Final Score: ??
With Bali always the favorite in our group, nobody expected, except the Swannies of course, that this would be anything but an easy match for the Geckos. How wrong they were as once again the Swannies came out firing on all guns.
The coaches rested a few big names knowing that we still had a tough run home against the host nation but more importantly found some new positions for some of the boys to show off some hidden talents.
Big Growds and Marty Sharples dropped back into defense and found their comfort zone for sure. Drew took up the centre half forward role and was an immediate target and huge help for Dan who brought his sterling form into his second match of the day. Johnny simply dominated the ruck and his effort allowed Sam, Mick and Greg to win about 90% of the clearances as the Swans easily took the first half.
A shell shocked Bali were in tatters and needed to pull out something in the second half. Their tactics were to take out Sam’s midfield dominance by antagonizing this innocent young man into an uncharacteristic poke at a Bali hard man. Unfortunately Sammies haymaker came all the way from Hanoi so the ump decided he needed a rest in the bin. This was Bali’s chance and they came out pounding the Swannies goals.
Fantastic pressure from our solid backline of Kris, Scotty B, Damo and Will forced the Gecko’s to miss a few and kept the Swannies in it right to the end but once again, the Gecko’s were another opponent of Vietnam that were able to just fall over the line. A fantastic effort from our boys against a team that drew in the Grand Final.
Best Players: Martin, Marty Sharples, Eggins, Franklin, Gowing, Vandermeer
Goal Kickers:??
Report prepared by Coach Scott Stacey. Photos courtesy of Colin and Kay Mitchell
