AFTER dominating the first half against Fremantle on Saturday, the Sydney Swans took the foot off the gas and allowed the visitors to give themselves a shot at victory.
Fremantle wasn't quite able to take its chances as the Swans eked out a 14.10 (94) to 12.9 (81) victory.
But Swans coach John Longmire was beaming after the match.
Longmire rates Fremantle extremely highly and watched Freo torch his side the last time they met at the ground in round 17 last year, so he only had one thing on his mind at the fulltime siren.
"I'm pretty pleased we won the game," he said.
"We really rate Fremantle. They're a good team.
"They had some injuries last year (when Fremantle missed the finals) and last week they beat last year's premiers.
"They're a really good team, they were going to come (back) at some point, but I thought our first half was really good, strong footy.
"Good teams come and when they came, we would've liked to hold them back a bit earlier, but eventually we were able to hold them out."
Leading by 45 points early in the third quarter, the Swans could only watch on as Fremantle kicked six straight goals to silence the crowd and threaten a stirring comeback.
But the home side kept its composure and snared the victory, which keeps it unbeaten after two matches in 2012.
It was an effort made even more meritorious by the fact key ruckman Shane Mumford (back) withdrew from the match just hours before the opening tip.
Aaron Sandilands led Fremantle to an extraordinarily lopsided 65-25 hit out count, finishing with 55 himself, but the Swans battled hard and only succumbed 48-40 in the clearances.
"I was surprised," Longmire said when he learned the news about Mumford.
"We were planning for 'Mummy' to play, he trained yesterday and was OK, and then I got a phone call this morning just before the reserves were about to start and they said he was tight.
"We had a look at him, took him out of the team and put (Mark) Seaby in.
"They still won the clearances, but going into the game you have to have a pretty big man to restrict Aaron Sandilands in the ruck.
"Probably a big man with a ladder.
"It's no surprise he's going to get his hands on the ball, but I think we battled pretty well at ground level.
Longmire also had praise for Lewis Roberts-Thomson, who had some telling moments in his 150th game.
Late in the third term, Roberts-Thomson helped snap Fremantle's six-goal streak by running down and tackling Adam McPhee, then finding Adam Goodes with his free kick.
The co-captain kicked the goal to give his side some breathing room, while he also set Goodes up for another goal in the final quarter.
"Lewie had a couple of pretty significant moments to be honest," Longmire said.
"The tackle was outstanding and it's such an important part of the game.
"They had momentum. We talk about goals and things in footy, but that was a really strong tackle."
James Dampney covers Sydney AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the AFL or the clubs
