Sydney have breathed new life into their ailing AFL season and dealt a heavy blow to Carlton’s ultimate ambitions with a painful but no less precious 26-point win on Friday night.
As important as this result is to the Swans’ broader ambitions, no one will be ordering the DVD or playing the replay on any streaming service. This was a patchy, sloppy, and disjointed game of football between two teams that, for various reasons, failed to live up to pre-season expectations.
Sydney’s Will Hayward (right) celebrates with Lance Franklin.Credit: AFL Photos
John Longmire can happily collect all four points from the Swans’ second successive win, after last week’s lucky break against North Melbourne, and forget about it.
His counterpart, Michael Voss, would probably like to do the same, but could be haunted by this sometimes excruciating competition for a long time, with Patrick Cripps, Ollie Hollands and Nic Newman injured.
The Blues had it all on the line in the fourth quarter, trailing by eight points after probably outscoring the Swans in overall play up to that point. But they struggled to land any punches, let alone the first of the final period, and it was Chad Warner who finally opened the scoring from three feet after Sydney stepped forward, breaking Carlton’s resistance in tandem.
Goals from Will Hayward and Justin McInerney followed to confirm this win, which lifts the Swans to 11th in the standings ahead of next week’s bye, but his September hopes will continue to be tempered by his long list of injuries, which he thankfully didn’t see. none. new names added to it.
In defense of Carlton, they played the crucial final minutes with hardly any fit bodies on the bench, with former Sydney midfielder George Hewett out with concussion in the second quarter, Hollands and Newman later ruled out, and Cripps forced to return to the field. after limping away in anguish.
Carlton’s Patrick Cripps injured his ankle or lower leg.Credit: AFL Photos
But the game was lost long before then, with terrible shots on goal by the Blues leaving the Swans free. The main culprits were Charlie Curnow, who scored six contested points in the first half but kicked 1.3, and Harry McKay, who returned 0.3 when his yips returned at a crucial moment early in the third quarter.