Preview The Swans Redemption Arc Goes On - Sydney vs Port Adelaide - Preliminary Final

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The best stories in sport are ALWAYS the redemption arcs.

  • Tiger Woods coming back from his wife, sponsors and health deserting him. Then winning his first major in 11 years at the masters.
  • Michael Jordan coming back into the NBA after failing at baseball and a tonne of betting controversies, winning multiple titles with the Bulls and becoming an icon that transcended sport itself.
  • Muhammed Ali getting revenge against Frazier, Norton and Spinks (All three were losses), let alone coming back from a ban to become world champion again
  • Cadel Evans finishing runner up at multiple Tour De Frances, looking past it with finishes outside the top 20 in 2009 and 2010 before finally becoming Australia's first ever winner in 2011!

Some of us may not recognise it but the Sydney Swans are in the midst of their own redemption arc.

  • Had lost three straight finals against GWS - Came from behind to beat them in a final in front of our own fans - TICK
  • Haven't beaten our preliminary final opponent since 2016, lost to them by over 100 points earlier in the season - Pending
Hell there is even a third part of this redemption with Geelong, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Lets start of with the preview of our preliminary final.

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Sydney Swans VS Port Adelaide
Location -
SCG
When - Friday 21st of September
Time - TBC
Weather - High of 23 degrees, dropping down to 18 by the bounce, no rain currently forecast, low amounts of wind.

Recent Form

Sydney - Lets not talk about about our midseason "dip" instead lets focus on the fact we have now won our last 4 on the trot, are well rested and have won after a week off every round this year. This match is set up for the bloods, so there are no excuses for our form, we just need to turn up and get the job done.

Port - Port have won 7 of their last 8 matches, but they greatly crashed down to early last week against Geelong. Honestly I think that match against Geelong was a one off and they are actually in great form leading in. I expect them to be up and about for this match.
Likely Changes
Sydney OUT: Mills IN: Fox (If not Fox then Adams)
Port: None - They may choose to bring in Dixon for Marshall, but I think their forward line looked better balanced with Marshall and I am sure their coaching box did as well.

Who to look out for

Sydney

Heeney: Did anyone expect me to name someone else? From one of the best performances I have ever seen by a Swan last week, I am expecting him to once again put our team on his back and lead us to victory. Watch out for Port who will likely put a big body on him around the stoppages (Potentially even Wines) .

McInerney: Yes he was probably a tad underdone last week, but I think he will hit back with a bang this week, as Port put more effort into our other players, I think he will step up and surprise a few.

Papley: Our barometer and a player built for finals, I am putting him down for 4 goals a few assists and maybe a scuffle or two.

Port

JHF: Similar to Heeney, this man is built for the big stage and is someone Sydney will need to look at shutting down. I'm not sure if he is the James Jordan matchup, but we will definitely have to get someone to go one on one and hurt him in the other direction.

Butters: A true leader, rose back off the canvas to lead Port over the weekend, if we can keep him quiet (Potentially Rowbottom head to head), it will go a long way to keeping Port quiet.

Burgoyne: Was HUGE for Port Adelaide over the weekend, and the player I would be sending Jordan (or even Hayward to). If we can cut their run from defence we can choke them up and make them appear lost.

What to expect from this match?

Port Adelaide are going to come hard at us from the first bounce, they start matches well and really left us shell shocked earlier in the season. On the bright side of things, I think we are mature enough to weather this storm and we have enough leaders in the side to limit the damage.

If Sydney can keep the ball in transition it will go a long way to us winning this match, Port have a very big bodied midfield which will pose problems for us, so expect to see Parker more on the ball, or potentially Adams coming in for Mills instead of Fox. If the match is contested we are going to likely have a few issues, but if the ball is played through the arcs and we can run through the corridor it will be ours to lose.

Expect to see Hayward or maybe McDonald go to Aliir and nullify his influence. Port Adelaide don't have a large range of intercepting defenders, so we may not be afraid to kick the ball long and bring it down to our smalls. I also expect Campbell, McInerney, Papley, Blakey, Florent and Warner to have a big role this week, as we will need our Chaos ball to be up and about.

Port are likely going to target Blakey and even potentially Florent, as they will really be looking to nullify our movement from defence and take a key skill away from us.

Final prediction
I expect Sydney to weather the storm on this match, we we can get past the first 15 odd minutes and not be more than a goal or two behind, we should be able to overrun Port Adelaide in the second half, it is all about limiting the damage.

Sydney by 27 points.
 
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Jmac wont get ditched 1 week back in.

He was ordinary and rusty yes, but 2 more weeks training, Horse wont discard him imo.

I think if he is moving well you back him.

Its just do you want Fox just replacing Mills, or Campbell to replace Mills and mix it with he, Florent, Lloyd And bring Adams in, think I would do that as much as I love Fox.

But if Fox comes in I get it.
 

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The question is, what are we going to do that’s different from the last 8 games we played Port?
Only Horse and the boys can answer that. The fly on the walls brain spill would be fascinating.
 
The ability to compete and the desperation and pressure from us has to be on right from the get go.

Need the tall forwards clunking them or at least bringing it to ground.

I assume Francis Evans will play a negating role on Blakey like he did Sicily. Hence why I think Fox should be the one in for Mills to free Liz up.

Have to go 4 quarters if we’re gonna break this duck.
 
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If Port get a good off to a flyer it will be incredibly tough to bring them back in.
The concern is Horse hasn’t worked out how to fix our slow starts yet and we are 1 game away from the big dance.
 
Comfortable win incoming. They looked pretty sore across the ground. JHF looks dicey as does Esava, Mitch and Butters. They will need a 7 goal lead in the first, which simply won’t happen.

We saw tonight the importance of fresh legs.

So I’m looking for a full three quarter performance.

After we’ve iced it in the third, we need to sub Rampe, bench the Big 3 and Blakey in the 4th.

I like fast players.
 
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