Young and old answered the call for Sydney as they kept their injury-plagued AFL premiership defence alive with a courageous 24-point semi-final win over Carlton at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
When gun forward Kurt Tippett (knee) and outstanding young midfielder Tom Mitchell (ankle) left the game in the first quarter, Sydney looked in grave trouble.
From their oldest, 33-year-old 324-game veteran Jude Bolton, to their youngest, five-matcher Harry Cunningham, Sydney had all the answers.
The absence of forward spearhead Tippett, who is Sydney’s leading goalkicker despite missing their first 11 games, proved no problem.
Up stepped 20-year-old midfielder Luke Parker, who kicked three goals as part of an outstanding all-round effort.
Inspiration also flowed from co-captain Jarrad McVeigh, who tallied an AFL finals all-time record of 20 possessions in a quarter in the second term, on his way to a career-high 42 touches.
Carlton appeared to be inexorably taking control of the game in the latter stages of the first quarter.
Bolton turned the momentum around with a timely goal right on the quarter-time siren in his final game in Sydney, which gave the Swans a six-point advantage and seemed to suck the life out of the Blues.
Carlton had come from 30 or more points behind to win three recent games, but this proved one comeback too many.
Sydney kicked five goals to two in the second quarter and five unanswered goals in the third.
In his debut finals game, Cunningham kicked two goals of his senior career.
Carlton’s late-season surge ground to a halt despite kicking the first three goals of the final period and holding Sydney scoreless for the whole term.
The Blues have lost all seven of their finals outside Victoria.