Lance Franklin dominates as Sydney snare first win at Perth Stadium against West Coast
JAKE Lloyd had the honour of kicking the first goal at the new Perth Stadium but the record WA footy crowd in attendance will remember Sunday night mainly for the Buddy show.
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IT WAS Jake Lloyd who had the honour of kicking the first AFL goal at Perth Stadium and Luke Parker who kicked a magical sealer.
But the record WA footy crowd in attendance will remember Sunday night mainly for the Buddy show.
Sydney has gone about its pre-season with the application of a team that started last season 0-6 and the Swans were ready to make a statement.
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West Coast had no shortage of motivation of its own as it opened its new home amid predictions of a slide down the ladder, but the Eagles had no answer to Lance Franklin.
Even more significantly, they didn’t have their own star spearhead at the other end of the ground with Josh Kennedy sidelined.
The underdog Eagles kept coming and were full of heart. The home side won the inside-50 count 60-52, but while Franklin was a magnet at one end on the way to his haul of 8.1, there was no such target for West Coast.
Franklin’s display against Tom Barrass, Jeremy McGovern and Will Schofield was awesome and you got the feeling that even if the three defenders had taken him at once he still would have emerged on top.
There was a touch of Pagan’s Paddock about the Sydney set-up at times as the Swans were repeatedly able to isolate the big left-footer in their attacking arc.
While there was the usual display of deft touch and raking long set shots from Franklin, it was the way he attacked the ball in the air and marked surely overhead that sent the biggest warning to the competition.
At 31 and entering the fifth season of his controversial contract with the Swans, the first half was Franklin not only at his peak but at his most complete.
By the time the half-time siren sounded after a frenetic opening two quarters, Franklin had already gone through his third opponent and the Eagles were on the ropes.
Adam Simpson went back to Barrass to start the third term but there was no stopping Franklin, who took his half-time tally of five goals to seven by the final change.
The Eagles kicked two goals in the final 13 seconds of the third term, with Nic Naitanui imposing himself in his comeback from 19 months out with a knee injury.
Naitanui dominated Callum Sinclair in the ruck and had already done plenty of good things in his controlled game time, but his run down and tackle on Nick Smith was the signature moment of his heartening return.
West Coast had slashed Sydney’s five-goal lead to just five points with a quarter to play. As momentum built, memories might have flooded back for those old enough to remember the club’s first game at Subiaco Oval in 1987, when the Eagles ran down Richmond from 33 points down at the final change.
The teams went goal for goal during most of a classic last quarter. Parker came up with his jaw-dropping overhead goal for the Swans as the Eagles came up empty-handed.
BEST
Sydney: L.Franklin, L.Parker, J.Kennedy, J.Lloyd, I.Heeney, K.Jack
West Coast: L.Shuey, E.Yeo, S.Hurn, N.Naitanui, M.LeCras, J.McGovern
VOTES
3. Lance Franklin
2. Luke Parker
1. Luke Shuey
Originally published as Lance Franklin dominates as Sydney snare first win at Perth Stadium against West Coast