Match

Melbourne vs Sydney Swans

Commentary / 02 Apr 2023

Pre Game

00:00
The Swans have won eight of their last nine matches against the Demons at the MCG by an average margin of 29 points, including a 22-point win in the Qualifying Final last season.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:39
Jacob van Rooyen makes his debut today for the Demons. Last season van Rooyen averaged 1.9 contested marks and 2.0 goals in his 18 VFL games, and in his draft year kicked 34 goals in nine WAFL Colts games.
01:17
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Joel Amartey)
01:24
The first score of the game to the Swans followed a forward half intercept. Sydney averaged 32.5 points per game from this source in Rounds 1-2 (ranked No.1).
02:59
Sydney has had the first five inside 50 entries of the game with four early forward half intercepts. The Swans are ranked No.1 for inside 50 differential this season, recording 18 more than their opposition.
03:42
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
03:59
The first goal of the game to Melbourne was launched with a defensive 50 intercept. The Demons have averaged 22.5 points per game from this source in Rounds 1-2 (ranked No.1).
06:07
Sydney is ranked No.1 for kicking efficiency differential this season (and was ranked in the top-2 in each of the last two seasons), but has started today with a kicking efficiency of only 22 percent.
07:26
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jacob van Rooyen)
07:39
A great start to the game for Jacob van Rooyen with an assist on the first goal for Melbourne and then an accurate set shot providing the second goal for the Demons.
09:26
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Isaac Heeney)
11:02
Melbourne had 23 stoppages in its forward 50 last week but did not win a clearance from any of these stoppages. The second stoppage in its forward 50 today resulted in a clearance and the last goal to van Rooyen.
12:27
Melbourne has taken more marks from kicks by Sydney players (5) than the Swans have (4) from their own kicks early in this game.
14:21
Melbourne has an early 3-0 lead in contested marks, with the last of these resulting in the goal to Charlie Spargo. The Demons also lead 6-1 in intercepts marks and 18-6 in total marks.
16:40
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Lance Franklin)
16:50
Sydney now leads 9-1 in clearances with the last of these resulting in the goal to Lance Franklin. Last week Melbourne conceded five goals from opposition forward 50 stoppages and the first goal today for Sydney has come from this source.
18:18
Melbourne is ranked last in clearances this season, losing this count by an average of 17.5 across the first two games. Sydney now leads 10-1 in clearances today.
19:53
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Lachie Hunter)
20:05
The two clearances the Demons have won today have both resulted in goals, with a 50-metre penalty assisting on the last goal to Lachie Hunter.
23:26
Sydney has recorded a pressure factor of 198 this season (ranked No.1), but today Melbourne has been able to control the ball with a 25-12 mark advantage and deny Sydney the opportunity to apply such a high level of ground-level pressure.
24:59
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Ben Brown)
25:20
Both teams have won five forward half intercepts, but Melbourne has scored 2.0.12 from these chances compared to Sydney 0.1.1.
26:49
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Clayton Oliver)
27:10
A third goal for the Demons from a forward half intercept and it is the first of the game for Melbourne to not come from a set shot. This is the first time Melbourne has kicked six goals in any quarter against the Swans since Round 17, 2010.
28:16
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ed Langdon)
30:37
A powerful opening quarter from the Demons who dominated both in the air (intercept marks 9-3 and total marks 31-16) and on the ground where it had an 18-11 advantage in loose ball gets.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
00:11
The last time that Sydney played at this venue (the 2022 Grand Final), it also conceded six goals in the opening quarter while kicking only one goal of its own.
02:29
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Tom Papley)
02:39
The first goal of the quarter to the Swans was sourced from a stoppage. Sydney now leads clearances 13-7 and points scored from stoppages 14-12.
04:31
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Will Hayward)
04:44
Sydney had the first five inside 50 entries of the opening quarter and failed to score a goal, but it has kicked the first two goals of the second quarter after having three of the first four inside 50 entries.
06:31
Swans Interchange - Harry Cunningham off due to an injury.
06:49
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
07:49
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
07:59
An opportunistic goal from Kade Chandler gives Melbourne a return of 4.1.25 from eight forward half intercepts, while Sydney has only scored 0.1.1 from the same number of such intercepts.
09:58
Melbourne has recorded a pressure factor of 188 this season (ranked second only to Sydney). In the opening quarter, the Demons led 188-163 in this measure.
11:20
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (James Jordon)
12:20
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
12:30
The Demons scored a total of 24 points in Rounds 1-2 from intercepts in their attacking midfield. Melbourne has already scored 31 points today from such intercepts (AFL average is 15.2).
15:12
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Lance Franklin)
15:40
The goal to Lance Franklin was the first for the Swans to follow a forward half intercept. Franklin has been the forward 50 target for six kicks today and no other Swan has been the target more than two times.
18:55
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Joel Amartey)
19:51
SCORE GOAL - Swans (James Rowbottom)
20:25
Some excellent forward 50 pressure from the Swans led to the last goal to James Rowbottom. Sydney applied three forward 50 tackles in that passage of play and had not recorded any such tackles today prior to that last entry.
21:49
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Rushed)
23:43
Clayton Oliver recorded a career-high 766 metres gained last week against Brisbane and currently has a game-high 346 metres gained today from his 12 disposals.
24:14
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Lachie Hunter)
25:00
Having not won a clearance from 23 forward 50 stoppages last week, Melbourne has won four clearances from seven such stoppages and scored 2.1.13 from this source following the last goal to Lachie Hunter.
26:19
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Joel Amartey)
26:31
Melbourne has scored 7.0.42 from set shots at goal today, while Sydney has scored only 3.3.21 from its set shots. Both teams have taken five marks in the forward 50.
28:34
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Logan McDonald)
29:10
Sydney has generated nine shots at goal this quarter from 13 inside 50 entries and recorded forward half kicking efficiency of 70 percent this term after posting just 22 percent efficiency by foot in the first quarter in this zone.
30:11
Sydney fought back in the second term with increased pressure (191-167) contributing to Melbourne not being able to move the ball as effectively. In the first quarter, Melbourne took 31 marks (including nine intercepts), but in the second quarter was restricted to 18 marks (including four intercepts).

