A rampaging Sydney has decimated GWS in the 28th rendition of the Sydney Derby, winning 15.12 (102) to the Giants’ 11.9 (75).
Crazily, the Swans’ percentage has dropped by four per cent, despite the 27-point victory over their cross-town rivals
The Giants came home hard at the start of the quarter, but John Longmire’s men held control of the match from the very first bounce.
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Errol Gulden was best-afield with his 41 disposals, 12 marks, 973 metres gained and a goal, winning his third Brett Kirk medal by the age of just 21.
Fellow midfielder James Rowbottom was equally as impressive – particularly when the game was on the line – with 31 disposals, 11 clearances and 10 score involvements.
For the hosts, Tom Green accumulated 35 disposals in a rare shining light for the Giants that has hopefully brought the 23-year-old back into form.
The 3-2-1 … (With Jack Jovanovski)
3. BIG SWAN IN ‘RARE’ FORM AS CATALYST IN DRUBBING OF RIVAL
As it has all year, Sydney leaned on its purring points-from-turnover profile in Saturday’s comprehensive win over arch-rival GWS.
Now unbeaten in their past 10 games — their last loss came against Richmond in Round 3 — the Swans secured their fifth win in their past six matches against their cross-town enemies.
John Longmire’s men are first in the AFL in points-from-turnover differential (+23.2) this season, and they again came up trumps in that battle at ENGIE Stadium.
Sydney’s marquee off-season recruit set the tone from the outset.
“Brodie Grundy’s just put his stamp on it again — he’s in rare form,” Melbourne great Garry Lyon said at quarter-time.
Grundy notched nine disposals in the first quarter alone.
“I mean, they’re the possessions of a midfielder,” Lyon continued, urging counterpart Kieren Briggs to lift his game.
“Kieren Briggs — I’m sure that big ‘Mummy’ (GWS ruck assistant Shane Mumford) would have taken him aside and said ‘look at this, son, you’ve got to get to work’.”
Grundy and the Swans only continued to build in the second stanza, opening up a game-high 40-point lead that they took into the main change.
“It’s been a procession, no doubt about it,” Lyon told Fox Footy’s half-time coverage.
“I think it started in the middle with Brodie Grundy in the first 20 minutes of the game; I love what he did up against Kieran Briggs, he got to work in a really aggressive manner.
“I thought he was outstanding — the rest of the midfield fed off him. He’s been a massive pick up for them.”
Grundy finished the evening with a whopping 28 disposals to go along with 13 contested possessions, four clearances and five tackles.
Between early-second-quarter and almost midway through the third, the Swans kicked 10 unanswered goals to build a game-high 58-point advantage.
After taking a 42-point lead into the final change, the Swans didn’t relinquish their stronghold, with debutant Caiden Cleary even getting in on the goalkicking act late in the piece.
2. ‘LONE HAND’ FAR FROM ENOUGH IN GRIM DAY FOR GIANTS
Coming in having won just three games all-time against Sydney at the Showgrounds (last in 2019), GWS lost its fifth game in its past seven as it now flirts with the bottom 10.
Despite Tom Green’s “a superb start” on Saturday — recording 15 disposals in the first stanza to assert his influence early — the Swans had their way with the Giants from the second term onwards.
In its past five games, GWS has been below AFL average in points-from-turnover differential (-6.8), with that area of its game coming into question as the Swans pounced on the Giants’ back-half missteps.
Adam Kingsley lamented his side’s glaring shortcomings after a torrid half of football.
“The contest stuff, we’re not getting that right,” he told Fox Footy at the main change.
“They’re clearly a better contest team than us right now, so that’s presenting some challenges, and off the back of that they’re able to use the ball pretty well.
“They were winning contests ahead of the ball which gave them some shots, so we need to tidy that up — but there are a few things (going wrong).
Fox Footy’s Alastair Lynch quizzed Kingsley on what levers could be pulled to drag his brigade back into the contest, but GWS’ mentor wasn’t overly optimistic.
“There’s not a lot, to be fair, mate,” he told the broadcast.
“We can only put so many back (in defence), so we’ve got to get our jobs done around the stoppage and around the contest.
“Get the ball moving forward with a little bit more method and composure and we’ll give ourselves a chance, but right now we’re not doing that.”
Green remained the lone shining light for the Giants, with his teammates unable to provide a lot of help.
“Clearly the highest-rated player on the ground for GWS is Tom Green, and he’s just working extremely hard in the middle of the ground; pretty much a lone hand,” Lynch reported at half-time.
“(He) was even forced to go back and essentially play (as) the spare man in defence for the last five minutes of the (half).
“He’s only had (a) couple of clearances (to half-time), which is probably not typically his (output), but he’s been able to get out into space, link, and take contested marks.”
Aside from a mini-surge early in the final quarter, it was much of the same from the Giants in the second half as they fell to their sixth loss of the season.
Green finished with 35 disposals and 15 contested possessions.
GWS was dealt a blow prior to the ball being bounced on Saturday, with star defender Sam Taylor ruled out indefinitely with a ruptured testicle.
Aaron Cadman, the No. 1 draft pick in 2022, was omitted by Kingsley’s match committee on Thursday, replaced by debutant Max Gruzewski — taken 21 picks later in the same intake — who saluted twice in the third quarter to be his side’s equal-leading goalkicker on the day.
1. UNSUNG SWAN SHINES ALONGSIDE EXQUISITE ERROL
While Errol Gulden sculpted another magnificent performance in his own right, it was an unheralded Swans midfielder who was notable in exerting tremendous influence on Saturday.
