A dominant four-goal burst at the start of the final quarter was the catalyst for the Sydney Swans reserves recording an outstanding 31-point win over the Gold Coast Suns reserves at Metricon Stadium this afternoon.
After leading by ten points at each of the first three breaks, the Swans built the advantage they were looking for in the first ten minutes of the last term, enabling them to hold the Suns at bay for the remainder of the match.
Having conceded the first goal in each of the opening three quarters, top-up player Bradley Plug got the Swans off to the perfect start in the last with an accurate right-foot banana snap while facing his opposition goal. Goals to Matt Spangher, Mitch Morton and Jesse White then followed in quick succession, and the Swans had pushed the lead beyond six goals for the first time in the game.
The two sides traded majors for the remaining 20 minutes of the match, with the Swans doing enough to hold strong for an impressive victory.
The reserves lost four of their recent key players in the lead up to the match with Trent Dennis-Lane and Luke Parker promoted to senior duty, and Tom Mitchell and Tommy Walsh missing through injury.
In their absence, Morton stood up to play one of his best matches for the season in his second week back on the park following a quad injury.
Morton kicked at least two goals in every term - including the Swans first two goals of the game - to finish with nine goals for the afternoon from a combination of set-shots following marks and free kicks, and left and right foot snaps from open play. While he may have finished games with higher goal tallies this year, it would be hard to find a better four-quarter performance from the reserves’ leading goalkicker.
On the ground where he made his Swans senior debut last year, Matt Spangher provided a perfect second scoring option for the Swans. Spangher took several strong grabs in the Swans forward 50 and kicked three goals, often bobbing up at crucial times to stem the Suns momentum.
Despite some inaccuracies in front of goal, Nathan Gordon got busy in the Swans’ engine room and played a key role for the visitors, in the second quarter especially. After getting sent off early in the corresponding fixture last year for being reported twice, Gordon put in a significantly improved shift this afternoon and was one of the Swans’ major ball winners in the midfield and also finished with double-figure stats in the marks column.
Dylan McNeil and Jarred Moore were two of the other Swans who knocked up getting possessions throughout the match. Both also kicked key goals to the Southern End of the ground, with Moore getting the Swans last goal of the game to push them past the 20-goal mark for the eighth time this season.
The reserves return to Sydney tonight before readying themselves to become the first Sydney Swans team to play at Skoda Stadium when they face the UWS Giants at the ground from 10.40am next Saturday morning.
Sydney Swans reserves 3.6 8.8 12.10 20.11 (131)
Gold Coast Suns reserves 2.2 7.4 11.6 15.10 (100)
Goals - Morton 9, Spangher 3, Plug 2, Gordon, McNeil, Potter, White, Everitt, Moore
