Scholarship player Nathan Gordon was the Swans’ best, playing primarily on the wing but spending some time up forward. Tim Schmidt was also a stand-out in the midfield as was full forward Jesse White, who booted eight goals. Midfielder Dan Hannebery, Brendan Murphy, playing at full back, and ruckman Mike Pyke were also named in the Swans’ best.
Taylor Gilchrist opened the Swans’ account with a mark and goal from 30 metres, four minutes into the first term. After Ainslie kicked their first goal a few minutes later, the Swans kept them goalless and piled on four more themselves. Top-up player Jesse Martin kicked one on the run from 30 metres, White kicked his first two, both from marks, and Luke Ablett marked and goaled from 30 metres to put the Swans 28 points in front at the first break.
Ainslie kicked the first goal of the second term as a result of a soft free kick but the Swans responded, kicking another four goals. Amon Buchanan snapped one from 30 metres while White got his third after a free kick downfield. Luke Ablett kicked his second at the 19 minute mark, and top-up player Shaun Wicken goaled two minutes later. At half-time the Swans had extended their lead to 44 points.
By three-quarter time the margin was 46 points with Ainslie kicking five goals for the quarter. But the Swans did the same. Kristin Thornton goaled after a free kick and a 50 metre penalty just three minutes into the term and Wicken kicked his second shortly after. At the 13 minute mark, White kicked his fourth from 40 metres before Ainslie had a run of three in a row. He then kicked two more for the quarter within minutes of each other, the first from a mark 40 metres out and the second from 45 metres.
White opened the last term with two more goals before Ablett goaled on the run from 50 metres to put the Swans 63 points in front. The Swans didn’t score again until the 15 minute mark, when Wicken kicked his third for the day after a good tap from Orreal. Orreal followed up with a mark and goal from 40 metres a few minutes later taking the margin back to 62 points. Ainslie finished the game with two more goals while the Swans managed just four behinds to bring the margin to the final 55 point difference.
The Swans Reserves will now meet Tuggeranong who are currently sitting in last place on the AFL Canberra ladder at 10.50am on Saturday 14 July at the SCG. The game is the curtain-raiser for the Swans and Essendon game at 2.10pm.
Final score:
Swans Reserves – 5.6 (36) 9.13 (67) 14.19 (103) 19.24 (138)
Ainslie – 1.2 (8) 3.5 (26) 8.9 (57) 12.11 (83)
Goals:
White 8; Ablett, Wicken 3; Martin, Gilchrist, Thornton, Orreal, Buchanan 1
Best:
Gordon, Schmidt, White, Hannebery, Murphy, Pyke
Team list:
ABLETT, Luke
ATKINSON, Michael
BELL, Taylor
BOTTIN-NOONAN, Ryan
BUCHANAN, Amon
GILCHRIST, Taylor
GORDON, Nathan
HANNEBERY, Dan
LEWIS, Jay
MANLEY, Zach
MARTIN, Jesse
MOORE, Jarred
MURPHY, Brendan
O'DWYER, Matthew
O'KEEFE, Daniel
ORREAL, Jake
PATIRA, Josh
PYKE, Mike
SCHMIDT, Tim
THORNTON, Kristin
WHITE, Jesse
WICKEN, Shaun
WITT, Dan
