Hang it in the Louvre: Heeney's heroics keeps Swans in finals hunt
That's it. That's all you need to know from this contest at the SCG.
This game will be instantly forgotten, but not their performances - one of which goes straight into footy's hypothetical Louvre.
As a team, Sydney did what they had to do and nothing more on Saturday evening, easing past North Melbourne by 31 points to remain in mathematical finals contention.
The 12.12 (84) to 7.11 (53) result was satisfactory. But more will be needed from the Swans in the coming weeks if they are to do the improbable and leap into the top eight and salvage what has been a dicey first season under Dean Cox - especially as the calibre of their opposition improves, starting with Friday night's Sydney derby against the Giants.
For that to happen, the Swans need to lift to the immaculate level set by Heeney and Grundy, rather than hoping they can carry them there.
Words could suffice, but in this case, numbers are better, because Heeney's stats line almost sounds like a line from 12 Days of Christmas. Heeney had 34 disposals - the most of any player on the ground, and five more than the next best - to go with 13 clearances, 11 score involvements, nine inside 50s, eight marks, five tackles and an equal-career best five goals. There was probably a partridge in a pear tree in there somewhere, too.
No player has ever recorded 12 or more clearances plus five goals in a game since Champion Data began recording AFL statistics in 1999. Very rarely do you see players carve it up to this extent.
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With Nick Blakey (28 disposals, 678m gained) controlling play from the back half, and Gulden (30 disposals, 575m gained) and Isaac Heeney (28 disposals, 14 contested) dominant through the middle, the Swans never looked like losing. Sydney lacked an obvious focal point in attack, with Joel Amartey, Logan McDonald and Hayden McLean on the sidelines, but found goals through Braeden Campbell and Justin McInerney, who kicked two each. Jack Buller's classy drop punt goal from a set shot on the boundary was a rare highlight on a scrappy day where the two sides combined for 26 behinds and only 16 goals. Livewire Tom Papley managed just one goal and was well-held by first-gamer Jayden Nguyen, Essendon's 14th debutant for 2025. Essendon battled hard around the contest throughout, finishing with just eight fewer contested possessions, six more tackles and four more clearances than the Swans. But the gap in class was clear when it came to ball use. The Swans had 115 more uncontested disposals, and were able to change angles and string together chains of handballs, while the Bombers were impotent with the ball in 16 players unavailable due to injury, Essendon looked undermanned and often uninspired, regularly kicking the ball long down the line for little reward on the scoreboard."We fought hard but there are just a lot of things we've got to improve on," Bombers coach Brad Scott said. "I don't think our supporters would've watched that and thought there was a lack of effort from our players - maybe a lack of class and experience, but we'll keep working on that." Essendon managed just four goals to three-quarter time, but mounted a late challenge in the final term through goals from Mason Redman, Isaac Kako and Lachie Blakiston. But with the margin trimmed to 13 points, Sydney settled and took control, slowing down play and chipping the ball around to wind down the clock for the final 10 minutes. Sam Durham battled manfully for the Bombers, while Rising Star contender Archie Roberts showed great composure in the back half. In an unusual sight, play was stopped for a short period in the first quarter while a grounds-keeper took to the field to fill a hole in the ground with sand. It's not the first issue the SCG has had with its surface this year, with the ground called into question after Sydney's round 16 loss to the Western Bulldogs, in which players continually slipped over. Finals is out of the equation for Sydney, but the Swans are desperate to head into 2026 with confidence and momentum. "I didn't find it tough to get motivated," Cox said. "As a footy club we have to finish the year off as well as we possibly can." Sydney have handed Essendon a ninth consecutive loss, defeating the Bombers by 14 points in a scrappy contest in slippery conditions at the superstar Errol Gulden kicked the first goal of the game in his 100th AFL match, and the hosts were never headed thereafter, cruising to a 9.14 (68) to 7.12 (54) win on Saturday. Ruckman Brodie Grundy continued his excellent form, giving Sydney's midfielders first use around stoppages while winning 13 clearances and 39 disposals, including 16 in the final 31-year-old has polled coaches' votes in his last seven games and is making a late run as a contender for the All-Australian ruck mantle. "Not only his ability to cover the ground, but his intensity around the ball has been a big highlight for a long period of time," Sydney coach Dean Cox said post-match. "He's had a very, very impressive season." With Nick Blakey (28 disposals, 678m gained) controlling play from the back half, and Gulden (30 disposals, 575m gained) and Isaac Heeney (28 