AFL Saturday Round 1: Swans debutant Sam Gray’s ’shock’ error

Fox Footy commentators were left “in shock” when a Sydney Swans debutant completely botched an opportunity to secure six points.

Fox Footy commentators were left “in shock” when a Sydney Swans debutant completely botched an opportunity to secure six points.

Sydney Swans player Sam Gray left commentators “in shock” when he completely botched a free kick on debut at Adelaide Oval.

The Swans were leading 6-0 after five minutes against the Adelaide Crows when Gray secured a free kick about 15 metres from goal.

As the 28-year-old prepared to take the free kick, Fox Footy commentator Anthony Hudson mentioned Gray’s form slump towards the end of the 2019 premiership. He had previously represented Port Adelaide since 2014 before signing for the Swans this year.

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“His form did drop off at the end of the year, but most people would say he is an AFL player,” Hudson said.

However, Gray’s embarrassing attempt at goal would have evoked laughter in an U12 football match. The Swans player’s kick flew off his right boot, completely missing the sticks and hardly rising above head height.

“Just as I spoke, that wasn’t quite an AFL standard kick — maybe the nerves got the better of him,” Hudson laughed.

Fellow commentator Jason Dunstall could barely believe what he had witnessed.

“I’m still in shock … It nearly missed his foot,” Dunstall said.

Former AFL star and radio presenter Ryan Fitzgerald was also baffled, joking Gray should be tested for the coronavirus.

Is that a symptom? Test him. #AFLCrowsSwans #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/rE34RI1oOe

— Ryan Fitzgerald (@FitzySA) March 21, 2020

Other football fans voiced their amusement on Twitter. One viewer posted: “Sam Gray is having a first quarter to forget, if he fell out of a boat right now, he wouldn’t hit the water, that is how bad he is going”.

A second wrote: “Sam Gray has just locked up worst kick of the season”.

Another tweeted: “Sam Gray’s kick for goal — or not — was as bad a clanger as you will ever see”.

Swans players congratulate Sam Gray on his first goal for the club

However, Gray bounced back to score a goal in the second quarter, his first for the Sydney-based club.

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ROUND ONE SATURDAY RESULTS

GWS Giants 17.3 (105) defeated Geelong 11.7 (73)

Port Adelaide 10.16 (76) defeated Gold Coast 4.5 (29)

Sydney 11.8 (74) defeated Adelaide 11.5 (71)

Essendon 9.9 (63) defeated Fremantle 8.9 (57)

UNDERMANNED GIANTS CRUSH CATS

GWS captain Stephen Coniglio predicted the AFL’s most resilient team will win this unprecedented season and on Saturday night he started work on claiming that title, setting up a clinical 32-point win over Geelong.

Defender Adam Kennedy tweaked his right hamstring in the opening quarter and played no further part in the contest, but Coniglio helped the undermanned hosts rally at Giants Stadium.

Coniglio booted two opening-half goals and finished up with 19 disposals in his first game as skipper and GWS triumphed 17.3 (105) to 11.7 (73).

Toby Greene and Harry Perryman each contributed a game-high four goals and created plenty of others as the Giants responded to every challenge in style.

At times it was easy to forget last year’s grand finalists were playing without injured stars Tim Taranto, Zac Williams and Callan Ward, let alone the fact they were a man down on the bench.

The Giants will be tough this season.

Mitch Duncan was sensational for the visitors and Gary Ablett had a game-high 24 possessions, but the Cats couldn’t match the Giants’ goal-kick accuracy nor intensity across the four quarters.

GWS’s quest for grand-final redemption got off to a cracking start when Daniel Lloyd slotted two goals in two minutes.

With seven minutes remaining in the opening term, GWS had already opened up a 17-point lead by kicking more goals than they managed in the entire 2019 grand final.

The Cats steadied with a sensational one-step effort from Patrick Dangerfield, who split the middle from the cusp of the 50m arc.

The visitors trimmed GWS’s lead to four points late in the first quarter then early in the second term, but that was as close as they came to hitting the front.

— AAP

POWER CRUSH YOUNG SUNS

Port Adelaide’s brigade of rising young talent has outshone Gold Coast’s new boys to make a winning start to the 2020 AFL season.

The Power led at every change on Saturday night at Metricon Stadium, surging to a 10.16 (76) to 4.5 (29) victory.

