The Sydney Swans have overcome a fast-starting Hawthorn to notch their fifth win of the season 10. 8 (68) to 16.13 (109) at UTAS Stadium.
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It wasn't quite the clinical extraction that they showed against Geelong on Easter Monday but a week later on Anzac Day but the Hawks flew out to a commanding lead with five unanswered goals.
The usual suspects were involved for Sam Mitchell's side as Jack Gunston, Chad Wingard, Jacob Koschitzke (twice) and Dylan Moore also picking up his custom first-term goal.
The youthful Hawks were flying out the stoppage at will and it was only Callum Mills steadying from 50 metres off a turnover and an Errol Gulden goal on the siren keeping the Swans alive at the first break.
The physical nature of the contest was epitomised by Paddy McCartin's willingness to back into two marking packs which left the former number one pick on the ground in the second term. A grazing knee early in the third term into McCartin's head ended the defender's day with Josh Kennedy entering the play.
The Swans cultivated plenty of opportunities at goal through the second and third term but Lance Franklin and Co had a contagious case of the yips as they went to five goals, 11 behinds by late in the third term.
A decade ago, UTAS Stadium had been the stage of one of Franklin's finest moments in a distinguished career but on this day, still wearing the 23 but drabbed in red and white, the 35-year-old lacked his goal-kicking radar early on.
Logan McDonald's conversion for Sydney's fifth goal ended a run of behinds. Chad Warner and Ben Ronke added further goals as the Swans outscored the Hawks 3.3 to 2.3 to have the margin at nine points heading into the final term.
"The second quarter we felt we played the ball more in our half but we couldn't kick straight ... but we felt like we turned the tide in the back-end of the first quarter and certainly the second term," Swans coach John Longmire said.
"That was the key, whether it was getting across to out-number, whether it's laying tackles or being clean, we were fumbly in that first quarter, so our players lifted the intensity from then."
The Swans out-possessed the Hawks in the third term (50-35) and brought their momentum from the end of the third term to the start of the final quarter.
Isaac Heeney converted early to be part of the Swans' eleven individual goal-kickers on the day as the Swans looked set to swoop with the margin at three points.
As they had done all day, the Hawks found a way to reply as Wingard swept up the loose ball to set Koschitzke onto an open goal.
The ball lived in the Swans' forward-50 but it took a soaring Heeney to create an opportunity mid-way through the fourth. Unfortunately for the sizeable Swans contingent in Launceston, the Swans star sprayed the shot when they needed a major.
Warner showed his fellow blonde Swan how it was done as he was on the end of a handball chain before slotting a running major to slice the margin to under a goal.
Mills, industrious and poised all day, created his own space in the contest as he found Gulden who in turn spotted Franklin out the back. The former Hawk gave the Swans the lead for the first time after the Hawks had led for 97 per cent of the match.
The former Swans academy member was easily the best on the ground as he notched 37 disposals, one goal, five tackles, 11 marks and six clearances.
"I thought he lifted his intensity really strongly, his scramble work around the contest, around the ball was a really high level," Longmire said.
From there, it was all Sydney as they looked far removed from the team who could not buy a goal in the middle terms.
Their domination was showcased on the stat sheet. After quarter-time, the Swans have won the clearances and the inside 50 entries as the ball only went in the Hawks' attacking area for four per cent of the quarter.
Franklin sealed the match with his third of the afternoon before Justin McInerney brought up the ton to close the 41-point win.
Paddy McCartin gets green light
McCartin's comeback into the AFL after a career cruelled by concussion issues had been well documented when the Swans picked him up in the off-season. When he did not return to the field, combined with the pictures of a distraught McCartin in the changerooms at UTAS Stadium, it looked like the latest chapter in the former number one's concussion saga would be written.
Longmire soothed those fears post-game.
"He's fine. He's feeling good. The docs were ultra conservative with him as you'd understand," he said.
"He was disappointed he couldn't get back on the ground. He feels good now."
Buddy hits another milestone
Wherever Buddy goes, excitement seems to follow.
The attacking superstar was not quite at his best at UTAS Stadium but did enough to help the young Swans to their fifth win of the year as he added three more goals to the tally.
Those goals were enough to ensure Buddy hit yet another milestone in his career, becoming the first player to manage Lance Franklin becomes the first VFL/AFL player to kick 500+ goals inside Victoria and 500+ goals outside Victoria.
It's not quite the fabled 13 goals in Launceston but it underlines Franklin's status as one of the game's greats.
Swans scoop silverware
Sydney's win also gives them the honour of winning the Alec Campbell Cup.
The silverware had been in Hawthorn's possession after their nail-biting three-point win over Adelaide last year in Launceston on Anzac Day but the Swans proved too good.
The cup is named after the final surviving Gallipoli veteran Alec Campbell who was born in Launceston.
Campbell joined the Australian Army at the age of 16 in 1915, he passed away in 2002 aged 103.
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