Sydney Swans now at risk of missing finals after 43-point loss to Essendon at Etihad Stadium
LANCE Franklin is battling a lingering injury but Sydney coach John Longmire insists the superstar forward will play out the season with the Swans in danger of missing the finals.
Sydney
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LANCE Franklin has barely trained all year and is battling a lingering injury but Sydney coach John Longmire insists the superstar forward will play out the season.
A week after being held goalless during Sydney’s shock loss to Gold Coast, Franklin visibly struggled on Friday night as Essendon downed the Swans by 43 points.
Franklin was towelled up by best-afield Michael Hurley in the first half and had little impact on the game despite booting two third-quarter majors.
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The 31-year-old missed three games after suffered a bruised heel in Round 1 and has also battled knee soreness, despite sitting second in the Coleman Medal count with 44 goals.
Longmire on Friday night revealed Franklin had “probably trained for about 20 minutes for the season”, adding that there were no plans to rest the spearhead.
“One week won’t do it,” Longmire said.
“His ability to get himself up and compete has been brilliant when you consider what he does during the week but we can’t change that.
“It’s like some of the younger kids, you can’t change that either if they’re getting a bit sore ... we can’t give Tommy McCartin a rest or Lance a rest every week or any of those guys.
“We need to make sure that we control the things we can control which is the contest part of it. We need to get that part of the game right.”
The Swans, meanwhile, can forget about the top four — they’re now in a dogfight just to make the finals.
Essendon hadn’t beaten Sydney in their past eight contests but their 33-point victory inflicted back-to-back losses and the Swans’ fourth defeat in their past five outings.
John Longmire’s men started the night in fourth spot on the ladder but by Saturday night could find themselves out of the top eight.
The Swans were on the back foot even before the first bounce when Zak Jones was reported for striking Zach Merrett.
It was just the start of Jones’ worries as he went into the book for a second time after a last quarter high bump on Kyle Langford.
Langford was able to play on with no apparent effects but Jones’ action of running past the ball to bump high will be hard to argue against and is likely to see him miss next week’s vital clash against Collingwood at the SCG.
Lance Franklin booted two goals for the night but was well held by Michael Hurley who looked like he might keep the star forward goal less for the second week in a row.
Hurley shut Buddy down for the first two quarters before he crafted two in the third to keep Sydney in the hunt.
The Essendon defender did well but Franklin was struggling from the outset and had his left thigh strapped at quarter time but ripped it off midway through the term.
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Dons coach John Worsfold was full of praise for Hurley: “Some of the one-on-one’s he won were very influential.”
Adding to Franklin’s woes was the Bombers’ domination of the inside 50s, a factor that frustrated Swans coach John Longmire.
“Our capacity to compete for four quarters has dropped right off,” he said.
“We’re not willing to pay the price for long enough. An example of that is the opposition had 72 inside 50s and we had 45 tackles.
“We can turn it around together but we have to address the competing part of it.
“The contest is where it starts and everything builds from that … we just stopped.”
The Bombers had injury problems themselves and played a man down for most of the match when Matt Dea fell heavily in a first-quarter marking contest. He was stretchered off after banging his head into the Etihad turf and ruled out of the match after quarter time with concussion.
Even with their numerical disadvantage Essendon still managed to outwork and out hustle a tired looking Sydney, winning contested possession 156-141, the tackle count 64-45 and inside 50s 72-39.
In fact the 43-point margin flattered the Swans who kept in contact until early in the last term before the Bombers ran away with the match.
Jake Lloyd was again busy in defence as was Aliir Aliir who dominated the first half with his intercept possessions and high marking.
His performance was especially good considering he struggled with a sore left knee. He left the ground early in the second quarter for treatment but returned with it bandaged and picked up where he left off.
Harry Cunningham was another who bravely returned to the action after copping a nasty knock when he backed into a first-half marking contest.
The Swans face the Magpies, Demons, Giants and Hawks in the coming weeks.
- with AAP
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