Match Report - Swans vs Coolbinia

A perfect day for football greeted us as we headed north for our much-anticipated clash with Coolbinia on Saturday.

Lewis Collins and Jayson Mann were into the action early across defence as Coolbinia looked to put pressure on early. Collin’s might have been called the “Hulk” at school, but he is fast becoming “The Wall” in our backline as literally nothing can get past him.

Ben Klaassen was unlucky to convert early in the first quarter and despite Will Brenssell using his dash across half back, Coolbinia finished in front at the first break, 2.0.12 to 0.2.2.

Mann was shifted into the midfield in the 2^nd quarter and was reaching his peak form for the year, both negating his opponent but also driving opportunities in our forward line, including setting up Mark McNair for our first of the day. The tide was turning and we started to gain control with our backline of Collins, Brenssell and Blair Maitland on top.

Klaassen was again unlucky to have a goal not paid before Mann scored truly from a great snap to take the lead for the first time.

Coolbinia were not to be denied though and scored back moments before the siren to be just in front at the half time break, 3.1.19 to 2.3.15.

The message from Coach Stoney at the break was that we needed greater defensive pressure across the ground and that we were allowing Coolbinia players too much space when in control of the ball.

Brenssell heard Stoney’s message loud and clear, as did Collins, as they sought to nullify Coolbinia’s prime movers.

After a great start, Swans seemed to relax towards the end of the quarter enabling Coolbinia to score and take the lead out to 9 points at ¾ time, 4.3.27 to 2.6.18.

The last quarter started with great promise with Collins again winning the ball across half back and driving it forward but we just couldn’t capitalise on our hard work. When it seemed that we just couldn’t make any inroads, Stephanie Pearson scored a beauty from the boundary to bring the deficit back to just two points. The Swans crowd erupted and did everything they could to get their side home.

Frustratingly, Coolbinia were able to move it forward at the next centre clearance with ease and scored with 45 seconds remaining on the clock.

While it was disappointing to go down 5.4.34 to 3.8.26, the upside is that there is still plenty of room for improvement and we hope to welcome back our state representatives, Damien de Grussa and Luci Gill who were both late outs due to illness.