Rush of Bloods
How the Swans bounced back into finals contention
SYDNEY’S year has been a tale of two seasons, the dark ages from rounds one to six and the renaissance from seven to 14.
If the Swans beat Melbourne tonight they will be back on level pegging and at least temporarily in the eight.
It’s a situation that was unimaginable two months ago when lowly Carlton humbled them at the MCG.
The fall from grace was complete: from playing in the grand final to rock bottom as the only winless team in the competition.
The only consolation was they couldn’t fall any further and the only available direction available was up. So how did they get here? Firstly, they did not panic. Swans coach John Long- mire knew before the season they were thin on talent and in for a rough ride.
“There are the controllable and the uncontrollable and the uncontrollable was the injuries to senior players,” Longmire said.
“We openly discussed that going into the season and we knew it was going to be a problem and it was always going to be a tough start for us.
“It was tougher than we hoped but we understood where we were at and in the end it’s a reminder we need to bring our best every week regardless of who’s playing.”
A freak injury to Dane Rampe (broken arm) and illness to Isaac Heeney (glandular fever) amplified the depth problems.
The Swans blooded six debutants in the first five rounds but also went away from their signature brand of contested football.
They were second in contested football differential last year and fell to 17th in the first six rounds. From round seven onwards they are No.1.
They also lifted dramatically in clearance differential (13th to sixth), scores from turnovers (15th to fifth) and points conceded (13th to second).
The charge back to the top has been led by the team’s barometers Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker and Dan Hannebery.
Former Swans and most recently Melbourne coach Paul Roos says the engine room will be where tonight’s contest is decided.
“Melbourne’s work around the ball is getting more and more consistent,” Roos said.
“You have to do that against Sydney and if you don’t, you’re in massive trouble. They are more ready to take on Sydney than they have been in the past. We weren’t consistent enough in the past.”
BOB Murphy will make his return to football against West Coast tomorrow.
The Western Bulldogs captain has fully recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in Round 10.
Since then the Bulldogs have been smashed by Sydney and Melbourne before defeating North Melbourne by a point last weekend.
The 35-year-old Murphy replaces Tom Liberatore, who has a cork. Fellow veteran Matthew Boyd will play in the VFL again after being named an emergency.
The Eagles have been forced to swing the changes for the clash at Etihad Stadium.
Matt Priddis (soreness), Josh Hill (illness), Shannon Hurn (concussion) and Will Schofield (hip) will all miss.
Sharrod Wellingham, Chris Masten, Jack Redden and Sam Butler come into the 22.
Carlton’s Jed Lamb will miss tomorrow’s MCG match against Adelaide after failing to recover from the head knock he suffered in the inci- dent with Richmond’s Bachar Houli. Lamb is one of six outs for the Blues.
Blaine Boekhorst, Jarrod Pickett and Billie Smedts were omitted and Sam PetrevskiSeton (managed) and Ed Curnow (larynx) also miss.
Simon White, David Cuningham, Zac Fisher, Sam Kerridge, Ciaran Sheehan and Liam Sumner have been named as replacements.
For the Crows, Mitch McGovern returns after suffering a serious hamstring injury in Round 3.
Collingwood has named midfielder Josh Thomas in its squad to take on Hawthorn on Sunday. If selected in the final 22, it will be the 25-year-old’s first senior game since 2014.
Thomas, who served a twoyear drugs ban after testing positive to a banned substance in March 2015, was promoted off the rookie list yesterday.
“It’s a great reward for him,’’ Magpies football manager Geoff Walsh said
In a further boost for the Pies, coach Nathan Buckley says Jamie Elliott is a certain starter for Sunday’s MCG clash with Hawthorn.
The spring-heeled small forward kicked 20 goals in eight games before suffering an ankle injury in Round 12.
“We will enjoy having him back in the mix, obviously, being an important part of that forward structure for us and he just adds a little bit of bite,” Buckley said of Elliott.
And Gold Coast has named Gary Ablett to play his 300th AFL match this weekend after the midfield superstar completed training yesterday.
The 33-year-old was set to achieve the milestone last week but was ruled out of the Suns’ loss to St Kilda in Melbourne due to a calf injury.