disposals, 14 contested) dominant through the middle, the Swans never looked like losing. Sydney lacked an obvious focal point in attack, with Joel Amartey, Logan McDonald and Hayden McLean on the sidelines, but found goals through Braeden Campbell and Justin McInerney, who kicked two each. Jack Buller's classy drop punt goal from a set shot on the boundary was a rare highlight on a scrappy day where the two sides combined for 26 behinds and only 16 goals. Livewire Tom Papley managed just one goal and was well-held by first-gamer Jayden Nguyen, Essendon's 14th debutant for 2025. Essendon battled hard around the contest throughout, finishing with just eight fewer contested possessions, six more tackles and four more clearances than the Swans. But the gap in class was clear when it came to ball use. The Swans had 115 more uncontested disposals, and were able to change angles and string together chains of handballs, while the Bombers were impotent with the ball in 16 players unavailable due to injury, Essendon looked undermanned and often uninspired, regularly kicking the ball long down the line for little reward on the scoreboard."We fought hard but there are just a lot of things we've got to improve on," Bombers coach Brad Scott said. "I don't think our supporters would've watched that and thought there was a lack of effort from our players - maybe a lack of class and experience, but we'll keep working on that." Essendon managed just four goals to three-quarter time, but mounted a late challenge in the final term through goals from Mason Redman, Isaac Kako and Lachie Blakiston. But with the margin trimmed to 13 points, Sydney settled and took control, slowing down play and chipping the ball around to wind down the clock for the final 10 minutes. Sam Durham battled manfully for the Bombers, while Rising Star contender Archie Roberts showed great composure in the back half. In an unusual sight, play was stopped for a short period in the first quarter while a grounds-keeper took to the field to fill a hole in the ground with sand. It's not the first issue the SCG has had with its surface this year, with the ground called into question after Sydney's round 16 loss to the Western Bulldogs, in which players continually slipped over. Finals is out of the equation for Sydney, but the Swans are desperate to head into 2026 with confidence and momentum. "I didn't find it tough to get motivated," Cox said. "As a footy club we have to finish the year off as well as we possibly can." Sydney have handed Essendon a ninth consecutive loss, defeating the Bombers by 14 points in a scrappy contest in slippery conditions at the superstar Errol Gulden kicked the first goal of the game in his 100th AFL match, and the hosts were never headed thereafter, cruising to a 9.14 (68) to 7.12 (54) win on Saturday. Ruckman Brodie Grundy continued his excellent form, giving Sydney's midfielders first use around stoppages while winning 13 clearances and 39 disposals, including 16 in the final 31-year-old has polled coaches' votes in his last seven games and is making a late run as a contender for the All-Australian ruck mantle. "Not only his ability to cover the ground, but his intensity around the ball has been a big highlight for a long period of time," Sydney coach Dean Cox said post-match. "He's had a very, very impressive season." 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Sydney Morning Herald
7 hours ago
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Scrappy Swans get the job done over Essendon in Gulden's 100th
If anybody needed a metaphor for Sydney's 2025 season, it came in the form of a paint bucket filled with sand. When, about 10 minutes into Saturday's wild and briefly wet 14-point defeat of Essendon, a work-booted groundsman lolloped onto the field and out to the centre square, then reached into the weathered white bucket and used its contents to fill a pronounced divot in the SCG pitch. A mid-game turf repair at a venue notorious all year for its patchy surface since that Andrea Bocelli concert in April. A venue that is also the Swans' home ground in their own fitful campaign that was confirmed as fruitless even before the bounce. Last weekend's capitulation to crosstown rivals GWS hammered the final nail in the coffin of a tough first year for coach Dean Cox marked by relentless injuries and dampened confidence. On Saturday everything was a bit damp, and the weather could not be held solely responsible for the poor kicking and lacklustre play as both sides saw out this consolation clash in front of a comparatively sparse crowd by Swans standards. And the younger among the 20,805 who turned up to watch the hosts withstand a nervy late Bombers comeback, a win that's building towards nothing must feel kind of foreign. This time last year, the Swans were headed for a 24th finals campaign in 29 years. Here they bettered the Bombers in the bleak knowledge that this September will not feature any footy for only the sixth time in the last 30 years. Only the rusted-on of pre-1996 – the year John Howard was elected prime minister and The Wiggles released Wake Up Jeff! – will fully understand the half a century of pain before it, dating back to the Bloodbath grand final of 1945.
