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September 13, 2005
Harbourside Robbery
In what can only be discribed as harbourside robbery the Swans on Friday Night pulled off what will go down as one of the biggest steals in AFL/VFL history. With only seconds left on the clock Jason Ball tapped a throw up down to Nick Davis who without taking control of the ball, kicked the match winning goal and in the process sent the Swans into the promised land of a Prelim Final.
I know its four days since the great escape, but I promised you readers a report and a report you shall get, now that I have fully recovered from Friday Night's match.
Sitting in my seat at the SCG during the last quarter I had given up all hope after Geelong put though their 7th goal of the night and would force us to put though 4 goals of our own in less than 20 minutes to stay alive in season 2005, no way was that even possible when in over 3 quarters of the match we had bearly managed 3 goals and didn't even look like kicking 1 goal more let alone 4.
Still when there is a will there is a way with this club and that will happened to transport itself in the form of Nick Davis. Like a gift from above Nick was sent to us to run riot in the Swans forward line in the fourth quarter as Geelong started to get tired and the belief started to return to my body following a wonderful roving goal from a ruck contest 30 metres out running away from goal.
From that moment the SCG crowd started to turn up the volume and start to roar everytime the Swans went forward and when this happened at the halfway point of the last quarter, who ended up with the ball and an easy shot at goal??? Nick Davis. Goal and game well and truely on. For the next 5 minutes the Swans and Cats sent the ball crashing end to end like a pinball machine hoping either for the killer blow or a way within a goal. When time looked like it would run out up stepped Nick Davis yet again to snap a goal from 40 metres out.
Was this happening??? You bet it was.
By this stage my seat like most other in my Bay was useless as we all stood to chant and cheer on the boys to get the ball forward. It happened once, only for Brendon Sanderson to chip in and snag the mark. It happened twice only for the Cats to rush it out towards the boundry on the wing and then it happened for a third time and this was where the match was won and it was lost.
As time was running out the Swans though Leo Barry thumped the ball forward in hope rather than planning, as it rolled to the boundry line Steve Johnson of the Cats left it ran thinking he has seen it out only of Luke Ablett to punch it forward towards Barry Hall to who held Matthew Scarlett off from knocking it out of bounds. He then toe poked it towards the top of the goal square hoping for a Swans player to pick it up and get a goal, but the Cats held strong and kept the Swans out and forced a ball up 15 metres out from goal and as we all know Jason Ball tapped the ball down to Nick Davis who somehow managed to snap it though and spark massive crowd celebrations that went on for nearly 30 minutes afterwards. Hell, I somehow managed to end up 2 bays away from my seat. It was like I was at a Soccer match.
It was a remarkable win over the Cats in the dying seconds, but step forward Nick Davis (who as the banner that got plenty of coverage on the night said) to save us from a certain death. It won't go down as the most glamous of matches but it will go down as the most heart-stopping and I'm sure for those Cats fans who were there heart braking. You certainly felt sorry for those who made their way North for the match.
Still a final's win is a final's win and this means we earn the right to keep on going or as Manny would say (don't ask) "we 'jis got to keep it goin'". That means the team I feared going into the finals in St Kilda, but after last Friday Night, ANYTHING can and IS possible.
Sydney 7.14 (56)
Geelong 7.11 (53)
Goals: Davis 4, O'Loughlin 2, O'Keefe 1.
Best Swan On Ground: As if Nick Davis wouldn't win this one this week.
Posted by robbieando at September 13, 2005 06:57 PM