Ruckman Kurt Tippett responded to his senior omission with a dominant display in Saturday's emphatic 171-point NEAFL win over GWS in the west.
In a Swans side packed full of AFL-listed talent and against a Giants side irrefutably sapped of top-level experience, Tippett collected 22 disposals, took nine marks and booted three goals in the 28.17 (185) to 2.2 (14) triumph at Blacktown International Sportspark.
Coach John Longmire, who was an invested onlooker in the grandstand, made the tough call of omitting Tippett from the senior side ahead of Thursday's showdown with the Bulldogs.
He challenged the big man during the week to rediscover his best touch and the man in the gun answered the call with a strong showing against the league's leading ruckman, Dawson Simpson, with a game-high 28 hit-outs.
In fact, Tippett had to shoulder the ruck work by himself for most of the game after first-year Darcy Cameron went down with an injury in the opening quarter. Aliir Aliir (10 hit-outs) was called up to give Tippett a chop out when the No. 8 rested on the interchange bench.
When on the ground Tippett was imposing and had the luxury of feeding the footy to a busy fleet of midfielders with Jordan Dawson (26 disposals, 11 tackles), Ollie Florent (28 disposals, eight tackles, six clearances and two goals), Brandon Jack (27 disposals) and Sam Fisher (25 disposals, seven inside 50s) getting their hands on plenty of footy throughout the afternoon.
The Swans' hard two-way running was on full display, winning both the contested (168-117) and uncontested (283-141) possession count.
Both Dawson and Fisher also found plenty of freedom to float forward to finish, alongside QBE Academy top-up Sam Wicks, with four goals apiece.
In defence, Jeremy Laidler (31 disposals, seven marks), Michael Talia (22 disposals, four marks) and, when not contesting at the stoppages, Aliir (23 disposals, seven marks) held their form to concede only 36 inside 50s for the match compared to the Swans' 82.
Sydney hogged shared the footy around to hog 64 per cent of possession, amassing 82 more kicks, 112 more handballs and 39 more marks yet still out-tackled the Giants which meant they were both ferocious and relentless, following on from their senior teammates' efforts on Thursday night.
And it showed on the scoreboard with the Swans keeping the Giants goalless until the dying stages of the third quarter while slamming on 18 goals before the final change. They finished off the game with a 10-goal-to-one final term to record their biggest win since Round 5, 2012, when the Jared Crouch-led reserves defeated former Canberra-based outfit Tuggeranong by 178 points.
Gary Rohan was also a handy contributor with 18 disposals and two goals. The speedster started as high half-forward who floated through the midfield, but was later moved to full-forward where Thursday night's late omission provided a strong target (six marks).
Rohan was pulled from the senior side due to illness but recovered swiftly to take his place in Rhyce Shaw's lineup with the aim of getting some game time under his belt and re shift his focus towards earning a recall for next weekend's clash with Richmond.
Meanwhile, rookie Ben Ronke kicked two goals and gathered 16 touches in his red-and-white debut. He's had a delayed start to the season with injury but shrugged it off to put a strong performance together in limited game time.
The NEAFL Swans returned to the top of the ladder, equal on points with Sydney Uni after 11 rounds, but well clear on percentage.
Shaw and his chargers travel to Queensland next weekend for a date with fifth-ranked Aspley at South Pine.
