The Dogs managed to hang around for a half, but the power of the Swans was on display in the second half, as they cruised to a 66-point win at Marvel Stadium.
With a gaggle of injuries (technical term in the league), The Dogs were up against it, but the Swans weren’t exactly brimming with experience, missing two of their “big three”, as both Errol Gulden and Isaac Heeney were on the sidelines. That meant others needed to be relied on.
And players stepped up beautifully.
The surprise packet wing combination of Jai Serong and Matt Roberts owned the outside, whilst Tom McCartin continued his All-Australian calibre season with another great outing. Tom Papley was clean with the footy at the fall of the ball, and Charlie Curnow, despite one particular Fox Footy commentator struggling to have anything nice to say about him, had his breakout game in red and white, snagging seven majors.
Of course, I am a fan of the old saying it’s never as bad as it seems, and it is never as good as it seems, so both sides have plenty to work through in this one. We’ll work through the new and returning faces, who had a point to prove, as well as the Good, Bad, and Ugly from this one.
Let’s jump in.
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A POINT TO PROVE
Before each game I watch, I pencil in two players to watch a little more intensively as the contest progresses. There is no uniformity in choosing them – I just kind of look at the individual games and which players need to make a statement.
AARON NAUGHTON
Oh, what a player to choose, huh?
A heap of pressure has now been heaped upon the shoulders of Aaron Naughton, after Sam Darcy went down with an ACL injury, and Jordan Croft not yet ready to shoulder the responsibility. It left Naughton with Will Lewis as his running mate, and that was not going to end well.
Just how poorly it was to end, I did not foresee, with Naughton landing on his neck and head in a shocking fall in a marking contest. The results of early examinations are that he has escaped any serious issues, which feels like a bit of a miracle, given the angle of his neck on landing, but hell… I will take any good news on the matter.
A little before the fall, Naughton took a fantastic contested grab, and appeared vital to the Dogs staying in the game. Almost as soon as he left the arena, the wheels fell off for the Dogs, and the Swans blew them out.
LOGAN MCDONALD
I have not been impressed with McDonald this year, and I reckon after this game, you might see Hayden McLean rubbing his hands together at the prospect of coming back into this team.
There are two ways to look at McDonald’s game.
You can look at it as an individual performance, and if you do that, it looks poor, doesn’t it? Five touches and no scoreboard impact is not the type of game you write home to WA about.
But if you look at his role in the contest of the entire team… it doesn’t seem too bad. He was not the focal point – Curnow was. He was not the second option – Amartey was. So that meant he was the bloke responsible for drawing an opponent away from those guys. Some may say it was a sacrificial-type role, but I am more of the opinion any criticism of him will be compounded by the fact that he struggled to take the footy when it did come his way.
Maybe he needs a spell? Maybe McLean has done enough to warrant a run in the firsts, himself (he kicked four last week), and I guess we’ll soon see if Dean Cox and his selectors value team balance over individual numbers.
NEW FACES IN FOCUS
In this section, I want to give a specific focus on players new, or at least relatively new, to the teams. Some have played elsewhere, and others are fronting up in their first season, so it is always worth keeping an eye on how they’re travelling. In addition, players returning from injury/suspension may also be included.
BILLY COOTEE
He really wanted that first goal in this game. Had 1.1 and was a little rushed with his disposals. I expect that in the role he played, and can forgive him for being a little hungry. He’ll get another run.
MICHAEL SELLWOOD
I really dig his game – solid down back, puts his body on the line, and in an undersized defence, he was the one dropping back into the hole.
The Dogs have found one, here. I can see him being a 200-game player for the club.
WILL EDWARDS
Big wraps on him after the game from the media, and rightly so. Slotted in to play alongside Tom McCartin and the two waxed seamlessly.
Seven intercepts and four one-percenters make for a good night at the office in your first game, and even better when you are restricting the opposition. Some are calling for him to be reported for the contact with Naughton that resulted in his inury, but that was probably a free kick, at best – just a bloke trying to get back to defend, and running into a marking player – no malice in that.
LACHIE SMITH
A really tough ask, coming up against Brodie Grundy, and he looked completely gassed by the end of the game.
Grundy pushed hard forward several times, to finish with two goals, and whilst Smith managed to get his hands to the footy plenty of times, he had that ruckman’s disease that causes a delay between thought and action. As such, when the heat was on, he often struggled to dispose of the footy in any meaningful way due to the tempo.
JAI SERONG
Love what this bloke is bringing to the Swans – I did not see a tenure on the wing coming, I have to admit.
That said, he was potent with the footy, pumping the ball inside 50 on nine occasions, and looked both composed and dangerous with the footy. More on him below.
ADAM TRELOAR
I’ve got a whole section on him below.
LOUIS EMMETT
Backup ruck, but far too easily pushed off the footy.
