{"id":120576,"date":"2021-08-28T07:36:58","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T07:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=120576"},"modified":"2021-08-28T13:57:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T13:57:57","slug":"botched-chances-hijack-gutsy-swans-fightback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=120576","title":{"rendered":"Botched chances hijack gutsy Swans fightback"},"content":{"rendered":"

A series of simple missed shots cost the Swans<\/a> dearly as they threatened to overrun the Giants<\/a> in a gallant comeback in their elimination final, killing their victory chances in a pulsating one-point defeat in Launceston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gun Swans forward Isaac Heeney<\/a> snared four goals in the second half as John Longmire<\/a>'s men closed from 23 points down at the half-time break.<\/p>\n

But Will Hayward, Tom Hickey, Sam Wicks and James Bell all failed to slot final-term goals that should have been kicked, as the Swans, despite dominating the midfield battle after trailing by 19 points at three-quarter time, fell short.<\/p>\n

Greater Western Sydney's 11.8 (74) to 10.13 (73) win means they are now set to meet Geelong<\/a> in a semi-final at Perth Stadium, in a clash likely to be held next Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And as the Giants zero in on their do-or-die match against the Cats, the Swans will look back on a resurgent 2021 campaign and wonder what could have been.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Swans completed a quick-fire rebuild this season, led by long-time stars Lance Franklin<\/a>, Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe, Callum Mills, Tom Papley and Heeney, and electrified by young guns Errol Gulden, Tom McCartin, James Rowbottom, Oliver Florent, Nick Blakey and Sam Wicks.<\/p>\n

But after packing their bags and making a frantic dash for Melbourne amid the COVID-19 chaos almost nine weeks ago, a season in which the young Swans have surprised the AFL world and filled Longmire with immense pride has rounded to a close.<\/p>\n

Hayward missed the first gettable goal of the Swans' tantalising last quarter when he swooped on the footy and tried to banana it through from close range, only to wrap a post.<\/p>\n

Despite the string of missed shots that followed, hope of an epic Sydney win remained alive at a stoppage close to the 50-metre arc with less than 30 seconds left on the clock.<\/p>\n

But GWS won the clearance, McCartin collected Giants ace Toby Greene<\/a> high, a free kick was paid and the clock fizzled out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The two biggest drawcards of the Sydney derby, Greene and Franklin, thrived in the finals clash.<\/p>\n

While Greene \u2013 who could be suspended for the semi-final due to a bump on umpire Matt Stevic<\/a> \u2013 finished the game with just 10 disposals, the firebrand Giant kicked three goals and was a continual source of inspiration for Leon Cameron's charges.<\/p>\n

Franklin collected 14 touches and booted three majors, all of which came in the opening half as the pundits dared to dream of the legendary forward reaching the 1000-goal barrier in the elimination final.<\/p>\n

Fans will instead have to wait for Franklin, who's finished the season on 995 career goals, to achieve what now looms as inevitable in the final season of his nine-year contract.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A series of simple missed shots cost the Swans dearly as they threatened to overrun the Giants in a gallant comeback in their elimination final, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120576"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120580,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120576\/revisions\/120580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}