Swans’ finals dream alive after win
A BREAKTHROUGH finals appearance is fast becoming a realistic possibility for South Barwon.
The Swans have entrenched themselves inside the top five thanks to a barnstorming second half against Bell Park, stunning the Dragons in a 15.15 (105) to 7.4 (46) victory at home.
After trailing by 25 points at half-time, the Swans kicked 13 unanswered goals and kept the Dragons to a solitary behind for the second half, raising legitimate questions about Bell Park’s finals credibility.
Small forward Jonty Broughton was the catalyst, booting six goals for the Swans. But despite sitting two games inside the top five, firstyear coach David Farrell is determined to keep his side’s season in perspective.
“We probably haven’t thought that far ahead,” he said when asked if the victory cemented the club’s finals aspirations. “Our focus turns pretty quickly to Geelong West, who have started to get their game going under a new coaching group now.
“We also know we’ve got a big one against Leopold in a couple of weeks too, so we’re not looking much further ahead than that at the moment.
“Maybe when we get a chance to reflect on it, we might take that away from it, but right now we saw them as a side competing for our spot on the ladder, and it’s really important we continue to beat sides around us to push us up from where we finished on the ladder last year.”
After kicking 2.8 to halftime and controlling large portions of play, South Barwon finally got reward for effort in the third quarter as they completed a 34-point turnaround to incredibly lead by nine points at the final change.
Bell Park was halted in its tracks and struggled with just two on the bench after firsthalf injuries to James Gow (ankle) and Jack Brauman (head knock), yet the Swans were ruthless.
“Some guys are really big confidence players I suppose, so them getting their hands on the footy is important,” Farrell said.
“For us, it’s been a teamfirst mentality and the guys have been playing for each other and to a plan.
“At half-time we asked the guys to stay confident in what we’d set out to do and continue to play their individual roles really well, which they did in the second half.”