Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The Swans have no excuses here. The weather is perfect, the team is almost at full strength and they are facing a St Kilda team at home.
It doesn’t matter. They are wasteful by hand and foot, sloppy in defence and completely shook up by the pressure of a St Kilda who are ripping up the form book.
The Swans are slow starters traditionally, but this is glacial.
Without a fortuitous Isaac Heeney goal, it could be even worse. Credit to St Kilda, they are playing without fear and are running free.
That’s it for the first quarter, and it’s the Saints in the lead after a promising opening term in the Harbour City.
Jack Sinclair has capped a brilliant opening term for his team with a set-shot goal from outside 50m after the siren.
Sydney have kicked 3.3 (21) and St Kilda finish the quarter with 6.2 (38) – a lead of 17 points.
All week the commentariat have been saying St Kilda need to claim a big-name scalp. Could this be the day? It’s too early to say an upset is on the cards, but they’ve certainly started in encouraging fashion.
That said, Sydney are a professional outfit. We can expect a response from them in the second term.
Well, the Saints are on fire early at the SCG, prompting Kayo commentator Gerard Healy to ponder if this could be a “banana-peel game” for the Swans.
Ross Lyon’s team has five goals on the board and had a 17-point lead on the second-placed Swans with three minutes left to play.
A clever, tumbling goal from Isaac Heeney helped Sydney narrow that gap to 11 points.
St Kilda has two goals from both Cooper Sharman and Liam Ryan, as well as one from Max Hall.
Sydney 21 v St Kilda 32.
Collingwood great Steele Sidebottom will miss the huge King’s Birthday clash against Melbourne on Monday.
He is being managed, which will give him a couple of week’s rest as the Magpies have a bye after Monday’s game.
The 35-year-old dual premiership player was uncharacteristically quiet against the Western Bulldogs, and Collingwood have decided to freshen him up.
Collingwood rested Scott Pendlebury throughout the first half of the season as he battled a grumbling Achilles tendon and targeted the West Coast Eagles match at the MCG as the day for him to break the AFL games record.
It was a smart piece of roving by James Rowbottom that resulted in Sydney’s second goal.
Here’s an image of the Swans midfielder dring the ball through the big sticks.
Swans fans will be encouraged by spearhead Charlie Curnow’s start to this game.
Coming off an eight-goal haul last week against Richmond, Curnow’s getting his hands on the ball at half-forward, with five kicks already.
He put the ball to the top of the goal square with his last foray forward, and it ended up with a clever crumbing goal by James Rowbottom.
Sydney 15 v St Kilda 13.
St Kilda have responded to Sydney’s strong opening with the next two goals, and they’ve both come from the boot of recruit Liam Ryan.
Sydney 7 v St Kilda 12.
These are the days that make the purgatory of Sydney’s humid summer worth it. The sun is shining, the air is crisp and it’s a big crowd at the SCG to see the Swans take on St Kilda.
The handball chain has the perfect stage. The Harbour City can a fairly fickle when it comes to turning up to barrack for their team if the weather just so, but there’s no excuse today.
Brodie Grundy is back after a week’s well earned rest and he will be looking forward to a battle against Tom De Koning today. Charlie Curnow kicked eight goals last week against Richmond, leading to claims that he’s a flat track bully. St Kilda will present a slightly tougher challenge.
The Swans have flexed early, punching the ball into their forward 50m from the opening ball-up and keeping it there until they scored.
Looked like a goal to Justin McInerney with a clever snap, but the St Kilda defenders appealed it was touched.
After a short delay, the goal was paid to McInerney, who’s been in such good form this year our senior AFL writer Jake Niall named him on the wing of his mid-year All-Australian team, which we published this morning.
Another point to Sydney as they keep the ball locked in their forward line.
Sydney 7 v St Kilda 0.
