Another glorious Saturday afternoon at Waveland saw the Chicago Swans seeking another win at home in consecutive weeks. Their opposition Ohio Valley River Rats, a combined squad of Cincinnati, Louisville & St Louis. Unfortunately one of their guys had a wedding and so headed up with 14 players. Big thanks to a 4 of our lads volunteering their services, to help even up the numbers, Frank, Nolan, Allan, & Tyler Dorsett pulling on the opposition jersey; full credit to them! Drakey turned back the clock and put on his dusty old boots for a crack at the visiting side.
The Swans had been working hard in recent weeks to go out hard early and were able to get off to an early lead in the first quarter with some straight kicking, leading by 19 point at the first break. The River Rats kicked just the solitary goal, but could have easily been a couple more, if it hadn’t been for the Swans defense being rock solid, led by Tommy Shearman and Eric ‘Mac’ McLimore, once again two players leading from the front. In the middle, Drakey, Hoyt, Alistair Martin, & Pedro who seems to be in the middle of a purple patch; great form that we hope he can carry into Nationals.
More of the same in the second kicking three straight to extend the half time lead to 30 points. Stu was creating some nice plays in the forward half and even picked up a couple goals for his troubles. Sammy and Joel were also chiming in with some hard work in the forward line and had it been for some straight kicking would have rewarded themselves for that good work.
The third quarter was pretty tight, with the Swans boys missing a couple golden opportunities, winning the quarter by just 3 points. Mike Panek took a spell off the ball in the third, Sammy came into the middle and after a few minutes getting acclimatized began to find the ball with ease. Tommy Shearman came into the middle in the second half and began to make an immediate impact. The Dockers had two fine players in the middle, Jack, who played for the Revos last month in Australia in the International Cup & Cookie both carried the grunt work for the visitors all day, they continued to be a thorn in our side.
The flood gates opened in the last with Big Al running riot in the last to bring his game tally up to 5 majors. Straight kicking throughout the day saw the Swans run out comfortable winners on the day by 63 points. The defense continued to send the ball into attack, with Joe the Junkyard, & Alistair Martin tireless back there. Brad C moved into attack and took some telling marks and selflessly gave away a couple goals he could have kicked himself.
It was a pleasing victory in as many weeks and a good workout in the lead up to Nationals in October. Next week is a massive game and one that we always look forward to. Minnesota will be at full strength and the Swans will need to be on top of their game next week to topple The Freeze.
Swans
4.1.25 3.0.18 2.4.16 6.2.38 15.7.97
Dockers
1.0.6 1.1.7 2.1.13 1.2.8 5.4.34
Goals: Al 5, Stu 2, Alistair Martin 2, Tommy 2, Hoyt, Brad C, Sam, Joe
Best: Pedro, Mac, Al, Joe, Tommy Shearman, Alistair Martin, Sammy, Tommy
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