launching pad to the Swans' first premiership in 72 years, and for the Cats, heartbreak even three subsequent premierships hasn't completely erased.
It's more than a decade on, and talk of revenge is irrelevant, but just to deny their opponent a grand final berth and book their own spot for a first time in five years would be sweet for Geelong.
For that to happen, plenty will have to go right for the Cats, who in recent times have had more than their share of problems against a team that always competes fiercely and as recently as round 16 inflicted Geelong's only loss on their home ground in their last dozen appearances.
Sydney were disappointing against GWS in the qualifying final, but the Swans don't often turn in two bad games in a row, and proved in Saturday night's semi-final win over Adelaide that their trademark hunger for the contest was back at full throttle.
The Cats are rested. Indeed, with just one hit-out in four weeks, there'll be queries about whether they're lacking match hardness. However it pans out, these are two teams that have hung around the mark now for several years without again scaling the premiership summit. Either would be bitterly disappointed should they fall one game short of having yet another crack.
