Sydney Uni suffered their second defeat of the season at the hands of a very classy Sydney Swans oufit. Featuring the likes of Sydney veteran Jarrad McVeigh, the Swans put together a dominant fourth quarter and come out on top 106-64 at the SCG.
The Students had a solid start to the match, going into quarter time tied up with each team kicking two goals and two behinds apiece. However, a goal less second quarter for Sydney Uni allowed the home side to get ahead. Trailing by 34 points at half time they had a lot of ground to make up.
Sydney Uni showed a lot of poise in the third and came out of the half time break firing. They were able to capitalise on some Sydney errors and were a lot cleaner with their use of the ball. They slotted five goals in the period, trailing by only 16 points at three quarter time.
This however, is where the fun stopped for Sydney Uni. The final quarter was a whitewash as the Swans were pumping the ball into their forward 50 with ease. All of the hard work displayed by Sydney Uni in the third quarter was undone as the Swans kicked six goals within the first 15 minutes of the fourth quarter and eventually ran away with a 42 point victory.
Consistency throughout full matches has been a big key for the Students throughout the season and it is no doubt an area Coach Tom Morrison discussed with his team after the match. “What let us down was a poor defensive effort in our forward half and some bad execution with the ball in hand. We are working on controlling the momentum of the game for longer periods as we were too inconsistent across the four quarters, the gap between our best and worst was too vast,” Morrison said.
There were a few standout individual performances for the Students in their valiant effort against a very talented Swans side. “Tom Young was best on ground after a really strong 3rd quarter performance that lifted the team. Sam Tagliabue was prominent in the Ruck, putting the ball to advantage around stoppages that enabled dangerous offensive opportunities. Matt Rawlinson was solid in his return from injury and James Brain was impressive in his role as a high forward forcing the Swans backs to engage him,” Morrison said.
The loss was only Sydney Uni’s second defeat of the season, however on the ladder they drop to third place on percentage behind the ladder leading Swans and the Brisbane Lions. The Students will face the Lions for the first time this weekend giving them an opportunity to test themselves against another strong team who also have numerous AFL listed players.
“We face an in form Brisbane Lions team this week, that will give us another opportunity to show improvement in some key areas of our game. It is good to be playing another strong team, so we get to see how the group bounces back and can see the impact of the adjustments we have made at training this week. We look forward to the challenge,” Morrison added.
NEXT UP
The Students take on the Brisbane Lions at Henson Park on Saturday 1st July at 12pm.
SYDNEY SWANS 2.2 7.8 9.11 15.16 (106)
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY 2.2 2.4 7.7 9.10 (64)
GOALS
Sydney Swans: B Ronke 3, J McVeigh 2, R Fox 2, J Dawson 2, J Foote, T Leonardis, B Jack, B Stewart, S Murray, J Rose.
Sydney University: T Young 2, J Derickx 2, T Ayton, J Brain, M Manteit, S Tagliabue, J Hiscox.
BEST
Sydney Swans: B Ronke, J Foote, S Murray, B Jack, J Dawson, S Wicks.
Sydney University: S Tagliabue, T Young, R Hebron, M Rawlinson, W Sierakowski.