The Essendon Bombers conducted bold and controversial new research into the field of being uncompetitive in finals on Saturday afternoon at the SCG, and the results while emphatic will not be well received by their fans.
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The Bombers were simply blown away by a strong and superior Sydney Swans side that kicked ten goals in the second quarter to take the game away from the visitors before half time, and finished the match as victors by 65 points.
In doing so the Swans set themselves up for a semi-final next week at the MCG against Geelong, and will fancy themselves every chance of repeating the pantsing they gave the Cats there in a preliminary final last year.
The first quarter was a relatively even affair – although the Swans kicked three goals to one, most of the numbers were fairly even, and it was only a failure to take their chances that kept the Bombers from being on level ground at the first change.
However Lance Franklin started the second quarter by doing what only Lance Franklin can do, booting three goals in five minutes put the Swans into a big lead that would only get bigger as the day went on.
It simply rained goals for the Swans in that second term and you wouldn’t have known they’d been scheduled to play against an opposition team. By the time the Bombers arrived, the damage was done and it was already too late.
Franklin finished with four but spent a decent chunk of the last quarter in cotton wool. Callum Sinclair and Dean Towers had three each for the Swans, while Josh P Kennedy, Isaac Heeney and Gary Rohan all kicked two.
Joe Daniher kicked three for Essendon and Josh Begley two in just his third AFL game. Michael Hurley had a game-high 30 disposals but his impact didn’t reflect that.
Final score
Sydney Swans 19.7.121
Essendon Bombers 8.8.56
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