With Toby Bedford draped all over Chad Warner, who drifted forward of the ball for large periods of the afternoon, James Rowbottom starred in Sydney’s engine room.
The hard-hitting Swan notched a career-best 31 disposals — his previous best was 27 — in his side’s convincing triumph.
The 23-year-old also recorded a game-high 11 clearances, seven tackles and five inside-50s in an all-around admirable effort.
Rowbottom was initially deployed on the aforementioned Tom Green, making his individual performance all the more impressive.
“(Green) started to get off the hook, I think, towards the end of the first quarter, so I tend to go to the most dangerous sometimes,” Rowbottom told Fox Footy post-match.
“It was nice. It was a good battle — he’s obviously a bloody good player, so I was happy that we got the win in the end.
“(Sharing the load) has been a massive focus for us since the start of pre-season; how many numbers we can spin through the midfield and through multiple different roles.
“I think it’s been evident throughout the year, boys playing all over the ground — it helps us massively.”
Rowbottom said it was “a nice luxury to have” Gulden shine on a night where Warner received heavy opposition attention.
Gulden — who claimed the Brett Kirk Medal for best afield — accumulated 41 disposals, 12 marks, seven inside-50s, seven score involvements, 973 metres gained and a goal in Sydney’s 10th consecutive win.
GWS v SYDNEY – AS IT HAPPENED
There were no late changes ahead of the 28th edition of the Sydney Derby. Today’s starting substitutes are James Peatling (GWS) and Caiden Cleary (SYD).
A pretty tame opening to this highly anticipated clash, with just two Swans behinds in the game’s first 10 minutes of play.
With six minutes left in the first quarter, Hayden McLean finally kicked the first goal of the match.
Punishing a back-half Sydney turnover, Toby Greene snapped GWS’ first goal of the day from long range!
The Swans took a three-point lead into the first change.
Tom Green was dominant in the first term, amassing 15 disposals and three inside 50’s.
For the Swans, James Rowbottom (11 disposals) and Errol Gulden (10 disposals) had ball-in-hand the most.
Jesse Hogan marked inside 50 and kicked truly in the first minute of the second term, giving the Giants their first lead of the match.
Logan McDonald fired back soon after though, nailing his set shot from just inside the arc to take back the three-point lead.
Gulden fired back not long after with a chizzling low drop punt to extend the margin out to nine points.
From there, the Swans ran riot inside a 15-minute period – with Tom Papley from long range and a snapping Jake Lloyd registering their first majors for the evening.
A crafty McDonald tapped an inside 50 the way of Taylor Adams not long after, and also kicked his first on the back of some good teamwork.
And less than a minute later, McLean slotted his second from close range to push the Swans’ lead out to 32 points – also marking his side’s sixth unanswered goal.
“They are in all sorts of trouble (the Giants), and it’s looming large again here,” Melbourne great Garry Lyon said during the back half of the second quarter on commentary.
Chad Warner nailed his set shot from long range at the 50 metre arc junction to make it seven answered goals heading into half time, with the away side leading by 40 points.
At the main break, the scoreboard read: GWS 3.3 (21) trailing Sydney 9.7 (61).
Rowbottom and Gulden continued to stamp their authority on the match with 22 and 21 disposals respectively at half time.
Green’s seven disposals in the second quarter took his own tally to 22 touches also.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s half-time coverage, Lyon was full of praise for Sydney recruit and star ruck Brodie Grundy.
“I think it started in the middle with Brodie Grundy in the first 20 minutes of the game; I love what he did up against Kieran Briggs, he got to work in a really aggressive manner,” Lyon said.
“I thought he was outstanding, the rest of the midfield feed off him (and) he’s been a massive pick up for them.”
It took Papley less than half a minute to extend Sydney’s lead out to 46 points, snapping truly and making a Giants comeback highly improbable.
Chad Warner, who has been tagged by Toby Bedford all match, took the small Giant to the goal square before exposing the mis-match with a lead-up mark and goal to kick his 24th major for the year.
And within seconds, Will Hayward joined the ever-growing list of goal scorers to kick the Swans’ 10th unanswered goal!
Small forward Brent Daniels kicked his first for the evening with his seventh disposal, finally breaking the Giant drought.
Debutant Max Gruzewski gave the Giants back-to-back goals , and subsequently his first in the AFL.
Hayward made sure the Giants couldn’t continue their goals streak with his second of the evening, pushing the margin back out to nine goals.
With a quarter and a half to go before the end of the match, Rowbottom brought up his career-best 28th disposal – continuing to play his best ever football with a staggering 11 clearances at the time.
‘The Gru’ Gruzewski popped up for his second goal thanks to a handball over the top in the goalsquare, giving Giants fans something to smile about.
Callan Ward had the final goal of the third term, with the Giants trailing by seven goals with a quarter to play.
The scoreboard read: GWS 7.4 (46) to Sydney’s 13.10 (88).
Harvey Thomas, Jake Riccardi and Josh Kelly all kicked quick goals to start the fourth quarter, and at one point brought the margin back to 23 points.
But debutant Caiden Cleary was on the receiving end of a handball in the goal square to kick his first goal with his first kick in the big time!
James Jordan, who has tagged Lachie Whitfield this evening at ENGIE Stadium, sealed the Swans’ deal with a snapping goal – leaving the Giants with only eight minutes to kick seven goals in the slippery conditions.
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