LAST-GASP SWANS REIGN

SYDNEY left it until the last minute to seal the four points in its ninepoint win against St Kilda.

The Saints were left to lament a number of missed set shots in the final quarter which could have sealed a memorable victory at the SCG.

The most notable was a miss from Jack Higgins who had a shot with a minute left on the clock to win the game for St Kilda but sprayed his kick wide to give the Swans the ball and the game.

Higgins kicked 1.6 for the game. Sydney looked set for a cruisy afternoon at the office when it jumped out to a 21-point lead late in the first quarter, but two late goals to the Saints brought the margin back to eight points at the first change.

Mason Wood was subbed out of the game at quarter-time with a hamstring injury after kicking the first goal of the game.

Tom Highmore came into the contest in the second quarter as the Saints’ medical sub and was thrust into an uncustomary forward role.

The second term was tight, but it was the Saints who managed to win the arm wrestle on the scoreboard early and kicked the first two goals of the term through Jack Steele and Ryan Byrnes.

Lance Franklin’s 968th career goal had the Swans back on top, before his protégé Logan McDonald kicked his second and what would be the last goal of the quarter at the 11minute mark.

After the Swans jumped out to a 14-point lead early in the third quarter it looked like the top-four aspirants had put the foot down and were set to race away with the contest.

But as was the seesawing nature of the game the Saints were able to claw their way back into it and appeared to have all the momentum when Tim Membrey became their ninth goalkicker of the afternoon and gave his side the lead in time-on.

Sydney had all the answers though, and two late goals to livewire forward Tom Papley and skipper Luke Parker gave the Swans some breathing room when the sides turned for home.

Two dubious 50-metre penalties resulted in St Kilda goals and gave them a sniff deep into the last quarter, but it was inaccuracy that killed the Saints again as Sydney ran out winners.

Any forward line with Franklin in it is dangerous, but it’s the pieces around the generational forward that might make the Swans’ attack the best in the competition.

The Swans finished with four multiple goal kickers and it’s that potency that will have opposition sides worried come September.

Isaac Heeney and Will Hayward are just as dangerous in the air as they are on the ground and kicked five goals between them.

Buddy kicked two to move within 32 of 1000 career goals, while 19year-old McDonald kicked two on his return to the senior side.

Bradley Hill answered his critics once again in 2020 with his best game of the season playing across half back for the Saints.

The 27-year-old’s numbers had dropped every week since Round 7 and had just six touches last week, but it took half a quarter against the Swans for Hill to surpass that.

The Saints looked to get him involved at every turn and he had 18 first-half possessions at 100 per cent efficiency and totalled a game-high 317 metres gained to go with six score involvements.

St Kilda’s woeful goalkicking accuracy has been well documented and its biggest issue reared its ugly head again, including one miss that had to be seen to be believed.

Higgins was the main culprit early for the Saints, kicking 1.3 in the first half including a bevy of set shots that the skilful forward would normally nail.

But the worst miss of the day came with just seconds left on the clock in the second quarter.

After Jack Billings pumped the ball to about 15 metres out from the St Kilda goal, Seb Ross roved the ball out the back of the pack and ran into an open goal.

The 28-year-old put the ball on his boot 10 metres from goal but staggeringly stuck the Sherrin the wrong side of the goalpost in one of the misses of the season.