The Swans’ Friday night game against the Eagles showed AFL fans the true brilliance of coach John Longmire and defensive coach Rhyce Shaw.
The first quarter was completely dominated by West Coast, but the toughness and team mentality of Sydney’s backline kept the Eagles to a score of 1.3 after the first siren.
Perhaps the Swans picked the perfect night to give a master class in defence, as forward-turned-backman Heath Grundy played his 250th game at the AFL level.
Grundy is a devastating executor of the Swans’ superior tactical defence – a no-nonsense worker who quietly achieves in that backline.
With fellow defenders, Jake Lloyd, Nick Smith, Dane Rampe, and the returning Aliir Aliir – Grundy‘s celebratory game showcased discipline and control.
It’s notable that Sydney’s sole ‘flashy’ performer in its backline, Jarrad McVeigh, was sidelined Friday night with a calf injury.
The Swans’ defenders are fully focused on shutting down their man and getting the ball out of the 50-metre arc as quickly as possible by any means. They simply have no time to worry about being flashy.
Because of this, non-Swans fans don’t know who they are because they never make the highlight reel and are rarely talked about outside the Swans circle.
Every footy fan loves a Dustin Martin, a Gary Ablett or a Patrick Dangerfield, but without the quiet achievers such as Nick Smith and Jake Lloyd, the limelight players simply wouldn’t get fed the ball.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/AFL Media/Getty Images)
The back six of the Swans allows the gun midfield combination of Luke Parker, Dan Hannebery, Josh Kennedy, Isaac Heeney, Callum Sinclair, Zak Jones and Rising Star nominee Ollie Florent to shine and be known throughout the league and media.
Even after Callum Mills’ injury and Lewis Melican being sidelined for most of the season, these players have been able to fill those holes, work for each other and play for the team.
Their focus on shutting down their man and winning has created a well-oiled machine that’s been able to hold the backline and let the midfielders and forwards take all the glory.
The stats back up this claim.
Only Geelong has a better average points against (67.9) than the Swans (70.2) in the entire league.
A large part of the success in the backline is due to consistency and experience.
Jake Lloyd played his 100th game a few weeks ago, Nick Smith played his 200th this year, Heath Grundy celebrated his 250th on Friday night, and Dane Rampe is sitting comfortably on 128 games.
Only Aliir, Melican and Mills have less than 100 games – and two of those three have been MIA recently.
To progress to the grand final this year, the Swans must continue to trust their backline.
That is what got them this far already, and it’s what will help them in the future.
Troy
Guest
Just simply incorrect
Jamie
Guest
jack maibaum looks the likely future replacement at fullback he has plenty of size and reminds me of a mick Martyn Danny Danny Frawley type defender the swans should make resigning him a priority but jake loyd and slit must be locked away first
BigAl
Guest
The only thing lacking in the Swans repertoire stopping them from "...building a supremacy among others in the AFL." and having "...what it takes to build an all-time dynasty..." is that they don't have the MCG as their home ground ! Thank you - By Tyler Lewis, 23 Jun 2018 Tyler Lewis is a Roar Rookie
Slane
Guest
10 rookie listed players in the side that beat West Coast.
Paul D
Roar Guru
The incredible thing about Sydney’s defenders you reeled off - Grundy, Smith, Rampe, Lloyd and Melican were all rookie draft picks, every single one Mills was academy and Aliir 3rd round of national draft A huge part of the swans success is that they get 100 and 200 game players out of players who in drafting terms are worth nothing. They have a great culture and finishing school at that club, probably the best in the league
Mark
Guest
Consistently getting it done. Grundy is obviously not too far from the end but still performing at a high level. Melican seems his natural replacement but possibly doesn’t have the size to take on the Hawkins type forward.