Swans cruise to win as Giants suffer disastrous defeat at Engie Stadium
For 14 years in the Sydney derby, the Giants have worked tirelessly to become feared opponents of the Swans, but in their 33rd meeting they became a punching bag for their city rivals, losing 139-88.
Swans forward Charlie Curnow kicked four goals to highlight his Coleman Medal credentials and Errol Gulden finished with 41 disposals to help his side overcome a vastly superior Giants midfield.
GWS faced disaster in the first half, and not just by entering the dressing room 53 points behind their toughest rivals.
The Giants’ total of 18 tackles in the first half highlighted the inability to put pressure on the Swans, save for Giants veteran Stephen Coniglio and midfielder Clayton Oliver, who refused to give up throughout the game.
The Swans will now look to retain second place in the AFL table, while the Giants will be left with more questions than answers in their quest to play finals football. The Giants have beaten Fremantle, Brisbane, Hawthorn and Geelong this season. The best of them was magnificent, the worst of them came against the Swans.
Giants coach Adam Kingsley admitted his team’s inconsistency continues to cost them this season and their chances of a place in the finals look increasingly unlikely.
“We want to be a lot more consistent than we are at the moment; you don’t see the swings of the top teams like you’ve seen from us this year and that probably shows that we’re not one of the absolute elite teams,” Kingsley said.
“If we’re lucky enough to get into the play-offs, which seems difficult to do, but we’ll keep trying… We’ll have to win five games in a row, which you can’t do if you’re inconsistent.”
The Giants were without talismanic captain Toby Greene due to a quad strain. He is greatly missed not only for his brilliance as a player, but also as a unique leader who could spark a response from his teammates in the toughest of times.
Greene’s former sparring partner Tom Papley’s first goal was met with an unusually muted celebration in response to the lack of pressure the Swans faced and perhaps Greene’s absence.
Greene played his first Sydney derby in 2012 as the Giants lost by 63 points alongside Stephen Coniglio. Despite the heavy defeat, the young team could not be accused of lacking heart or appetite. On Saturday evening, the foundation so laboriously built collapsed.
Swans midfielder Braeden Campbell has missed most of this season with a stress fracture in his shin. In just his second game of the year, Campbell returned to form with his newly bleached blonde hair seen throughout Engie Stadium in the first quarter.
Campbell took advantage of his team’s masterful passing movement to score the first goal in less than a minute.
Curnow had scored in 11 consecutive matches but was held goalless in last Friday’s defeat against Adelaide. The drought against the Giants ended decisively when Curnow threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter. James Rowbottom and Jai Serong added their first major of the afternoon to create a 30-point lead.
Xavier O’Halloran’s first goal for the Giants was greeted not with cheers from Engie Stadium, but with collective relief. It was short lived.
Goals from Papley and Brodie Grundy increased the lead to 37 points in their first major.
Chad Warner scored his first goal from a tight angle on the boundary line to start the second quarter. Warner is thriving in space, and the Giants gifted him a lot of that.
Curnow awarded the Giants a 100-yard penalty for ruffling Clayton Oliver’s hair. Jayden Laverde had the chance to score a great strike exactly 20 meters in front of goal. Laverde hit the post. It summed up the Giants’ day. Then, with a goal from Swans’ Billy Cootee, the difference increased to 45 points.
Coniglio’s second goal of the game provided a rare resistance for the home team, with Clayton Oliver struggling almost alone in midfield.
Curnow and Cootee scored their third and second goals respectively; This is in contrast to Logan McDonald, who did not record a single tackle, tackle or mark on the field 20 minutes into the second quarter.
Trailing by 53 points, Giants coach Adam Kingsley stared intently at his laptop and McDonald finally found the goal.
The Giants desperately needed an answer after entering the locker room trailing by 53 points, and they finally got it at the start of the third quarter.
Coniglio said he wanted to finish his career with the Giants and that his third goal early in the third quarter would not harm ongoing negotiations.
Giants center fielder Ryan Angwin also tried to provoke a reaction from his team by scoring two majors in this quarter, but the result was in vain.
Curnow’s fourth major and Logan McDonald’s third goal kept the Giants comfortably at bay. Hayden McLean’s first goal of the game increased the lead to 59 points, the highest point of the game.
The final quarter provided some of the Giants’ best performances with back-to-back goals from Jake Stringer and Joe Fonti, but it was too late.
The Swans managed to treat the closing stages like a training ground exercise; Jake Lloyd, James Rowbottom and Isaac Heeney kicked big to underline a comfortable victory that could and should have been much bigger.
Towards the end of the match, a fire alarm went off in the stadium, calling for evacuation. The Giants appear to have heeded the warning much earlier in the game against an opponent that normally brings out the best in them.
Swans coach Dean Cox will play against St Kilda in Melbourne next Saturday ahead of guaranteed final football in September.
“We’re still trying to work out a few things. We’re not perfect by any means, but we want to make sure we’re playing a brand of football that can endure,” Cox said.
