After two successive defeats, the Sydney Swans reserves have emphatically bounced back on to the winner’s list with a 172-point win over Tuggeranong at the SCG today.

The warning signs were ominous for the Hawks from the outset after Jack Lynch got on the end of a long Jarred Moore kick from the centre square and ran into an open goal for the Swans in the opening 36 seconds.

To Tuggeranong’s credit, they bounced back with the next goal of the match within a minute and a tight affair looked on the cards.  However, from that point on the Swans took complete control and piled on the goals for the remaining four quarters.

The combination of Mitch Morton, Trent Dennis-Lane and Tommy Walsh up forward proved too much for the Tuggeranong defence as the trio combined for 17 goals.

Morton was outstanding for the Swans playing off the half forward line. Not only did he contributed seven goals of his own to the scoreboard, he linked up well with the full forward line, providing four direct goal assists in the first half alone.

In a matter of minutes in the second term, Morton was able to set up Dennis-Lane with a left foot kick to advantage, and then found Nathan Gordon on his right foot, both of which resulted in relatively simple set shot goals. He later found Dennis-Lane again with a right foot snap out of traffic, to make it three assists for the quarter.

Walsh, who also played as the second-ruck behind Mike Pyke when the ball went forward, improved further on the form that saw him named in the Swans senior squad this week. His strong marking and conversion was first-rate. Not long after kicking a set shot from outside 50 metres on a 45 degree angle in the second quarter, the big Irishman followed it up with an inside-out torpedo out of a pack from 40 out. He presented across the full four quarters and finished the game with five goals.

The midfield group benefited from first use of the ball provided by Pyke in the ruck, and pleasingly for the onballers, they were able to make their dominance count on the scoreboard. Jarred Moore and Nathan Gordon bobbed up with three and two goals respectively as they continually pushed forward from stoppages, while Brett Meredith had his best game of the season and got on the end of a couple of goals himself.

The Swans reserves will face their toughest test in the brief histroy of the NEAFL next Saturday night, as they travel to Darwin to take on the inaugural NEAFL champions, NT Thunder under lights.

Sydney Swans Reserves       9.5    16.13    24.18    32.21 213
Tuggeranong                             1.1       3.1        6.4        6.5 41

Goal Kickers: M. Morton 7, T. Walsh 5, T. Dennis-Lane 5, N. Gordon 3, J. Lamb 2, J. Moore 2, B. Meredith 2, M. Pyke, E. Kruger, J. Lynch, H. Cunningham, T. Barrett, J. Potter

Best Players: T. Dennis-Lane, M. Morton, J. Moore, B. Meredith, T. Wales, C. Heath