Swans surging to semis

Still, there was hope. Essendon’s 39 tackles showed that.

Then, whooshka. “Thanks for coming,” Lance Franklin declared. The megastar burst the game apart with three goals in six minutes.

A set- shot from beyond 50m, a running goal after storming through two tackles and then a set- shot from the boundary.

The last followed a cool mark after Patrick Ambrose and Mark Baguley collided.

Bomber fans were sick of the sight of Buddy and Marty Gleeson was sick on the sidelines, vomiting three times.

Down by five goals, it had fallen apart. Halfway through the quarter, the margin was 45 points, Sydney slicing through 7.2 from 11 entries.

Twelve Bombers had combined for seven disposals and their only centre clearances had come from free kicks.

On the rare occasions Essendon won the footy, they gave it back.

In three minutes, Daniher, Heppell and Michael Hurley sprayed it out on the full, with Hurley’s delivering Franklin his fourth goal of the term.

Then Watson added his name to the list of offenders. Essendon was thumped in the midfield and the air.

By halftime, the Swans had clunked 18 contested marks to four. Still, this was a positive season. They farewell James Kelly and Watson and will want to add more grunt over summer.

Sexy and slick might cut it during the season, but not in September.