The Sydney Swans clash with Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday June 26 in Round 15.
After a bye last week, the Swans have made two changes to their team with defender Kaiden Brand and forward Errol Gulden returning for the clash in place of Sam Wicks (suspension) and Logan McDonald (omitted).
Gulden returns from a shin injury that has ruled the 18-year old out of action since Round 9. The QBE Sydney Swans Academy product will be playing his ninth senior game after debuting and playing the opening eight rounds of this season.
Brand returns to Sydney's backline for just his third game this season, previously featuring in Round 6 & Round 11.
Port Adelaide have made three changes to their line up that came away with a 50-point victory over the Gold Coast Suns last week.
Forward Dylan Edwards will make his debut, replacing the injured Robbie Gray whilst forward Todd Marshall also returns to the side. Defender Lachie Jones drops out of the side with injury whilst ruck/forward Peter Ladhams has been omitted.
The Round 15 clash has been brought forward to Saturday afternoon following both clubs and officials involved agreeing to strict travel arrangements and other protocols as approved by the South Australian government. The Sydney Swans will fly-in and fly-out of Victoria for the match on Saturday via charter plane.
The match kicks off at 4:35pm AEST at the Adelaide Oval and will be broadcast live on Fox Footy and Kayo Sports.
STATS
Port Adelaide hold the recent head to head advantage over Sydney, claiming four wins from their last four matches, including last year’s 73-47 victory at the Adelaide Oval. They enter this clash with three wins over the last five weeks and currently sit fifth on the ladder.
Sydney will however enter this clash refreshed after a bye. The side currently sits in 6th with 8 wins this season, and three wins from their last five weeks.
KEY QUOTES
John Longmire
"Errol has missed a bit of footy but he is obviously an elite runner and has been training hard so we don't expect him to lose too much fitness. He was very good for us early in the year, both with his pressure and scoring assists so it's good to get him back in the team." Longmire on Gulden
"We just want to test ourselves against one of the best teams of the competition on their home deck, that is the real challenge for us. We play a really good team over there, we haven't beaten them the last couple of times, they are a very good football club so we look forward to that." Longmire on facing Port Adelaide
Will Hayward
"What we have learnt over the last few days is that anything can happen overnight so we are prepared for anything. If it's here [Melbourne] or Sydney, we will be ready to go. We will just adapt to whatever ground we are playing at." Hayward on the changing climate.
"If we can bring our pressure and hunt on the opposition, we can really let our game flow from there. They are a great side. They have shown that last year and what they have been able to do this year so it's going to be a tough game. We have some systems in place that hopefully we can implement to help us win." Hayward on Port Adelaide.
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