That’ll happen, because he is 19, and at 19, I was no Mr Universe, either. A forgettable game from him.
MALCOLM ROSAS
He’s going for that “low possession/high impact” type of role, and he is almost there. Good forward pressure in this one, and was always looking to make something happen that was out of the ordinary.
Mark my words on this one – he will have a quarter of footy this season where everyone just sits back and says “wow!”
CHARLIE CURNOW
Oh, I’ll get to him.
Now, we can get into the Good, Bad, and Ugly.
THE GOOD
ANY CHANCE YOU CAN SAY A GOOD WORD ABOUT CHARLIE?
This actually annoyed me, because right from the outset, David King seemed like he had it in for Charlie Curnow, and even after the bloke kicked seven, he struggled to say anything nice about him.
It was almost as though the recruit had somehow ruined the story arc he’d created, and he was annoyed about it.
At one point, he told us that Charlie was “just not on”. Within minutes, Curnow had taken a contested grab and slotted his second goal. He then went “bang bang” to go into halftime with four to his name and more importantly, was clunking contested marks, as well.
Now, we all know that the record for contested marks in a game is ten, right?
Well, at halftime, Charlie had five, and looked like the most prominent forward threat on the park. Anything nice to say about him?
*Crickets*
Look, I am not one of those people who live to blow smoke up the backside of players. The facts are that Charlie does have a reputation of exploiting weaker defences, and this Bulldogs team looks pretty blood weak in the back six right about now.
But you know something else? Kicking seven goals in an AFL game – the modern AFL game – is bloody tough work. They don’t just fall into your lap – you have to work for them. And like it or not, Charlie Curnow made the most out of playing on the likes of Ryan Gardner and Buku Khamis.
He finished with 12 score involvements, and both drew the footy, and worked toward the contest when he wasn’t the identified target. This is the version of Charlie Curnow that the Swans wanted and needed, and even when he was struggling to hit the scoreboard, it was Joel Amartey bobbing up to fill the void.
The longer it went on, the more I felt King was attempting to speak his theories about Curnow into existence. What would have been better is if he simply stated his thoughts once, moved on, and assessed the game according to what was occurring – not what he hoped to occur.
Not a great game by Charlie – he has a lot of improvement left, but this was a taster. If he really does hit his straps and have a big game, he will make a believer out of even his most ardent critics.
THE OTHER BOOKEND
What type of season is Tom McCartin having?
There was a time when I watched McCartin, and he looked so mechanical in his movements. It was as though someone had almost got a fully working cyborg to play AFL footy, but hadn’t quite worked out the fluency of the natural human movements.
He started as a forward, showed a bit, and was then switched back. At the time, I remember likening him to Jacob Weitering, but I quietly hoped he would be able to diversify his skill set to not only beat his own man, but also zone off to control the D50.
He has now absolutely made that step.
McCartin was huge in this one, causing all sorts of issues for the Bulldogs as they tried to find a way around him. More than that, he is now also quite proficient with the footy in hand, playing within himself, and learning how to move the footy quickly, without taking risks he is not up to.
This is a huge positive both for him, and the coaching staff.
Too often, big blokes are asked to suddenly become great decision-makers, and skilled craftsmen with the footy in hand. The Swans are not asking that of McCartin, and they’re bloody smart in deciding that. They have some good ball users back there to dish off to, and McCartin is well aware of it. He doesn’t bite too much off, does the team thing, and is now reaping the rewards.
I think he might be leading the Bob Skilton Medal at this stage of the year. Maybe he and Grundy locked at the one-two positions.
MIXING IT UP FOR PAPS
It was good to see Tom Papley spending some time in the guts in this game – he brings another dimension to the Sydney midfield when he is in there, but that is not even the real positive.
The real positive is that his body is enabling him to spend time in there.
I have been a bit worried about Papley over the last year and a bit – always on the edge of being damaging, but always that little bit off.’
Maybe he is now at the point where that “little bit” is behind him?
He was quick with his hands in this one – clean early in the game whether he was collecting a ground ball or hitting the front of a pack.
He finished this game with 23 touches and, other than his wayward kicking, was one of the standouts for the Swans.
When Sydney recruited Malcolm Rosas, I had the feeling it was as much for his skills, as it was for reminding Paps that he needed to start producing. I mean, how much of a better side are Sydney with Papley in this form?
He has responded to any perceived threat to his place in the team, and his three direct goal assists in this one make up for those shocking misses.
At least he was able to have a smile about it.
Not sure his opponent was smiling too much.
A RACE IN TWO
Remember when the experts told us that the new ruck rules were going to severely hamper the older, bigger-bodied rucks, and everyone was frothing at the mouth about acquiring big-leaping rucks to jump over these old dinosaurs?
They’re pretty quiet about those ruck rules now, aren’t they?
