Swans beaten in controversial clash with Kangaroos

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This was published 5 years ago

Swans beaten in controversial clash with Kangaroos

By James Buckley
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NORTH MELBOURNE 3.3 5.5 7.10 9.14 (68)
SYDNEY 2.1 4.4 6.8 9.12 (66)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Wood 4, Hartung, Higgins, Brown, Simpkin, Cunnington
Sydney: Hayward 3, Sinclair, Towers, Fox, Parker, Jones, Lloyd

BEST
North Melbourne:
Wood, Higgins, Ziebell, Jacobs, Cunnington, Dumont
Sydney: Kennedy, Jack, Grundy, Hayward, Sinclair

INJURIES
North Melbourne:
Vickers-Willis (leg)
Sydney: Mills (ankle)

CROWD: 29,124 at the SCG

UMPIRES: Hayden Gavine, Mathew Nicholls, Robert Findlay

Recalled Kangaroo Mason Wood helped North Melbourne consign Sydney to a third home loss this season on Saturday,  but their two-point win was overshadowed by a controversial Billy Hartung goal late in the first term that appeared to be touched by Swans veteran Jarrad McVeigh.

Hartung beat McVeigh in a foot race to a tumbling ball in the North forward 50m, gathered possession and wheeled around on a dime before snapping at goal, but replays appeared to show McVeigh touched the football off the boot.

The umpires didn't opt for a score review despite McVeigh's protestations and the majority of the 29,124 fans at the SCG, and the goal stood.

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Falling short: Will Hayward of the Swans contests the ball against Ed Vickers-Willis of the Kangaroos.

Falling short: Will Hayward of the Swans contests the ball against Ed Vickers-Willis of the Kangaroos.Credit: AAP

"Someone told me he touched it, is that right or not?" Swans coach John Longmire said when asked about the incident post match.

"If he touched it he touched it, that's what the review's for I would've thought, but anyway."

In a four-quarter arm wrestle where neither side was ever able to assert complete dominance, Hartung's goal proved priceless.

"They review every goal before the ball bounces for the next centre bounce, I'd be staggered if they didn't look at it," Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said.

"I was about 250 metres away, I didn't see and I didn't look at the review. I can't control it so we just move onto the next thing that we're looking at we don't get caught up looking at replays and becoming third and fourth umpires."

Hartung's teammate Wood earned most of the plaudits booting four goals in his first AFL game of the season, including a superb shot with three minutes to go which sealed the win.

Key goal: Billy Hartung is congratulated by teammate Ben Brown.

Key goal: Billy Hartung is congratulated by teammate Ben Brown.Credit: AAP

Wood got the better of Heath Grundy in the lead up, skipped around some tired Sydney defence and drilled it home as the Kangaroos leapfrogged Sydney into the top eight.

"He was clearly the dominant forward on the ground," Scott said.

"He's a terrific athlete so he works up and down the ground, it wasn't just his work in the forward half either, he got up and gave us a way out of our defence at times and took some really strong marks when we needed him to.

"We've wanted to get him back into our side for a while but he's had a few niggling injuries. He also had some things we wanted him to work on.

"He's obviously a very capable player. When you have players who clearly have the capability to play good AFL footy, they can sometimes not understand when the coaching staff want them to go back and work on some things."

Tom Papley had given Sydney the lead earlier in the term with a true set shot from 50m out and for a moment it looked like Gary Rohan was going to celebrate his 100th match in style, but the Kangaroos' shinboner spirit stayed true to the final siren.

Papley had another chance to put his side in front in the final 90 seconds, but missed a set shot from a similar blade of grass to the one that had proved so productive for him not half a term earlier.

Dane Rampe then had a chance from 40m out, pulling himself off the SCG turf after slipping at a crucial moment but his flying shot blazed left and went out on the full.

"They missed some easy ones but we missed some important ones as well at different times that we should've been able to nail and would've given us a bit of a buffer," Longmire said.

"Stats only tell part of the story. We let them go too many times length of the ground where they were able to score.

"We hit the front in the last quarter and should've sorted it out a little bit better."

North led for most of Saturday's clash, but young gun Will Hayward kept Sydney in the contest booting three goals and taking several impressive marks.

It was another mature performance from the second-year player in a Swans forward line badly missing Lance Franklin and Sam Reid, but there were not enough contributors when it came to hitting the scoreboard.

Sydney's midfield started slowly but started to dominate the clearances as the match wore on.

But so often the final kick inside 50m was defended by a well organised North Melbourne, taking full advantage of the Swans' shorter forward line.

Rohan's 100th started with a nice touch - the 26-year-old carried his young daughter Bella in his arms as he ran out onto the field. Just days earlier he and his wife Amie had brought their baby girl home from hospital for the first time.

And Rohan was fired up determined to mark his milestone game with a win, throwing himself at very contest and covering plenty of ground throughout, but it wasn't his night.

There was one downer for North Melbourne which came when Hayward bumped Ed Vickers-Willis late on, and the Kangaroos defender crashed into the point post.

His right shin collided with the apparatus, and he was helped from the field although luckily his injury was not as serious as Tim Broomhead's double leg break earlier in the season.

"I don't think he's okay, he's on crutches just to take the weight off his leg," Scott said.

"We're just going to have to wait and see. It was significant enough for the doctors to tell me straight away that he wouldn't come back on.

"Hopefully it's just a really solid contusion."

Hartung's controversial goal was followed by a Shaun Higgins long bomb, the influential North midfielder converting after Kayne Turner had won a free kick inside 50.

It gave North a narrow lead heading into the first break after an even first quarter, and the arm wrestle continued to the main break with both sides kicking two majors in the second term.

Ben Brown finally hit the scoreboard after a couple of first-quarter misses, converting a free kick against Rampe that could have gone either way.

Hayward hit back instantly before Robbie Fox went back and slotted one from the pocket after he was on the end of a bullet pass from skipper Josh Kennedy.

North had the final say of the half when Jy Simpkin pilfered a botched Callum Sinclair kick and made the home side pay.

The third was more of an arm wrestle still, with roughly 15 minutes passing between goals at one stage - a Luke Parker bomb off a step from 50m moving Sydney to within a point.

Moments later the Swans won the clearance, but Isaac Heeney missed a sitter from 20m out allowing North to bounce back at the other end through the stead boot of Ben Cunnington.

The camera man found Franklin with about seven minutes to go and his smiling face flashed up on the scoreboard.

He was sorely missed on Saturday and the Swans faithful will be hopeful he'll be available next weekend against his old club Hawthorn.

VOTES
Mason Wood (North Melbourne) 8
Shean Higgins (North Melbourne) 7
Josh Kennedy (North Melbourne) 7
Ben Jacobs (North Melbourne) 7
Heath Grundy (Sydney) 7

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