Swans’ pursuit of an 11th straight win decided by kick after the siren
A kick after the siren from Swans forward Logan McDonald to win Saturday’s AFL match against Fremantle came up short, but Sydney coach John Longmire will look elsewhere when finding cause for a first defeat in 11 matches.
A long, straight shot from McDonald from just outside the SCG’s 50m arc would have given the Swans another come-from-behind win. Instead, they suffered a first home loss in 2024.
“It didn’t quite get there but those sort of things happen,” Longmire said. “I’m very much that’s one moment in many others that were probably more important, that we needed to get right, and take away that feeling of hope, take away that luck.
“We want to make sure we control the things we can control. Sometimes that happens, a shot like that, and there’s not much you can do about it. He’ll learn from that, and we’ll all learn from that. But I’m not focused on that now. It’s more about the other stuff we did in the first half.”
McDonald had hardly been sighted in a game where the Swans trailed all day after being jumped by Fremantle before levelling the scores with the last goal of the game when he marked and kicked beautifully at the 22-minute mark of the final team.
Fremantle managed to scramble a couple of points and the Swans dragged one back with a wayward snap before McDonald led and marked 50 metres out on an angle. He was lining up when the siren went. His shot at glory drifted to the right and fell short.
Swans forward Logan McDonald lament his missed shot at goal.
Fremantle deserved to win the match. They controlled the Swans’ usually dominant midfield, with Brownlow Medal winner Nat Fyfe keeping Isaac Heeney unusually quiet.
It was the seventh time the Swans had trailed at quarter-time and the fourth time in their last five matches they had trailed at the main break.
Despite another gut-busting comeback by the Swans, they left themselves too much work to do. The home side was 32 points down when Fremantle kicked the first goal of the third term.
The Dockers have moved to third with a third successive win and will now be playing for a top-four finish and a home final.
For all the understandable attention given to the Swans’ usually brilliant midfield, running half-back Nick Blakey has been a vital part of why the Swans have been so successful this season.
He was the Swans best against the Dockers. He defended brilliantly, dashed forward to set up play and even pushed forward to kick a goal as the Swans pressed in the last quarter.
The Swans had dragged themselves back into the game during a pulsating third-quarter shootout.
Every time the Swans threatened, Fremantle were able to respond but by three-quarter time margin had reduced to 12 points, the smallest gap since early in the match.
That Blakey was the highest possession winner on the ground playing in defence highlighted how strongly Fremantle attacked.
The Swans’ reputation for slow starts has drifted into Captain Snooze territory as the Dockers used quick, precise ball movement to carve through the Swans. Despite a determined effort to drag themselves back into the match, their trademark after slow starts, the Swans made no headway during the second quarter, with two goals apiece.