Bolton, who collected 22 possessions and kicked one goal for the match, said the Swans ability to stand up in the difficult on-field conditions and get on top of Gold Coast’s talented midfield group was impressive.
“The Suns were up and about after a big win against St Kilda last week and I think our guys just had to grind out a win, and it’s never going to be pretty in those conditions, so you’ve just got to keep persisting,” Bolton told SwansTV after the match.
“Our guys in the middle really started to crack in and we were rapt with the way the guys stood up at different times and that’s what you need – little cameos and the guys really cracking in and dragging the other guys along and we certainly had that today and it was a good hard fought win.
“It was frustrating for some of the fans in terms of the weather, but it was just great to get the win against a really quality team.”
Bolton highlighted the Swans’ effort to curb the influence of star midfielder Gary Ablett, who produced a stellar performance in the Suns’ round one win over St Kilda.
“It was a real team effort,” he said.
“Obviously Kieren Jack had a bit of a job on Gary Ablett, but you always need help with players of the quality of Ablett and we got that today and that’s what we needed.”
The midfielder added that co-captain Jarrad McVeigh’s 27-possession, four-goal performance really sparked the Swans into life this afternoon.
“We also had Jarrad McVeigh’s efforts to really push forward and it was just a really solid win in the wet conditions,” Bolton said.
One Swan who shared the task of shutting down Ablett with Jack, was defender Nick Smith, who kept the Suns number 29 to just one behind forward of centre for the match.
Speaking after the game, Smith said he couldn’t have done it without the persistence of his team mates through the midfield.
“He’s an amazing player and you can’t do it by yourself, you do need to get some help,” Smith said.
“I thought Kizza (Jack) did a great job in the midfield and then when he came forward I got a lot of help from him as well.
“With any of those really good players you need a team effort.”
Saturday afternoon’s win marked the Swans’ second consecutive win for the season following the club’s opening round victory over GWS last weekend.
Smith said while he felt the Swans intensity had lifted in round two, he believed there was still work to do ahead of the round three clash with North Melbourne in Hobart next weekend.
“GWS and Gold Coast have both improved so we’re really happy to get away with a win in both of those games,” he said.
“We just cracked away and they stuck with us for a long time, but in the last quarter I think we picked up our intensity a bit.
“Next week will be tough game, but every game is a tough game these days. North have got their tails up and we’ll have to play good footy to get on top of them.
“We’re just playing in patches a little bit at the moment and it would be good to gain some consistency for four quarters and we’ll work through that over the next couple of weeks.”
