After meeting last week in Sydney, the Swans and Hawks line up to do it all again this time, at the MCG.
It wasn’t until the final quarter that Hawthorn were able to wrestle the lead off an under-manned but committed Swans outfit, and hold on to a slender two goal margin at the siren to win 112 – 100.
The win was soured for the Hawks with the reporting and subsequent suspension of star forward Buddy Franklin.
Through concerted efforts, Sydney have been able to keep Franklin relative quiet in their past encounters but with him missing this week, Sydney’s defence can be applied elsewhere, namely to Jarryd Roughead who has kicked four goals in each game the Hawks have had against the Swans this year.
Sydney, who were without Goodes, Tippett and Hannebery, were back to their tenacious best and with the return of the latter two this week, coupled with Franklin’s absence, the 12 point buffer Hawthorn had last week could easily be eroded here.
Sydney’s midfield is the key, led by O’Keefe and Jack, they’ll to produce last week’s effort again to secure victory here.
Sydney were great for 90% of last week’s match but to beat Hawthorn requires a 100% effort.
The Hawks showed last week though, why they’re the benchmark in the competition. They didn’t panic when behind early in the peace and showed signs of a seasoned and professional team to produce goals and take advantage of opportunities at precisely the right time.
Hawthorn have won both games this year and three of the last four against the Swans – the one loss was last year’s Grand Final and in three of those matches, no more than 12 points separated the two rivals.
Would expect that this game will be no different those matches or last week, and with some key line-up changes for both sides to be made this week, it should be a brilliant way to kick of this year’s final series.
Odds Comparison by AFL odds:
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| Hawthorn Hawks | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.52 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.50 |
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Sydney Swans
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2.60 | 2.60 | 2.60 | 2.60 | 2.60 | 2.60 |
Teams:
Hawthorn Hawks: 
B: Stratton Lake Guerra
HB: Burgoyne Gibson Birchall
C: Smith Hodge Hill
HF: Breust Gunston Lewis
F: Puopolo Roughead Rioli
FOLL: Hale, Mitchell, Sewell
INT: Spangher, Whitecross, Bailey, Anderson
EMG: Shiels, Savage, Duryea
In: B.Guerra, M.Bailey, C.Rioli
Out: L.Franklin (suspension), S.Savage, T.Duryea
Sydney Swans:
B: Rampe, Grundy, Malceski
HB: McVeigh, Richards, Smith
C: Everitt, K.Jack, Rohan
HF: Hannebery, White, McGlynn
F: Bolton, Tippett, Mumford
FOLL: Pyke, Kennedy, O’Keefe
INT: Parker, Jetta, Mitchell, Bird
EMG: Biggs, Cunningham, Morton
In: N.Smith, K.Tippett, L.Jetta, D.Hannebery
Out: M.Morton, H.Cunningham, S.Biggs, B.Jack