Sydney celebrates in grand fashion
23 July 2006 Herald-Sun
Rod Nicholson
THIS was a night of nostalgia and celebration, as Heritage Round should be.
The old South Melbourne moved to Sydney in 1982, coincidentally the same year a young man named Paul Roos began his distinguished 365-game career with Fitzroy, the last 87 of which were with Sydney.
They are running in sync and celebration. Last year Roos coached the Swans to their first premiership since 1933 and last night, as original players paraded around the ground, he was there celebrating his 100th match as coach.
It was cheers all around, especially as the Swans crushed Richmond by 48 points at the SCG.
The win gave Sydney a four-point breathing space over a top-eight rival, whom it beat by 118 points earlier this year.
It would suggest a considerable chasm between the two teams and it showed last night. The Swans were never in trouble and Richmond never out of it.
Compare the forward lines, for example. Ryan O'Keefe, Michael O'Loughlin and Barry Hall kicked eight goals between them.
At the other end Matthew Richardson was sorely out of touch after starting on the bench and managed only seven disposals for the match, and no goals. His partner in crime, Nathan Brown, managed only 11 disposals and although he kicked 2.3 he was rarely a threat.
But Hall also had help through a Sydney youngster.
Heath Grundy, 20, made his debut and finished with three goals in a sparkling display.
He has height and strength and a genuine goal sense and he bobbed up with 15 disposals, including seven marks. When Hall was not the primary target, Grundy was.
The game was lop-sided from the start, with Sydney taking a 15-point lead into the first break.
That was set up by O'Keefe with two goals and with Hall and Grundy adding one each. Richmond's only scorer for the quarter was Jay Schulz with two goals.
He was the only avenue to attack, but had limited opportunities.
Richmond did well in the ruck, with Troy Simmonds gaining 35 hit-outs to dominate the opposition.
But the match was played in slippery conditions and Sydney capitalised on its ability to close down play and dominate clearances.
That nullified the dominance of Simmonds.
Sydney dominated the second term, but allowed Richmond two late goals, which flattered the Tigers' performance.
And it dominated the following term, kicking five goals before Patrick Bowden scored after the siren to give Richmond its first goal in 31 minutes of play.
The final term began with an unfortunate incident when Brett Kirk was knocked out when Shane Tuck's attempted kick smashed into his head. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, but six minutes later, after being removed on a stretcher, he returned to sit on the bench.
Sydney is regaining top form. The two-point loss to West Coast week was a bitter pill, but last night it was ruthless and efficient.
The Tigers managed only seven goals while Sydney had 31 scoring shots, a fair indication of the imbalance in proceedings. Sydney had many proficient running players, led by Jude Bolton and Adam Goodes, and Tadhg Kennelly was outstanding running out of defence.
Richmond also had tireless workers, none more so than captain Kane Johnson. He had 28 disposals and with support from youngster Brett Deledio (17) and Nathan Foley (16) gave Richmond considerable use of the ball.
But too many disposals were short or ill-directed and rarely presented to the forwards with any system.
The evening was a disaster for Richardson. Starting on the bench and then being removed from the playing arena regularly, he was out-pointed at full-forward by Lewis Roberts-Thomson and eventually roamed the ground in a bid to gain fitness and a kick.
In contrast, Sydney was far more direct and gave its forwards genuine opportunities.
O'Keefe, who runs hard and fast, and who marks well for a man of his stature, was the outstanding player afield. Besides his goals he ran around the ground taking 11 marks.
Another who played an excellent match with outstanding statistics was Luke Ablett.
He managed only 11 disposals, but he had the better of Brown and later Richard Tambling.
His ability to combat them wrecked Richmond's hopes of making the match competitive.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19881257%255E19771,00.html
