The Swans won three sudden-death finals en route to last year’s grand final, and recreated the first step in that process with Sunday’s 16.19 (115) to 6.9 (45) elimination final victory.

Led by Corey Bosworth and Ethan Goldfinch, the Swans’ midfield proved a cut above and were able to provide spearhead Michael Musicka (four goals) with plenty of opportunities. 

The Swans took a seven-goal lead into the final term and had the luxury of taking precautions with key players late in the game.

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“I thought Ethan Goldfinch was our best player today,” Swans coach Ned Hyland said.

“He was absolutely fantastic and probably our major playmaker, and also Shaun Cannon rucked unchanged for most of the game and was fantastic in the middle to give us first use of the ball.

“Midway through the last quarter we pulled off a few guys for injury management to start getting on top of soreness for our preparations for next week – the buffer in the scoreboard allowed us to do that.”

The Magpies had the advantage of a strong breeze in the first quarter, yet it was Musicka and Pearce Robinson who struck first to get the Swans off to a flier. 

A pair of majors to Ethan Brown then wrestled control back Perth’s way, and the margin was just one point at the first break. 

But a huge sequence of out on-the-fulls in Invermay Park’s Roundhouse pocket ensured the ball remained locked in the Swans’ forward 50, and by sheer number of entries, they broke the game apart.

With Will Stoltenberg shifting from defence to attack, the Swans were able to kick six goals to none in the second term and could have had more but for inaccurate kicking.

Despite the continued grunt of Zane Brown and Nathan Croft, the Magpies were unable to pull back the margin in the third term, leaving coach Josh Holton to rue what might have been.  

“We came out really strong and used the wind to our advantage and played the way we wanted to play, but in the second quarter they went up a gear and we didn’t go with them,” Holton said. 

“Our attitude was there, but their pressure was just too much and we couldn’t adapt to it.

“We rushed, they made us panic and we just didn’t use the ball well enough like we wanted to.”

In the reserves elimination final, Old Launcestonians kept their season alive with a 9.17 (71) to 3.9 (27) win over Lilydale.