The third quarter that changed the game – and maybe the Swans’ season |
When Will Hayward kicked his first goal for new club Carlton, eight minutes into the first quarter of Thursday night’s AFL season opener at the SCG, the former Swans favourite turned to the crowd and gestured at them to be quiet.
They hardly needed to be told. A silence had already fallen over the home supporters, as everything that could go wrong for the Swans did.
Isaac Heeney had taken an accidental knee to the head from former teammate Oli Florent and was not certain to return for the second half, as his team went into the break 10 points down.
But Heeney reappeared after the interval, joining his teammates for a stunning 12-goal, 75-point third quarter that changed not only the game, but perhaps the Swans’ season. This is how the Swans turned the match on its head.
Cox’s measured messaging
Dean Cox is could have sprayed his players at halftime, but Heeney told this masthead after the game that while the coach had been firm, he was “also pretty measured.”
Cox’s side missed out on finals in his first year, and he used that experience to motivate his team when everything was going wrong. Ultimately, he knew his midfield had to find the football consistently to unlock the goals that would later come.
“I thought early our midfield were beaten, and convincingly,” Cox said. “You had [Cooper] Lord, [Patrick] Cripps, [Sam] Walsh, [Jagga] Smith, they all had eight or nine touches each, and some of our blokes hadn’t touched it.
“So the response after half-time from them, especially like Errol [Gulden] had a lot [of the football] early in the third, Isaac did what he did, Rowy [James Rowbottom] got his hands dirty like he always does. So they responded really well.”