The Swans fielded a near full strength side in front of a crowd of 4122, with Jarrad McVeigh and former Brisbane Lion Daniel Bradshaw the only noticeable absentees from the pre-season Challenge match.
In encouraging news for the Club, Rhyce Shaw made his successful return from knee surgery in the off-season, but only played for a half.
Coach Paul Roos was pleased with the way his side performed on the night but said there is still one more pre-season Challenge match for players to push for senior selection.
“I think we know we’re probably down to about 26 or 27 guys now - most of the players who played tonight had good patches, so they’re still in the mix for round one. We'll narrow it down next week, and it'll probably be a bit more critical after next week’s game in order to prune it back for round one," Roos said.
The Swans’ new-look back four, Rhyce Shaw, Tadhg Kennelly, Nick Malceski and Martin Mattner, took no time to get acquainted, keeping the Bombers goalless in the first quarter and providing plenty of run and carry out of defence.
New recruit Josh Kennedy showed he might be one of the signings of the season, kicking the first goal of the match, before Jude Bolton kicked truly for the Swans’ second of the term.
The second quarter started in the same fashion as the first with the Swans getting on the scoreboard early courteous of an Adam Goodes goal.
An error in the Swans’ defensive-50 handed Bachar Houli the Bombers’ first goal of the match, but Essendon struggled to kick accurately and were held goalless for the remainder of the quarter.
The Bombers took full advantage of a number of key Swans sitting out the second half, kicking two goals quickly and adding a further three goals for the quarter.
Young Swan Lewis Jetta put his hand up for senior selection kicking two vital goals to help steer the Swans to a 23-point three-quarter time lead.
In the fourth quarter it was the Swans’ Jesse White who kicked two majors for the term while youngster Dan Hannebery kicked his first for the game as the Swans went on to win by 28 points.
The Swans will play North Melbourne in Narrandera on Friday, March 12 for the last round of the pre-season Challenge before the Club’s opening game of the premiership season against St Kilda on March 27.
Sydney Swans 14.7.91 defeated Essendon Bombers 9.9.63
