By Murray Silby
An eight goals to nothing final quarter has helped the Sydney Swans dispatch a brave NT Thunder by 74 points in Round 15 of the NEAFL at TIO Stadium in Darwin on Saturday night, 19.14 (128) to 7.12 (54).
The scoreline didn’t reflect the difference in effort put in by the two sides, but probably was indicative of the gulf between the two in skills and decision making as Sydney gradually wore Thunder down over the four quarters.
Although the margin had grown at each break, Thunder’s effort in the match to the final change suggested that with an improvement in skill and decision-making by a notch or two it had a chance.
Unfortunately for the home fans that wasn’t to be the case as Thunder finally succumbed to the clinical effort of the visitors.
Ruckman Darcy Cameron was a perfect example of the professionalism of the Swans.
Not content with a dominant performance in the ruck, including a goal, in the first three quarters, he moved forward in the last and contributed another two. The last of them after laying a tackle that caught Thunder champion Cameron Ilett with the ball a few metres out from goal.
Kyle Veerhuis, Jordan Dawson, James Bell, Bailey Stewart, Joey Reinhard and Jordan Foote were the others to kick goals in the final term, the wide spread of goal-kickers a reflection of the team effort the Swans produced throughout the game.
In an entertaining first quarter, both teams started promisingly, throwing their bodies into the contest, but without either gaining a clear ascendancy.
The Swans opened the scoring with a long-range goal from 50 metres to Jordan Foote after three minutes.
The versatile Joel Armatey followed a few minutes later with another set shot from 45 metres before NT young-gun Michael Mummery popped up for Thunder with his own great set shot from 45 metres out.
Foote kicked his second for the quarter after 10 minutes before Thunder managed to string a couple together and take the lead.
Darren Ewing, the first player to reach 150 NEAFL matches scored after taking a typically strong contested mark and then a fellow Thunder stalwart, Cameron Ilett, put his side’s nose in front with a few minutes to go.
Armatey wouldn’t be denied though, taking a great pack mark a few metres out from goal and duly goaling to snatch the lead back hand the Swans a four-point lead at the first change.
The first 10 minutes of the second term looked every bit like a Swans blow out was brewing as Dean Towers, James Bell, Armatey for his third of the half, and Cooper Kilpatrick all kicked a goal to push their lead out to 29 points.
Thunder was able to rally though and provided the next two.
The first was a goal from a set shot by Abraham Ankers after some determined play up the field by Thunder’s defence. In particular Kaine Riley, who had multiple touches as the ball transitioned from defence to attack and landed in the hands of first Liam Patrick and then Shaun Wilson before being passed off to Ankers.
The second was a Ewing special off the ground from 40 metres out while being hassled by his opponent Jack Maibaum.
If not for some other gettable misses, the margin could have been even smaller than the 17-point difference at half-time.
The third quarter almost started perfectly for Thunder with a big knock from the centre bounce by Jack Monigatti, a kick forward by Ankers and an accurate pass by Mummery to Patrick, but the former Gold Coast Sun hit the post instead of goaling.
That set the tone for the home side in the quarter.
Some near misses and fumbles limited the benefit Thunder reaped from its effort, meaning it added 2.4 for the term while Sydney also had its problems to put on 3.6.
Ewing and Phillip Wills, back in the side after a long lay off through injury, were Thunder’s goal scorers in the third term, but the goals to Josh Stern, Darcy Cameron and Jake Brown meant the Swans’ lead had grown to 25 points at three-quarter-time.
Coach Andrew Hodges said his side had its opportunities, but didn’t handle Sydney’s pressure well.
“Two-and-a-half quarters really positive, and probably the first half of that third quarter and that last quarter really disappointing,” he said.
“We just didn’t handle the conditions well enough. We felt that a lot of times we had first hands on the footy, but that generally was a fumble and Sydney capitalised on that. Their pressure on our ball carriers was pretty intense tonight and to their credit they forced turnovers and they made the most of their opportunities going forward.”
Hodges said it was disappointing to wilt in the final term after fighting to get back into the match in the third.
“That third quarter, the last quarter was definitely disappointing, but that third quarter was disappointing in the first half of it, but we found a way to get ourselves back in the game and we felt that if we could get a couple of clearances early we might be a chance to close that gap, but they forced the errors on us and some of the errors were unforced as well, which was really disappointing and they capitalised on that.”
Hodges paid tribute to champion full-forward Darren Ewing, who, despite plenty of attention and some poor delivery, kicked three goals in his 150th NEAFL game.
“He’s outstanding. He’s been a stalwart of the football club and we love him here at NT Thunder and he’s played a lot of good games for the club and kicked a lot of good goals so he’s been a great servant of the club,” Hodges said.
“Tonight it was disappointing we couldn’t feed him more of the footy and give him opportunities to kick a score.”
SCORES
NT THUNDER: 3.4, 5.7, 7.11, 7.12 (54)
SYDNEY: 4.2, 8.6, 11.12, 19.14 (128)
GOALS:
NT Thunder – Darren Ewing 3, Abraham Ankers, Cameron Ilett, Michael Mummery, Phillip Wills.
Sydney – Joel Armartey 3, Darcy Cameron 3, Jordan Foote 3, James Bell 2, Jake Brown, Jordan Dawson, Cooper Kilpatrick, Joey Reinhard, Jack Stern, Bailey Stewart, Dean Towers, Kyle Veerhuis.
BEST:
NT Thunder – Abraham Ankers, Sam Dyke, Cameron Ilett, Jack Monigatti, Kaine Riley, Richard Tambling, Phillip Wills.
Sydney – Darcy Cameron, Jordan Foote, Jordan Dawson, Joel Armartey, Dean Towers, Alex Johnson, Jack Maibaum.