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
01:22
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Clayton Oliver)
01:32
The third quarter has started on a trend matching the first half, with Melbourne taking an intercept mark (14-5) and converting a forward half intercept into a score (lead 37-14 in points scored from this source).
03:57
Melbourne has scored four of its ten goals today from either free kicks (2) or 50-metre penalties (2) with this contributing to the Demons ability to convert forward half intercepts into goals.
05:21
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Tom Papley)
05:37
There have been four stoppages in the Sydney forward 50, with the Swans winning three clearances and scoring 2.1.13 from this source following the goal to Tom Papley. Melbourne has conceded more points from this source than any other team this season.
08:29
Jake Lever has won 13 intercept possessions and 5.5 intercept marks per game in Rounds 1-2 (ranked No.1 and equal-second respectively in the competition). Today Lever has game-highs for both intercept possessions (6) and intercept marks (3).
10:06
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Lance Franklin)
10:24
For shots beyond 30 metres from goal, Melbourne has scored 6.0.36 and Sydney has scored 3.5.23 following the last miss from Lance Franklin.
11:07
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Errol Gulden)
11:32
Sydney now leads 5-0 in forward 50 intercepts and 12-0 in points scored from this source after the goal to Errol Gulden following a loose ball get. The Swans lead 12-5 in loose ball gets this quarter after Melbourne won this measure 18-11 in the opening term.
13:04
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Lance Franklin)
13:48
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Nick Blakey)
14:32
Sydney has had eight of the last ten inside 50 entries and generated the last five scores during this period of territorial advantage.
16:40
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
16:47
The accuracy of the Demons continues to separate these teams. Melbourne has now scored 9.0.54 from set shots at goal and Sydney has scored 4.5.29 from its set shots.
20:46
Melbourne has recorded terrific forward half kicking efficiency of 70 percent today compared to Sydney who has matched the AFL average of 57 percent.
23:35
Melbourne allowed its opposition to generate an inside 50 from just 12 percent of defensive 50 chains in Rounds 1-2 (ranked No.1 defensively). Sydney has generated an inside 50 entry from 32 percent of such chains today.
23:49
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
25:29
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Tom Papley)
25:38
The goal to Tom Papley was the first of the game to either team to come from a centre bounce clearance. Sydney now leads 11-10 in such clearances and 9-1 in points scored from these clearances.
27:04
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Charlie Spargo)
28:03
Melbourne now leads 67-29 in points scored from turnovers following the last goal to Charlie Spargo which also gave the Demons a 14-8 lead in forward 50 ground balls.
28:26
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ed Langdon)
31:24
Melbourne kicked four of the last five goals in the quarter and in the last ten minutes won the contested possession count 15-6. The accuracy of the Demons (10.0 from set shots) has been crucial in the 25-point lead.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
00:30
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Rushed)
01:52
After Sydney led the clearance count 10-1 early in the game, Melbourne has won the clearances 24-17 since and now leads 8-4 in hitouts to advantage after not recording any in the opening 15 minutes of the game.
01:56
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ed Langdon)
02:18
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)
04:38
Clayton Oliver has again been prolific for the Demons and has recorded team-highs for pressure points (42), score involvements (7) and ranking points (131).
05:41
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
06:21
Some more good ball use after winning a contested possession led to the last goal for Kade Chandler. Since the 20-minute mark of the third quarter, the Demons lead 28-10 in contested possessions including 15-3 in loose ball gets.
07:46
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Trent Rivers)
09:10
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Nick Blakey)
09:26
The goal to Nick Blakey was the first score of the game for either team to come from a kick-in chain. Sydney has conceded only one point this season from an opposition kick-in.
10:39
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
11:41
Melbourne now leads 21-12 in intercept marks with six different players contributing multiple such marks. The AFL average for intercept marks this season is 16.
13:17
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jacob van Rooyen)
15:16
The debutant Jacob van Rooyen has had some nice moments today with three goals, one assist, and an equal team-high five tackles. The last of these tackles led to his third goal with Demon fans having a new cult figure.
16:27
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Will Hayward)
18:09
Brodie Grundy has now recorded a game-high nine score involvements which include launching five scoring chains and providing two score assists. Grundy has also contributed 21 disposals and won four clearances.
20:42
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Harrison Petty)
22:04
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Tom Sparrow)
22:26
Melbourne has scored 19 points from centre bounce clearances in the final quarter after not kicking a goal from this source in the first three quarters.
23:47
Sydney has now conceded 20 goals in consecutive games at the MCG. The previous time that the Swans had conceded 20 goals in any game was in Round 16, 2015.
24:40
SCORE GOAL - Swans (Justin McInerney)
25:26
Melbourne has dominated contested possessions (27-10) in the final quarter including a remarkable 13-1 advantage in loose ball gets.
27:24
Melbourne lost the contested possession count by 15 in each of its first two games but now leads by 33 in this count today in a return to its form of 2021-22 when it was ranked No.1 in this measure.
28:01
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Rushed)
30:06
SCORE BEHIND - Swans (Logan McDonald)
31:42
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jake Melksham)
31:48
A statement win by the Demons who used a contested possession dominance (141-107) and remarkable accuracy in front of goal (16.1 from set shots including one after the siren) to set up a 50-point win.