Lance Franklin to come under scrutiny from AFL’s match review for elbow on Freo’s Joel Hamling

LANCE Franklin booted three and his side made light work of Fremantle, but the win might come at a cost for the star forward after a second-quarter incident forced an opponent from the field.

Sydney's Lance Franklin checks on Joel Hamling after the game. Picture. Phil Hillyard

THE Sydney Swans’ emphatic 59-point win over Fremantle could come at a cost with Lance Franklin to come under scrutiny for an elbow to the jaw of Joel Hamling.

Buddy finished with three goals in a very good return from four weeks on the sidelines with a bruised heel, but he and the Swans will face a nervous wait after he caught Hamling with a stray elbow late in the second quarter.

The Fremantle defender took a long time to regain his feet after the blow, failed his concussion test and didn’t return to the field in the second half.

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The only saving grace for the star forward was he was in possession of the ball and swung his forearm across his body in a bid to shrug off Hamling’s tackle.

Dockers coach Ross Lyon confirmed the prognosis but was confident of Hamling playing next week.

“He was concussed,” he said.

Sydney's Lance Franklin collects Fremantle's Joel Hamling. Picture. Phil Hillyard

A screenshot of how the contact looked from the other side.

“He seems OK, it was a concussion. We did the right thing - not the right thing it’s what should happen - and hopefully he recovers well enough to get up but if he doesn’t we wouldn’t play him next week. I didn’t see the incident.”

While the blow was heavy Franklin’s intent certainly wasn’t to hit his Dockers opponent.

The Swans suffered a concussion blow themselves when Zak Jones clashed heads with Michael Walters in the last quarter and didn’t return to the action.

Sydney coach John Longmire suggested Jones may have been able to return if the incident had have occured earlier in the game.

“He’s OK, I just didn’t put him back on,” he said.

“I had a chat with him and they (medical staff) didn’t want to put him back on and said don’t worry about it for the rest of the game. He seemed OK.”

Hamling is assisted on the bench after copping a Buddy elbow. Picture. Phil Hillyard

The incidents were the only downside for Swans who dominated the match from the outset claiming just their second win at the SCG after surprisingly losing three of the first four at their home ground.

They also improved their percentage by eight per cent to 114.6.

The Dockers were a man down for the second half but it didn’t excuse a sub-par performance which saw them kick just one first half goal and two by three quarter time.

Their 52 points was their second lowest score against the Swans, breaking the mark they set only last year when they could manage only 5.9.39 in round 21 at the SCG.

Sydney’s pressure levels were high but the Dockers butchered the ball continuously giving their forward little hope of taking advantage of their 31-25 clearance win.

For the Swans the defenders led the way with Jake Lloyd picking up a career best 41 disposals and former co-captain Jarrad McVeigh 31. The twin pillars of Dane Rampe and Heath Grundy were against outstanding.

Jake Lloyd was best afield against Freo. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Nat Fyfe tried hard but wasn’t at his dynamic best. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Longmire was pleased with the overall contribution.

“Most importantly keeping the opposition down to a goal or two at half-time is critical and everything else gets built on top of that,” he said.

“It was a really good performance tonight, good offensively and good defensively. It was a good spread of players contributing whether it was blokes who have been around a bit or just the young kids.”

There were also milestones galore for Sydney, Franklin’s three goals moved him to the 300 mark for the Swans. Only he and Tony Lockett have scored more than 300 goals at two different clubs. Buddy booted 580 in his nine seasons at Hawthorn.

Skipper Josh Kennedy celebrated his 200th game as a Swan with three goals.

Defender Nick Smith was at his economical best with an outstanding job on Hayden Ballantyne keeping him to just a solitary late goal.

Josh Kennedy wasn’t as prolific as recent weeks but booted three goals. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Buddy checks on Hamling the final siren. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Last week’s seven goal hero Ben Ronke looked like he was on for another big night when he marked and goaled just minutes into the match to extend his run to eight without a miss. He didn’t add to his total but still managed a workmanlike performance.

Dan Hannebery made a solid return with 22 possessions but had a bad patch in the second quarter when he gave away a free kick for abusing the umpire and then compounded it with a 50-metre penalty for the same offence.

Just minutes later he gave away another reckless free kick for a high hit on Brandon Matera.

Lyon said the Dockers didn’t get reward for effort.

“We were really pleased with our start last year we came here and they were super aggressive and dominated us but we were winning the ball going in well and we just couldn’t hit the scoreboard,” he said.

SYDNEY 3.3 7.4 11.6 17.9 (111) def FREMANTLE 0.4 1.7 2.9 7.10 (52)

GOALS

Sydney: J.Kennedy, L.Franklin 3, T.McCartin, T.Papley 2, B.Ronke, C.Sinclair, G.Hewett, I.Heeney, J.Lloyd, L.Parker, W.Hayward

Fremantle: A.Sandilands, M.Walters 2, E.Langdon, H.Ballantyne, N.Fyfe

BEST

Sydney: J.Lloyd, J.McVeigh, I.Heeney, C.Mills, L.Franklin, J.Kennedy, D.Rampe, O.Florent, G.Hewett

Fremantle: E.Langdon, M.Walters, A.Sandilands, N.Wilson, N.Fyfe

VOTES

3. Jake Lloyd (Syd)

2. Jarrad McVeigh (Syd)

1. Isaac Heeney (Syd)