Don't miss any of the news involving the Swans as we bring you everything from the newspapers around the country on Tuesday 26th April, 2016.

Swans defender Ted Richards to miss two to three weeks
Andrew Wu
SMH, April 25

Sydney defender Ted Richards defied a fractured eye socket to turn in a best-on-ground performance on the weekend but his brave performance has come at a cost.

Richards underwent surgery on Monday and will miss two to three weeks, paving the way for a possible debut to Swans youngster Aliir Aliir.

Richards suffered the injury in the second quarter of the Swans' win over West Coast but played on and was awarded the HMAS Sydney medal for being best afield.

The setback came just as the veteran backman had been building form after having an injury-interrupted pre-season.

Soar point as the slick Swans reign
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, April 24

THE Sydney Swans have stamped their premiership credentials, with an emphatic 39-point win over last year’s grand finalists the West Coast Eagles at the SCG.

After being jumped by the Eagles in the opening quarter, Sydney got down and dirty in the slippery and wet conditions to kick nine goals to four in the last three terms, including three to none in the last.

It was a combination of the old and young who did the job for the home side, with Luke Parker, Dan Hannebery and Josh Kennedy continually driving the ball forward and teenager Tom Papley in everything inside 50.

After picking up just five possessions in last week’s loss to Adelaide, Papley rebounded in emphatic fashion to finish with 20 disposals and two goals — both soccered off the ground.

Lance Franklin was also busy with 20 possessions and two goals as well.

Swans soar in wet
David Sygall
SMH, April 24

Buddy Franklin kicked two goals to power the Sydney Swans to a big win over West Coast at the SCG. The Swans beat a genuine top-four contender for the first time this season, mastering greasy conditions on Saturday at the SCG to overpower the West Coast Eagles by 39 points.

After beating Collingwood, Carlton and GWS, but falling narrowly to the Crows last round, Sydney captured their biggest scalp so far by repeatedly punishing the Eagles’ defensive errors in a strong team performance in front of 35,427 fans.

Led by a best-on-ground effort by club favourite, defender Ted Richards, which stifled what coach John Longmire described as the Eagles’ ‘‘gun forward line’’, Sydney overcame the early loss of a concussed Jeremy Laidler to celebrate Josh Kennedy’s 150th game for the club in style, doubling their opponents’ tally of scoring shots.

After turning a one-goal deficit at quarter time into a nine-point halftime lead, 5.6.36 to 4.3.27, the Swans were pushed to the brink when the visitors kicked three of the first four goals of the second half. However, they lifted their intensity to produce a run of 22 points to nil in the closing 13 minutes of the third term to lead 66 to 45.

With a tide of momentum behind them – and some Eagles reduced to bickering among themselves – Sydney ran out the match with a flurry of three unanswered goals.

Kieren on track to eclipse his old man
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, April 23

IT was a struggle simply to play one AFL game, now Kieren Jack has the chance to eclipse the first-grade games tally of his father, rugby league great Garry.

Kieren Jack yesterday signed a three-year contract extension with the Swans, which puts him within range of one of Garry’s great achievements, 244 games with Balmain Tigers.

Kieren, 28, has played 189 games in 10 seasons in red and white, and at his current pace he will pass the mark midway through the 2019 season, the last year of his new deal.

“I’d be really proud if I did,” Kieren Jack told The Saturday Telegraph. “This contract is a sign of loyalty from both parties and I’m proud of that. This club is the reason why I started playing AFL football.”

Business as usual as Jack signs on with Swans till 2019
Andrew Wu
SMH, April 23

Kieren Jack has seen this all before. Premiership stars leave, concerns are raised about Sydney’s future only for the ‘‘business as usual’’ sign to go up.

When it was last happening Jack was a player of promise, part of the next generation of Swans who needed to lift as Michael O’Loughlin, Leo Barry, Brett Kirk and Barry Hall left.

The Swans had gradually slid down the pole – from premiers to runner-up, to September also-ran to missing out entirely.

‘‘At that stage it was all a bit unknown to me, we weren’t sure how quickly it would happen,’’ Jack says of the period from 2008-10 when the club said goodbye to its heroes of 2005 and built the foundations for its 2012 flag.

‘‘There were a lot of question marks as to where the list was at, where it could go, but through drafting and smart trading and keeping a strong core group together you were able to see a rejuvenation happen and it can happen quite quickly if you do it correctly. In 2011 we played in a semifinal, and then 2012 happened.’’