They say bad kicking is bad football. If that’s the case, this was an atrocious game from Freo, as the Swans taught them a bit of a lesson in regard accuracy and pressure.
Placed under the pump constantly by a Sydney team that flooded every area on the ground with a sea of red and white, the Dockers continually turned the ball over, made silly errors, and when it came time to convert, well… let’s just say that their goalkicking made the other aspects of their game actually look good.
As the teams walked off to the sheds at halftime, Sydney did so with a scoreline of nine-straight goals to their name. And in response, the Dockers managed one goal and eight behinds.
Game over.
So, that was the story, huh? Sydney kicked well and the Freo couldn’t hit the ocean from the sand.
Not quite.
What we had in this game was a team that has cultivated their list to be at the pointy end of the 2024 season, in Sydney. And in order to compete under the bright lights of September, you have to be able to bring the heat. And the Swans brought it in spades to open the game. To their credit, Freo were not bad in that regard, either, dispute what the Fox Footy Pressure Gauge may say. The tackling from both teams was ferocious, resulting in some genuinely good umpiring.
You read that correctly. GOOD UMPIRING.
Yes, good umpiring inasmuch as they actually paid holding-the-ball free kicks in the vicinity of seven or eight times in the first quarter alone.
I was shocked.
Anyway, there were a few big talking points to come out of this one. Time to jump into them.
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