While cantankerous sorts are doubtless complaining that we’re over-hyping Greater Western Sydney, there’s a reason for the excitement. GWS’s defeat of Sydney wasn’t just a great result, it was an objectively great game of football.
During the Big Day Not Out pub cricket tournament the next day, my skipper made sure everyone knew he’d tipped GWS. I reckon he was the only person in the country who did. Every media outlet had the Swans as one of three flag contenders. No one saw this coming.
While Sydney claims to respect the Giants, they did (Lance) frankly start like it was their final pre-season outing before a nice weekend off. By the time they realised they had a game on their hands, they were shocked into submission by the young Giants’ intensity.
That’s not saying the Giants are suddenly a top-four side, though they’re enjoying their first visit to that end of the ladder this week. What it does mean is that their best football can match the output of very good teams, and that they’ll now carry that confidence. They’ve also ensured that all sides will be much more wary of playing them.
It started predictably. GWS skipped out to an early lead but were soon reeled in. Sydney put on four of the next five goals to finish the quarter, then added the first just after quarter time to go 24 points up in wet conditions. The script looked clear from there.
But there was a new determination about the Giants. Recruit Josh Hunt had set the tone early, chasing hard, pushing forward to set up a Jonathon Patton goal, then bodying an opponent to take a one-handed defensive-50 mark with one arm held.
It was exactly that bit of grunt that GWS so badly lacked last year, and other players followed. They generated waves of pressure through the second quarter, in a fanatical defensive effort that gave Sydney little clean use of the ball. The Swans’ early goal was also their last, and that from a terrible umpiring decision, Ben McGlynn getting a free after sliding into Lachie Whitfield’s legs.
The Giants were unfazed by taking on players far more storied than themselves, making a special point of getting right in Lance Franklin’s face and hitting him hard in every tackle, while Toby Greene tussling with Jarrad McVeigh all the way to the bench will be long remembered.
Eventually the pressure told and the scores started to come, Jeremy Cameron out-hustling three Swans running back, then Nick Malceski of all people being run down five metres from his goal line to Tom Scully’s benefit.
Sydney did enough to stay ahead through the third, but GWS kept the intensity. Devon Smith hauled down Craig Bird, Callan Ward marked with the flight when Sydney finally got a good run forward through Franklin, and Sam Frost laid a tackle so huge he injured his own shoulder.
After Ward snapped the deficit back to three points, there was more GWS tackling, hassling and smothering to trap the ball in their forward half. Harry Cunningham blazed off the deck and out on the full in Sydney’s desperation to clear. When it did finally reach the other end, Phil Davis poleaxed himself to deny Franklin seconds before three-quarter time.
With the game in the balance until deep in the last, you just expected late disappointment for GWS. But if anything summed their night up, it was the teenage Whitfield, after his filthy night from the umpires, taking on Franklin on the wing, selling the feint and then driving the ball forward.
Hunt ran back to make a desperate goal-saving tackle on McGlynn, and the pressure became so intense that even the likes of McVeigh and Sam Reid shanked defensive clearances to surrender goals.
It was Whitfield with the smother to set up the heavily strapped Frost for the sealer, then Whitfield himself with a late bonus. Five goals in all were slammed through after GWS drew level, making the finish more carnival than coronary.
“It’s almost like the birth of a football club,” said Jason Dunstall at the final siren. “It’s when they’ve stopped making up the numbers and they’re here to play.” For once the commentary wasn’t hyperbole. Yes, it was a significant moment. That’s why we don’t need to talk it up. It’s already there.
Last, year in the second showdown, Adelaide destroyed Port by 47 points with a staggering 20 marks inside 50 with Tex Walker the main star.
There’s no disputing that Cam Guthrie will be important against Melbourne, given Patrick Dangerfield is set to miss due to injury.
Collingwood led by a point with minutes to go, Kyle Langford had the chance to be the hero with a set shot, however, he missed, and we saw the first draw of the season.
We’re taking a look at one player from each team that needs to make a difference this week, starting with the ANZAC Day games.
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