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Jolly Greene's Giants stump Swans in the struggle for Sydney

Toby Greene. Rookie. Super villain. (AAP Image/David Moir)
Expert
22nd April, 2017
23

The GWS Giants have bested their crosstown rivals the Sydney Swans for the third time in a row and for the first time ever at the SCG, victorious by 42 points on Saturday night.

You wouldn’t have guessed that would be the outcome based on the first five minutes of the match though – Josh P Kennedy had a goal on the board inside the first minute, and the Swans piled on three more before GWS even got the ball in their forward half.

For a brief moment Swans fans no doubt dared to dream that their side was about come out breathing fire after a disappointing 0-4 start to the season and romp home against “little brother” – but it was not to be.

In fact the Swans would not make another major score until the start of the third quarter, and in the time between that the Giants kicked nine goals on the trot, with Toby Greene and Devon Smith booting two each in that time.

They led by 32 points at the main break after having been down by 24 five minutes in.

The Swans fought back a bit in the third term with four goals to just two more for the Giants (including Greene’s third), and had a sniff at the final change having cut the margin to 22 points.

However when the Giants booted the first two goals of the fourth quarter early, through Zac Williams and Sam Reid, the match was effectively over.

Lance Franklin kicked three goals for the night including the 800th of his career in the final term, but it was the Swans’ only goal in that quarter, while the Giants had a quartet including Greene’s fourth.

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The loss condemns Sydney to an 0-5 start to the season, something no one saw coming when things began a month ago, but they’ll be hopeful of getting their first win next week against Carlton.

Final score
Sydney Swans 9.9.63
GWS Giants 13.13.105

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