Swans’ suffocation before infiltration

Neil Cordy

The Daily Telegraph, May 24

SYDNEY’S suffocating defence has helped them survive a brutal opening nine weeks of the AFL season.

The Swans are well placed, in fifth position, despite seven of their first eight games coming against top eight teams from last year and three of the top-four teams.

With games against the bottom three teams in the next three weeks, Sydney can consolidate a top-four position ahead of a blockbuster clash with ladder leaders West Coast at the SCG in round 13.

Winning starts at the back for the Swans. Their defence limiting opposing teams to only 41 per cent scoring inside their forward 50.

Heath Grundy, Dane Rampe and Callum Mills take care of anything in the air before the clean-up brigade of Jake Lloyd, Nick Smith and Jarrad McVeigh move the ball out with ruthless efficiency.

They have been the competition leader in stymieing rival forward lines for three of the past five years and have maintained that same ruthless approach this season.

Evergreen McVeigh is quarterbacking his troops in defence as they continue to build on their inherent understanding of their roles.

“We’ve played a lot of footy together,” McVeigh said ahead of Saturday’s clash with the rejuvenated Lions in Brisbane.

“We understand our roles and the way each other plays really well, we know where each other is going to be. We always look to help each other out.”

Melican could be thrown to Lions

Ben Horne

The Daily Telegraph, May 23

SYDNEY is considering rushing star defender Lewis Melican straight back into the AFL as they look to combat Brisbane’s towering forward line.

Melican has missed six straight weeks of football with a hamstring injury, and suffered a setback midway through his recovery which extended his time on the sidelines.

But despite the length of time Melican has spent out, the Swans are giving serious thought to bypassing the safety-first option of returning him through the NEAFL, with a final decision to be made after the club’s final training session on Thursday.

The Swans are obviously cautious of overstretching Melican if he’s not 100 per cent right.

But coach John Longmire is equally wary of a plucky Lions side who finally received reward for weeks of hard-work by thumping Hawthorn last weekend.

Brisbane’s tall forward line featuring Daniel McStay, Eric Hipwood and Hugh McCluggage presents some match-up challenges for Longmire — and Melican standing at 195cm shapes as the perfect defensive antidote to the Lions power base.

“Absolutely (that match-up is a factor). Brisbane’s played exceptionally well against the Hawks last Sunday … they’ve got some potent options,” said Swans’ Head of Football, Tom Harley.

“They can genuinely go tall. So absolutely it comes into consideration and as a club you need to weigh up the short-term needs of playing against a side with a tall forward line against what is best for Lewis given he’s had some time out.”

His last game was the 2012 grand final, now a true Swan wants one more taste

Andrew Wu

SMH, May 24

Luckless defender Alex Johnson is aiming to be a part of Sydney's premiership tilt this year as he closes in on a return from his latest injury.

Johnson is in the final stages of his comeback from groin surgery and is set to play in the reserves either this week or next.

The Swans had initially thought Johnson would miss only four weeks when he went under the knife in February but he suffered a setback in March, resulting in him missing the first two months of the season.

The 26-year-old, who has endured five reconstructions and a further six operations on the same knee, made an emotional return to the field last year with nine games in the NEAFL having not played at any level since March 2014.

"He's getting really close to a return to play which is fantastic for him," Swans football manager Tom Harley said.

"He's done a mountain of running, he's been re-introduced into skills during training. If you got to the game early on the weekend you would have seen him barking messages as runner in the NEAFL.

"We'll assess how he is later this week, whether it's this week. If not this week, we fully expect it to be next week."