Swans Integrated v Mandurah Match Report

We boarded the Pilbara Motor Group Swans Community Bus at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday morning and headed down the freeway to take on the Mandurah Mustangs at Rushton Park.

Despite the artic temperatures, full credit must go to the Mandurah Mustangs for ensuring that no rain fell during the game and the sportsmanship that they showed throughout the game.

We got off to a slow start and were unlucky to concede a freekick in the opening minutes giving Mandurah their first goal.

In extremely windy conditions, the first quarter was largely an arm wrestle in the centre square before Luci Gill and Mark “Plugger” McNair combined resulting in McNair’s first goal of the game.

Mandurah however made the most of their chances and were up 3.0.18 to 1.1.7 at the first break.

Despite Jayson “Juddy” Mann and Lewis “the Hulk” Collins doing what they could to repel Mandurah’s attack, Mandurah were still able to capitalise on their forward entries.

Skipper Dylan Farrow and Gill continued to work hard putting pressure on the Mandurah defenders but just couldn’t make the most of their opportunities with only Mark Ivey in his first game for Swans breaking a string of 6 straight behinds with his first goal, leaving us down at the main break, 5.0.30 to 2.8.20.

Mandurah came out in the 2^nd half quickly and scored the first goal before Josh Rudd found McNair close to goal to score his second of the day.

With the wind picking up ever more, scoring became even more difficult and both sides struggled with turnovers.

Swans were still in with a chance at ¾ time down 7.2.44 to 3.8.26 but would need to handle the conditions better than Mandurah to have any hope to record a famous win.

The hopes of the Swans faithful who had travelled down were quickly dashed by a quick goal off the ground from Mandurah and the things were starting to look as ominous as the clouds above Rushton Park. McNair provided a glimmer of hope as he scored his 3^rd goal through another forward entry from Gill before Mandurah banged on another two quick goals to seal the win.

Swans didn’t give up though with majors to our two goal sneaks Stephanie Pearson and Ben Klaassen before the final siren.

Final Score – 10.6.62 to 6.10.45.