1. The Swans and the weather rain on Pav's parade
The sun shone briefly for Matthew Pavlich when he went through the banner with his children Harper and Jack to celebrate his 350th game. The champion Docker became the 15th player in League history to reach the rare milestone. But for the most part it was a miserable day weather wise with swirly winds and intermittent rain. The Swans also dominated the contest to ruin Pav's celebration. The Dockers had won his 100th, 200th and 300th, but they were nowhere near it this time. He kicked two goals in the last quarter and set up two others in the first half but it was a tough day for the Dockers' forwards.
2. Respect for Pav from Aliir
Swans defender Aliir Aliir was playing just his sixth game compared to Pavlich's 350th. The Kenyan-born South Sudanese defender played football at East Fremantle before he got drafted by the Swans and would be well aware of Pavlich's standing in the game. Aliir dumped Pavlich in a brilliant tackle during the second term to win a holding the ball decision. The Swans took the advantage and many AFL players would have held Pavlich down and sledged him for pinning him holding the ball. But Aliir helped the champion up and patted him on the back in a small, but magnanimous show of respect.
3. Silvagni is Lance's buddy
Alex Silvagni last played on Lance Franklin in the 2014 qualifying final at ANZ Stadium. He did a pretty good job holding the superstar to just one goal up until three-quarter time. Franklin pushed up to a wing in the last quarter of that game and kicked two more goals. Silvagni has played just two games since due to injury, suspension and form. He was called in for his first game this season on Sunday and was asked to mark Franklin once more. He did a good job for most of the day after a rough start. Franklin finished with just two goals from his five shots.
4. Mitchell adds dollars to his next contract
Tom Mitchell has put his contract negotiations on hold until the end of the season with plenty of speculation mounting about his future. Regardless of whether he stays at the Swans or moves on he did himself no harm from a negotiation standpoint after a stellar performance on Sunday. He had 26 disposals and kicked three goals. He has had bigger days disposal-wise but it was an equal-career best in terms of goals and his third term was electric. He kicked three goals for the quarter to help the Swans march away. Josh Kennedy also had a career-best 45 disposals and three goals and is almost guaranteed to bank the three Brownlow votes.
Josh Kennedy in the wet? Superstar ⭐️ #AFLFreoSwans https://t.co/mB7zl8DDLv
— AFL (@AFL) July 31, 2016
5. Dockers break unwarranted records
Pavlich set a remarkable record by becoming the first Docker to reach 350 games but the team set some unwarranted records against the Swans. It was the Dockers' worst defeat under Ross Lyon. It was their fourth-worst defeat at Domain Stadium but they narrowly avoided some further unwanted records with two late goals. They avoided their lowest score under Lyon and their first 100-point defeat under Lyon. But they were held to just 47 points. It was the fourth time they have been held under 50 points this season.