Know why?
Because the two best rucks in the game are the same two blokes who were the best rucks in the game last year, that’s why?
“Oh, but Grundy is a wrestler, not a finesse ruck… and he won’t be able to compete with the young legs in the middle of the ground.”
I’ll tell you what – the more I listen to experts, the more I start to have my thoughts confirmed. They don’t know anything! They’re just guessing – same as you and I.
The difference between us and them is that we occasionally adopt a “wait and see” attitude in regard to changes like these, and they just blurt out the first thing they think of and repeat it until others parrot it.
Sure, we could look at this game as an outlier, as Grundy was up against inexperienced big men, but over the course of the season, we’ve seen Grundy average 1.7 hit outs fewer than he did in 2025, and 2.8 more than he did in 2024.
So really, what have these ruck rules done?
Simply put, they have made rucks find ways around them, and both Grundy and Max Gawn were always going to be able to do that.
Grundy sensed the weakness in the young Bulldogs rucks, and took it upon himself to stretch them like his name was Stu Hart and they were appearing in his basement for some training.
He pushed deep forward, took marks inside 50, and could have finished with three had he had his kicking boots on. Alas, two goals it was, and Grundy cruised to yet another stellar outing.
Right now, I have him marginally behind Max Gawn in the race for the AA ruck spot, but with this type of form on display, a spot for two rucks should be allocated this season, because both these guys are killing it.
LETHAL ON THE OUTSIDE
There are a couple of blokes in red and white who would be laughing at how easy it is to play on the wing.
Last year, Matt Roberts went to work off half-back. He was 21 then, and one of the best prospects as a running rebounder in the game. However, his coach was seemingly looking for more from him, or wanted to reshuffle the deck a little, and Roberts found himself on the wing.
He entered this game in the lead in our Robbie Flower Wingman of the Year Award, and I would hasten to add that he will remain there at the conclusion of Round Seven.
His work out wide was one of the highlights of the game, and the Swans needed him to step up with a couple of their big names on the sidelines. He has performed brilliantly this season, but this might have been his best outing.
He racked up 27 touches, four inside 50s, and 559 metres gained as his power running and repeat efforts to get from contest to contest, gave the Swans numbers around the footy all evening.
I feel like the Demtel salesman now… but wait, there’s more!
Across the other side of the ground, Jai Serong was going to work, as well. Recruited from Hawthorn, where he won back-to-back best and fairest awards in the midfield, there was a belief that Serong was going to occupy a defensive role at Sydney.
That was all turned on its head when he lined up on the wing from Round One onwards, and he has not looked back.
Another 22 touches and nine inside 50s, as well as doubling up with Roberts to provide continued support at stoppages (he had four clearances) demonstrated that the Swans have their inside/outside game up and running beautifully.
I have often thought that the wing roles can be the last positions to really click when a team is prepping for a run at the top, and Sydney have them absolutely spot on at the moment.
Errol Gulden is still a long way off, and it remains to be seen as to whether Dean Cox will move him out wide to inflict damage as the Swans head to finals, but upsetting the current apple cart of Serong and Roberts might cause him to think twice.
They’re playing beautiful footy out there.
NO MORE A CAPTAIN CAN DO
After being under an injury cloud right up until the commencement of the game, Marcus Bontempelli looked like he was ready to take over in the first half.
The Dogs jumped out of the box, and two of Bont’s 45-50-metre passes looked as though they could have punctured the leading forwards’ chests. They were those low darts, that don’t really get above head height, and give the defenders no chance.
He looked “on”, and for a bloke who was touch-and-go to play at all, it was the type of start that could only inspire those around him.
He finished the game with 29 touches and two goals to go along with his six clearances, seven inside 50s, and three direct goal assists.
The thing that always gets me with him is how great he is below his knees, just flicking the ball up to himself and then going on his merry way with quick hands, or that lethal left foot
In a nutshell, you watch this bloke play and just nod. Some are just a cut above everyone else, even with a high-quality stopper hanging off them for half a game.
THE BAD
A SHADOW OF WHAT WAS
Before I get stuck in here, I have to preface this section by acknowledging that Adam Treloar may well be much, much better for the run, but there were the type of worrying signs that cannot be ignored in a performance that saw him accrue 25 touches of the footy.
It’s tough to watch him out there at this stage of his career, and I wonder whether tonight could have been the night when he realised that his AFL career is dusted? Maybe not in terms of games, but in terms of being able to have a genuine impact.
It’s not my intention to put him out to pasture in a few paragraphs, but he short-stepped all night, lacked power in his running, and spent more time seemingly upset with his inability to impact than he did actually impacting the game.
