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If a soothsayer told you before the Sydney Derby that a Swans star would bag five goals and be the hero in a stirring win over GWS, you’d probably have expected Lance Franklin to have got the handful he needed to join the exclusive 1000-goal club.
But no – an uncharacteristically fumbly Franklin would be well held by long-time rival Phil Davis – who reportedly held an 11-2 record on ‘Buddy’ according to the Giants. Instead, it was Luke Parker, long a staple of the Swans’ tough as nails midfield, who proved the hero in front of the big sticks in an incredible, free-flowing match.
A game of this quality – and make no mistake, it’ll take something good to topple it as the game of the season, despite the final margin – deserved nothing less. With three of his goals coming in the third quarter, after the Giants had surged to a 15-point lead early in the term, and one more in the last, no man had a bigger say on proceedings, the Swans finally putting away their crosstown rivals by 20 points, 17.10 (112) to 13.14 (92).
“It is an extraordinary performance from a bloke who does the grunt work in the midfield, but has now gone forward and has literally flipped this around,” former great Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy after Parker’s fifth.
“He’s always had great goal sense, but he’s been too important in the midfield. With these young blokes that are going to assume the midfield time, he can be a 40-50 a year goalkicker.”
Matching Parker in the clinches, if not on the scoreboard, was third-year Giant Tom Green. Having shown undoubted promise in his first two seasons, the bullocking youngster broke out as a legitimate star of the game, racking up 13 disposals and a goal in the first quarter alone.
Having significantly bulked up during the pre-season, the 21-year old was unstoppable in the first half; indeed, it was only once the Swans clamped down on his influence that they were able to break away.
“Tom Green looks like he’s turned from boy into man. Muscled up, a few pre-season under his belt, and a dominant first half,” Jason Dunstall said at half time.
“He’s a jet this kid, he’s an out and out jet,” Lyon added.
“Even his body shape looks to have changed the last 12 months, just looks a bit slimmer and covering the ground a bit better.
“The way he’s started this game, he made be ready to elevate himself into that elite midfield group.
“He’s the best player on the ground by a mile, and it’s exciting for Giants fans that they’ve got him for the next 10 years.”
But while Parker and Green were brilliant, they would have to play second fiddle to the biggest star of all – the game itself.
Round 1 matches are usually relatively rusty affairs, a chance for sides to slowly build up their match fitness and hone their skills under pressure. But there was the unmistakeable whiff of finals around proceedings at Accor Stadium, with neither side backing down from the outset.
“The pressure that both teams bought at the start of this game was a sight to behold, and it wasn’t a place for the faint-hearted,” Lyon said.
“It’s reminiscent of finals football,” Dunstall added.
Eight goals in the first term, despite the heavy wave of pressure, added to the growing feeling that 2021 will be played at a higher pace than years gone by. Footy fans have been crying out for years for more goals and more exciting play, and they’ve certainly got their wish so far.
But with the early pressure proving unsustainable, the second term saw the frenetic pace of the game only rise a few notches.
It led to another eleven goals being piled on for the quarter – and a scoreline of 10.7 (67) to 9.4 (58) at half time that hearkened back to a bygone era – and no one loved it more than Dunstall.
“This game has had a little bit of everything thus far. How good is high-paced scoring football?” the Hawthorn legend enthused.
“It’s back, we’ve seen 100 points kicked a number of times already. And both GWS and the Swans are on track for 100, the way they’re going here.”
It took Parker’s brilliance to stymie the Giants, with Toby Greene’s absence through suspension proving crucial. But it’s hard to say they were losers after a match like that.
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