THE SYDNEY Swans accounted for Melbourne by 49 points at the SCG on Saturday night, but their win has been soured by serious knee injuries to midfielders Tadgh Kennelly and Luke Ablett.
Kennelly dislocated his kneecap after a typically-fierce tackle by opponent Byron Pickett while Ablett hyper-extended his knee in an ugly third quarter for the Swans.
The Swans bench resembled a hospital ward in the final term with skipper Barry Hall hobbling off with a corked right thigh.
The injuries put a dampener on a fine night for the superior Swans, who won 17.7 (109) to Melbourne’s 8.12 (60).
The Sydney Swans opened with a rush, booting three goals in eight minutes before the shell-shocked Demons answered at the other end.
In a shift away from their usual gritty, contested style of play, the Swans attacked from the outset with deep, penetrating kicks to key forwards.
Swans co-captain Barry Hall was the chief destroyer early, booting three goals and hauling in eight strong marks from hard leads.
His dominance led Demons coach Neale Daniher to replace Brad Miller with Nathan Carroll for the second term.
Soundly beaten in the first term, the Demons staged a mini-comeback with Matthew Bate’s 55m bomb cutting the gap to 19-points.But Melbourne’s hard work came unstuck late in the quarter when a crucial mistake by defender Nathan Brown led to the easiest of goals for Jarrad McVeigh.
The Demons could easily have wilted when Swans Tim Schmidt and Nick Davis booted the opening goals of the second half, but a brilliant goal by Aaron Davey and a wobbly punt by Cameron Bruce edged Melbourne closer to the Swans, who went to the final change minus Kennelly and Ablett.
But the Swans were resilient in the final term, with goals to Jarred Moore and Brett Kirk, plus two to Adam Schneider and a fourth to Hall consolidating their third win of the season.
SYDNEY 6.2 10.5 12.7 17.7 (109)
MELBOURNE 1.2 4.4 6.9 8.12 (60)
Goals: Sydney: B Hall 4 N Davis 2 A Schneider 2 N Malceski J Bolton R O'Keefe A Goodes D Jolly J McVeigh T Schmidt J Moore B Kirk. Melbourne: A Davey 3 L Dunn B Miller M Bate C Bruce R Petterd.
Best: Sydney: B Kirk B Hall J Bolton N Malceski J McVeigh L Barry D Jolly. Melbourne: C Bruce A Davey B Moloney S Godfrey R Petterd.
Umpires: H Kennedy B Rosebury M Nicholls.
Official crowd: 23,354 at the SCG.
