A five-goal haul from Adelaide key forward Taylor Walker lifted his AFL side to a nail-biting upset five-point win over Sydney on at the SCG on Saturday night.
Lewis Jetta played his best game for the previously-unbeaten Swans, but couldn’t find a match-winner in the dying stages as his team staged an audacious late fightback without the services of co-captain Adam Goodes.
The Swans had another roll of the dice after a video review adjudged Crows veteran Graham Johncock’s apparent sealer had glanced the post, but the siren sounded while the Swans’ pushed the ball into their forward line.
The Crows held firm in a thrilling final term to record a 15.9 (99) to 14.10 (94) victory which entrenched them in the top four and showed just what’s possible under first-year coach Brenton Sanderson’s contested-ball mantra.
Walker kicked five goals straight, while the match was marred by an apparent injury to Goodes, who was substituted out in the final quarter when the game was in the balance.
The Swans held a seven-point lead at three-quarter-time, thanks largely to Goodes’ five goals from full-forward, after trailing for the majority of the game, but the visitors seized control of the contest in slick fashion.
Adelaide kicked the first four goals of the final quarter to race away to an 18-point lead, while a proppy Goodes was taken out of the game and handed the red vest.
Momentum looked to once again lie the way of Sanderson’s men, who had earlier stretched their buffer to 28 points in the second term before a Goodes-inspired fightback reduced their lead to just three at halftime.
But the Swans found something without their most influential player.
Ryan O’Keefe marked and kicked truly for his third, and Jetta (27 disposals) brought the crowd to their feet with a brilliant burst of pace while he skillfully tapped the ball to himself and split the middle with his shot.
Suddenly the Crows’ lead was just five points.
There were heroics at both ends of the ground as the two sides battled for a decisive goal, but none would be forthcoming.
Swans defender Nick Smith pounced on a loose ball to rush a behind, while Jetta found space in the forward line but couldn’t quite finish cleanly.
Again there was late drama at the other end, with the umpires going upstairs after Johncock had seemingly put his side beyond the reach of the Swans.
With 40 seconds left on the clock, the hosts rushed the ball to the other end of the ground, but it wasn’t to be.
Strummer Jones
Guest
12.1.2 scoring a Behind Subject to Law 12.2, a Behind is scored when any of the following occurs: (a) the football touches or passes over the goal post or touches padding or any other attachment to the goal post
CraigB
Roar Guru
I saw that too. Even with the padding my understanding is that if the ball hits the post after crossing the line then its a goal. I would like this clarified.
Bayman
Guest
The curiosity of the Johncock shot at goal late in the game was that the ball actually crossed the line and then brushed the padding at the back of the post (which was clearly "out of play"). While I fully understand the idea of the padding and also understand the AFL has taken the easy way out and said all the padding is part of the goal post this was one of those times when the the player actually scored a goal (because of the angle) and then had it taken away because of the "over the line" brush with the post. I'd hate to lost a Grand Final that way! In the days before padding that Johncock shot would have been a goal.
GrantS
Guest
Another good game in a weekend of good ones. This was a thriller to the end but you always had the inkling that the crows were going to run out winners. That they had a very good record against the Swans at the SCG should have been another factor in tipping them but I still chose wrongly. This is the first season in a long while where there are no standout favourites to make the Grand Final.