THE Sydney Swans have dropped to fifth on the ladder after a 39-point loss to Geelong in their round 20 clash at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

Despite a much improved five-goal performance from Barry Hall, the Cats had too much firepower for the Swans, and a seven goal-to-two third quarter set up the victory.

The Swans started the better and captain Brett Kirk opened the scoring for the match with his ninth goal of the season.

Ill discipline then enabled the Cats to skip away, they kicked seven goals straight, and late in the first term led by 38 points.

Tom Lonergan and Shannon Byrnes both kicked two as Heath Grundy and Lewis Roberts-Thomson were forced into giving away costly free kicks.

Lonergan’s checkside effort from a set shot on the boundary line was a highlight, before the Swans then gave away two 50m penalties inside a minute, the second resulting in Byrnes being escorted to point-blank range. 

The succession of seven goals was finally broken when Martin Mattner finished a move the Swans almost over finessed. Big Barry Hall began to assert his authority on young Cat Harry Taylor late in the term, taking a couple of strong grabs and converting both.

At the first change the Swans had clawed their way back within 21 points, and Jarred Moore brought them even closer with the second quarter’s opening goal after six minutes – a booming set shot from 50m.

Trademark running efforts to Travis Varcoe and Gary Ablett put the Cats back out 29 points, but the Swans overcame a series of spurned opportunities to finally give themselves some hope for the second half when Goodes slotted his first, making the margin at the long break 22 points.

The Swans had a bitter sweet start to the third term. Seconds after Jared Crouch went straight down race favouring his left shoulder after a driving tackle from James Kelly, Jarred Moore booted his second goal of the match from close range.

Geelong hit back almost immediately when Byrnes pounced on the loose ball in the Cats forward line and notched his third of the night.

Brent Prismall was then as surprised as anyone when a kick to the top of the square was shepherded through by the Cat forwards for his first goal.

With Crouch off the ground, Ablett found space in the forward line to kick his third from a set shot and put the Cats up by 35 points.

It was beginning to look grim for the home side when Steve Johnson booted his first after being kept very quiet for most of the night by Paul Bevan.

The margin became the best part of eight goals when Spida Everitt’s cross-field kick on the defensive 50m arc went horribly wrong and Lonergan was gifted his third.

Jarrad McVeigh broke a run of six goals from the Cats when he finished off from close range an opportunity created by another strong Hall mark.

Mooney capped the match-winning quarter for the Cats with a towering drop punt from well outside 50m which sailed through the big sticks. That effort enabled Geelong to double the Swans’ score, and at the final change they led by an unassailable 53 points.

The Swans repeated their habit of winning the final term, booting six goals to four, but the damage had already been done.

Hall added three in the quarter, and also took 15 marks on the night, Craig Bird capped a decent performance with a goal, and McVeigh and Goodes also added to their tallies.

The Swans now must look towards next week and their bogey side Colingwood at Telstra Dome. After slipping out of the top four, it's a must-win clash.

SYDNEY SWANS   4.1 6.4  8.5  14.10 (94)
GEELONG   7.4   9.8  16.10  20.13 (133)

Goals
Sydney Swans:
Barry Hall 5, Jarred Moore 2, Jarrad McVeigh 2, Adam Goodes 2, Brett Kirk, Martin Mattner, Craig Bird
Geelong: Shannon Byrnes 3, Gary Ablett 3, Tom Lonergan 3, Steve Johnson 2, Cameron Mooney 2, Travis Varcoe 2, Mathew Stokes, Brent Prismall, Jimmy Bartel, Ryan Gamble, Brad Ottens

Best
Sydney Swans:
Barry Hall, Tadhg Kennelly, Paul Bevan, Jarred Moore, Martin Mattner, Craig Bird
Geelong: Gary Ablett, Joel Corey, Jimmy Bartel, Cameron Mooney, Tom Lonergan, Travis Varcoe

Injuries
Sydney Swans:
Matthew Scarlett (back) replaced by Varcoe in selected side.
Geelong: Leo Barry (hamstring) replaced by Malceski in selected side.

 

Umpires: C Donlon, H Kennedy, S Ryan.
Official crowd: 44,950 at ANZ Stadium.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.