The Malaysian Warriors have continued their impressive start to the AFL Asia season with a convincing win against the Vietnam Swans 55 to 26 in Hanoi.

HE Mr Hugh Borrowman, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, with Captain Billy Crang, Malaysian Captain and Umpire Adam McDonald at the coin toss prior to the game.

A large contingent of over 30 Swans put up their hand for the Swans first game of the 2015 AFL Asia season and the first for the Swans in Hanoi since hosting the 2012 IndoChina Cup. The rare opportunity to play a fully timed, 16-a-side game on one of the best fields for football in Asia, the United Nations International School of Hanoi, drawing many new and old faces from Hanoi, Saigon and Da Nang.

The Warriors toured with a strong squad of 17 and didn’t waste any time continuing from where they left off from their 46 point defeat of Thailand a few weeks prior, registering the first few goals of the game on the back of some good run from their midfielders. The slow start for the Swans not surprising with so many first gamers and such a large bench to rotate through.

Swans rookie and winner of the first Nick Sheils Best on Ground award Tom Doer. As BoG, Tom will wear Nicko’s #10 jumper at Anzac Day.

The Swans fought back in the second quarter, finding some drive out of the middle behind Hanoian first gamers Tom Doer and Mark Horkan, providing David “SOS’ Skoronski with some good ball up forward, with Gus McEwin and Trent Davies also winning a lot of ball around the half forward line. Following back to back goals from SOS and Doer, the Swans would go into the half down just two goals, but confident of running over the top of the Warriors with their large bench.

Vaughn Swart did his best to inspire the Swannies in the third with an inspirational length of the field run from full back. Another impressive game from the Swans’ big Canadian backman who continues to improve with every game, doing a fantastic job on Malaysia’s full forward keeping him quiet for most of the day.

However, it was the Warriors that came out of the half time sheds the strongest, adding another couple of goals before the Swans could add to their total, which could have been easily more if it wasn’t for the strong defensive work from Swart, along with Tim Pickert, Jason Carter and Billy Crang.

Dave “SOS” Skowronski had another great game up forward for the Swans booting two for the afternoon. SOS will play his last game on Anzac Day before returning to Australia.

Unfortunately for the Swans they just werent able to find a way through the Malaysian defense, with SOS’ second for the afternoon their only second half goal, with the Warriors adding another 5 to run away with a convincing win.

With the big Anzac Day game just two weeks away, the Swans coaches and leadership group will be able to take away many positives from this encounter, with the game providing a great opportunity for the Swans Coaches to rotate many players through ahead of the ANZAC team being selected.

“It was great to see the excitement in everyone in our first international game” Swans Coach Andy Glendinning said.

“I was proud with everyone after a great competitive start. Tom, Ben and Mark were holding their own against the more experienced Malaysian centremen.

“There were some great individual efforts with SOS down forward and the run of Vaughn from full back to half forward was great to see”

Swans Captain Billy Crang and VC Timmy Pickert setting the standard for Swans defensive pressure

Glendinning was also positive about the resurgence of Hanoi football, acknowledging the problems it will cause the national selectors ahead of Anzac Day in saying, “It was pleasing to see the linking of both cities even though this was the first time this year we played together. The game was just what we needed with 2 weeks to our biggest challenge yet. As a coaching committee we have a tough task ahead.”

Warriors President Shaun Di Gregorio was very pleased about his teams performance and their 2-0 start to the AFL Asia season. “We knew the Swans in Hanoi would be a tough assignment. They gave us an absolute hiding in Vung Tau this time last year so we came into the game knowing it was going to be a bruising affair once again”

“Coming off a first up away win against the Thailand Tigers in Phuket a few weeks back, we knew if we stuck to our game plan we could push the Swans all the way”.“Credit to our boys, despite only having 17 men in the touring squad and missing several key players, we managed to slip away from the Swans early and get our nose in front when it mattered. While our kicking accuracy wasn’t great, it was a high pressure game so both sides sprayed  a few”“Our midfield really stood up and  won the contested footy. Even so the pressure around the ball carrier was immense and the Swans defenders made life very difficult for our forwards, particularly for our 2014 leading Goal Kicker ‘Patto’”.“All said and done it was a great day for AFL Asia and further cements the great relationship the Warriors and the Swans enjoy!”

Next generation of Swannies enjoying Hanoi Auskick

In a great day for Swans football in the north, the club also used the occasion to host their first Auskick clinic in Hanoi for many years, with Swannies legends Mick Francis and Dan Lucardie coaching a clinic for 25 kids. With Auskick packs on order from Australia we look forward to seeing more of these boys on the footy fields of Hanoi soon!

Both teams retreated to the Swannies new northern base, The Republic, to enjoy their fantastic hospitality, present the best on ground awards to the Swans’ Tom Doer and Malaysia’s Owen Lewis and raise 4 million dong for the Swans’ major charity partner Swim Vietnam via an auction for an additional happy hour thanks to The Republic and the Warriors boys.

The Swans-Warriors have built a great rivalry over the years, with this 2015 home and away series marking the 10th anniversary since the Swans’ first ever international tour to KL in 2005, with the Warriors returning the tour in 2006 for their first game in Vietnam at the same ground that the teams would meet this time around.

Both teams have committed to a regular home and away series, with the trophy to be awarded at the conclusion of the second game, scheduled for Penang in September.

Summary

Score – Vietnam Swans 3.8.26 def by Malaysian Warriors 7.13.55

Goals – Swans: Skowronski (2), Doer. Warriors: Jack Gascard (2), Owen Lewis (2), Sam Clark, Ben Simpson, Kurt Stocks.

Best: Swans: Tom Doer, Tim Pickert, David Skowronski, Vaughn Swart, Trent Davies, Joseph Vile. Warriors: Owen Lewis, Mike Fahey, Joel Backwell, Ben Simpson, Alex McLaws, Jason Flanagan, Corey Weekes.

Check out the TV report and Youtube link with action from the game as shown on Bong Da TV here (Vietnamese)

More photos of the game at the Swannies facebook page here

The Vietnam Swans would like to thank the generous support of Game Day sponsor The Republic, Vietnam Backpackers and The Moose & Roo restaurant and Platinum Sponsor Wide Eyed Tours for helping make this game possible. Thanks also to the staff and students of UNIS for allowing us to use their fantastic facilities and the wonderful Mr Hai for his help in setting up the ground. Thank you to Australian Ambassador Hugh Borrowman for coming along to toss the coin and his staff at the Embassy for their support with the media. Thanks also to Adam McDonald for a great game on the whistle, Mick and Dan for running the Auskick and then backing up to run the boundary, Fabbo and Wayne for goal umping, all the players for putting your hand up and all the spectators and supporters for coming along and enjoying the day.