If the results of previous recent meetings are anything to go by, tonight’s clash between the Sydney Swans and Essendon could go right down to the wire.
The last time to the two sides played a home and away fixture, at Etihad Stadium in round 20 last year, Swans co-captain Adam Goodes - who will miss tonight’s game in hopefully his last match off following a quad injury - missed a shot at goal after the final siren as the Swans went down by a solitary point.
It was an injustice to the game Goodes played, with his three goals and 29 possessions giving the Swans a chance at victory in what was one of the games of the season.
“You can’t put it down to Goodesy’s miss,” Swans midfielder Dan Hannebery, who was collected heavily by Essendon’s Michael Hurley in the match, said immediately after the game.
“Anyone who says ‘if only he had of kicked it’, (well) he was the one who kept us in the game.”
Click on the video player above to see which team mate Swans players would want taking a kick after the siren for them
Since that match in August last year, the Swans and Essendon again played out a thriller at Etihad Stadium, with the Bombers coming out on top by two points in round 3 of this year’s NAB Cup pre-season competition.
On that occasion, Sam Reid was dominant for the Swans, kicking four goals straight as the visitors came from 30 points down in the third quarter to lead by 11 points early in the last, before the Bombers again fought back to claim a tight victory.
“It’s sort of like we’re building up a bit of a rivalry,” Reid said after the game.
“We seem to have a fast paced game whenever we play them, but they’re two up on us now, so we owe them a few.”
But close matches between these two sides haven’t been restricted to Etihad Stadium in recent years, with the previous two matches played in Sydney also decided by single figures.
The first game at the SCG in round 11, 2010, saw the Swans outplay the Bombers in the final quarter to run out nine-point winners in wet conditions. Jude Bolton was the star on that occasion racking up a then-career-best 36 disposals - which he beat just last weekend when he accumulated 41 touches - and an AFL-record of 26 contested possessions.
Round 2 last year also saw the match go down to the wire, when, after trailing all day, the Swans edged their way in front late in the final term at ANZ Stadium. A last-gasp Marty Mattner tackle on Brent Stanton deep in the Swans’ defence saved the match for the Swans in what was John Longmire’s first win as a senior coach.
All indicators point to another close contest tonight when the sides with the two best defensive records in terms of points conceded (Swans 1st, Bombers 2nd) go head-to-head. The match also sees the third (Bombers) and fourth (Swans) best contested possession teams in the AFL pitted against each other.