Connor Rozee, Todd Marshall and debutant Mitchell Georgiades all shone in the 47-point win, as Ken Hinkley’s team made the perfect start to a year in which the Power coach had warned the league to “look out - we’re coming”.

Connor Rozee kicks during the Power’s round one win over the Suns.

Marshall kicked two goals while West Australian draftee Georgiades booted two including a first-quarter major after which he was mobbed by teammates.

Rozee, who ran the Suns’ halfback line ragged at times with his silky play, finished the match with 21 disposals and a goal.

The loss is the Suns’ 19th-consecutive AFL defeat - a streak stretching back to round four last year.

Gold Coast kicked the first goal of the game through Ben King, but had little answer to the Power’s slick transition attacking play.

Gold Coast’s team featured five new faces, including debutants Noah Anderson, Matthew Rowell and Connor Budarick, as well as recruits Hugh Greenwood and Brandon Ellis.

Anderson was tireless while Rowell shone in patches in the pair’s first AFL appearance, while Budarick had a quiet first game with just eight touches.

— AAP

SWANS CLAIM NAIL-BITER IN ADELAIDE

Isaac Heeney kicked four goals to spark Sydney to a tense three-point win against Adelaide in their AFL season-opener.

Heeney and teammate Luke Parker were the standouts as the Swans triumphed 11.8 (74) to 11.5 (71) on Saturday at Adelaide Oval.

Parker collected a game-high 29 disposals, forming a commanding midfield with Oliver Florent (20 possessions) and stalwart Josh Kennedy (25 touches) while Will Hayward booted two majors.

Once again, Adelaide starts the season with a loss at home to a team they should have beaten. #AFLCrowsSwans

— Ashley Browne (@hashbrowne) March 21, 2020

Adelaide, in new coach Matthew Nicks’ first game at the helm, failed to fire after quarter-time before a last-gasp rally in captain Rory Sloane’s 200th AFL match.

Adelaide booted six-straight goals, including two from Walker, to Sydney’s three and led by 18 points after a free-scoring opening quarter.

But the Swans controlled the second stanza to take the momentum, kicking four majors in an eight-minute purple patch to stun the home side.

Sydney capitalised on a remarkable centre-clearance dominance — they registered 15 to Adelaide’s two in the first half — with the Crows’ sole second-term goal coming from skipper Sloane.

Isaac Heeney topscored for the Sydney Swans

The Swans led 8.3 to 7.1 at halftime with mobile attackers Heeney and Hayward kicking two goals apiece and onballer Parker (16 disposals) the leading ball-winner on the ground.

After the break, Heeney was again the central figure, slotting two more goals as the visitors crafted a 20-point advantage before Adelaide second-gamer Ben Davis goaled to reduce the margin to 14 points at the last change.

The Swans resisted for 17 goalless minutes before Adelaide’s Lynch snapped his second and teammate Chayce Jones slotted another minutes later.

The quick goals left the Crows four points down with 71 seconds remaining and ex-skipper Walker had the chance to pinch victory, but he missed a 55m set shot at goal with just 20 seconds to go.

— AAP

DOCKERS LAMENT SLOW START

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has been left scratching his head by his team’s sluggish start after the Dockers’ late charge against Essendon fell six points short.

The Bombers led by as much as 28 points in the third quarter on Saturday afternoon before the Dockers rattled home only to suffer a 9.9 (63) to 8.9 (57) loss at an empty Marvel Stadium.

“I was so proud of them for coming back but so disappointed in them for starting the way that we did,” Longmuir said after his first game as senior coach for premiership points.

Essendon held on in a thriller.

“(Essendon) looked up for it more than us, their effort around the ball was better, they won the ball, they got outside too easily and our backs didn’t hold up.

“It just took a little bit of time for us to settle into the game. “We looked a little bit better with our composure in the second and third quarters, we weren’t as rattled as what we looked early.

“We’ll have to reflect on what we did (in the lead up) and make sure that our players are better prepared to get on the front foot.”

Nat Fyfe led the way with 26 touches and Sam Sturt tallied three majors in a promising AFL debut.

“He was fantastic,” Longmuir said of Sturt.

“The thing we’ve been telling him all pre-season is that if his defensive intent is there then he’ll get his lick of the ice cream on the scoreboard.

“He got that with three goals but his chase, tackle and pressure was probably the best in our team.

“He never gave up a chase and good on him because he’s worked really hard.”

- AAP