Maybe he needed the run? Maybe he was reluctant to really stride out and have one of those Treloar-esque runs with the footy, in case some part of his body went pop, however, I have to ask; if he is incapable of doing that stuff, why is he in the side? Ryley Sanders is there to learn, and so is Joel Frijah, who had a shocker playing more on the flanks. Even Matt Kennedy was shuffled forward to accomodate Treloar – I don’t understand what the Dogs thought he was going to provide them.
Disposals?
Yeah, he’ll get them. Most midfielders can find the footy without trying. But what about breaking lines?
You remember what he was? He was a terror with the footy in hand, running forward like a maniac at times. He had 126 metres gained in this game – backwards and sideways more often than not. At just over five metres per possession, it was a far cry from the player he once was.
And really, what the hell is with that hairstyle? He looked like the bogan ten-year-old who rides his BMX without a helmet out the front of your house. Horrible choice, by him.
THE UGLY
I almost had Treloar’s hairstyle in this section…
THE FALL
I’m not sure there has been a more worrying instance in the league in recent seasons. No big bump or sling tackle, or knee to the head that has caused the supporter base, not just of the Dogs, but of the entire league to bite their lip and hope for the best.
That Aaron Naughton was able to head home with his parents, and was not rushed to the hospital after his sickening crash to the ground in a marking contest, is simply amazing.
This was real heart-in-mouth stuff for the entire AFL, as player safety has been one of the big talking points for years, and then we have Naughton with his legs taken out (completely accidentally, I might add) by Will Edwards, and landing right on his head and neck, twisting at some macabre angle.
Make no mistake – this was one of those moments that so easily could have ended in disaster, but for the grace of the Footy Gods, Naughton is off to have precautionary scans this morning, and could even play next week.
At the time, it looked like he may have been lucky to ever play again… perhaps lucky to walk.
This game is bloody dangerous. It takes guts to get out there and do what these blokes do, and whilst we sit back and assess games, plays, and players, it is worth noting that genuine danger is never too far away, no matter how controlled the environment becomes.
I’m so relieved that Aaron Naughton is okay. Absolutely thrilled.
SOME QUICKIES
I read earlier today some post about free kick discrepancies always favouring Victorian teams when they play Non-Victorian teams in Melbourne.
Lo and behold, the Swans come out and win the free kick count by +11. You reckon some of the umps may have read that piece, as well?
In terms of individual incidents, did the Dogs have a bit to complain about? Yeah, well, whilst Sydney fans have long memories and a Grand Final loss to remind them of things swinging the other way, there were a couple of instances where the Swans were awarded free kicks and I was left scratching my head. The most obvious one was the clear high tackle on Sam Davidson which was paid holding the ball.
However, plenty of others were earned simply because the Swans were better with their attack on the footy, and better with their attack on the opposition when they didn’t have it. It’s a bit too easy to point to the umps as a difference in a game you lose, but the lack of intensity and commitment from some of the Dogs during this game is the real culprit.
The umps were not great, but they were not at their worst, either.
I’m a big fan of Joel Freijah. At one point last season, I even went and sourced one of his signed rookie cards, as I reckon he will blossom into a brilliant player. But he was a step off in this one… as though his reaction time was marginally slower than it needed to be. Caught three times holding the ball in the first half, he is much better than what we saw in this one.
As indicated above, I loved the game of Will Edwards. He certainly fills out that red and white guernsey, huh? At 197 centimetres, he would have to weigh in the mid 90s… just a big body with a heap of desperation behind it. Hard not to love what he was producing in this one. I think he made one error all game.
Would have loved to see the Swans throw him forward in the last five minutes.
The Dogs are slowly morphing into the Bizarro Geelong, with their headbands and dark hair… Jed Busslinger and Michael Sellwood have the same hairstyle, and we were told they were so much alike. How do these commentators differentiate between players when Geelong plays?
I didn’t give him his own section, but has anyone ever thought about… you know… getting physical with The Lizard and maybe stopping that run from defence? You don’t have to sit him down, but just play in front of him, put the bumpers up, and knock him off his line whenever he is running to receive.
It’s easier said than done, obviously, but I am not sure I saw a Dogs player do it once in this game.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Depleted and defeated, the Dogs look to be in a world of trouble. They’ve gone from a team with a plethora of aerial riches to a team with barely any, in a short period.
They’re also focusing on bringing Zak Butters to the club – how about looking at a genuine key defender, guys?
Anyway, I am sure I am not saying anything that their fans haven’t already.
As for the Swans, the great start to the season continues. It’s hard to pick weak links in the team, at this stage. I mentioned McDonald, but my jury is out on him, as when you have one key forward as the focal point, the others can be in starvation corner a bit. He just needs to start winning the occasional contest.
Other than that, they’re getting Heeney back, and can slot in Hayden McLean when they’re ready, or if he’s required.
Good times for the Swans, at the moment. I’m already looking forward to seeing how they go in the Grundy v Gawn Bowl next week.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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