THE SYDNEY Swans have strengthened their hold on a top-four finish after dispatching of a lacklustre St Kilda by 97 points at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The 20.15 (135) to 4.14 (38) win ensures the Swans will earn a valuable double chance if they can beat the lowly Gold Coast next weekend.
Five talking points: St Kilda v Sydney Swans
The return of Lance Franklin and Gary Rohan from injury has further improved their finals hopes, although a hamstring injury to Nick Smith and the surprise substituting of Franklin in the third term means question marks linger.
Franklin was subbed off despite not appearing to be injured; a move that looked to surprise and frustrate the star goalkicker.
Smith limped off shortly after and spent the rest of the game icing his right leg.
Franklin had seven disposals, took three marks and kicked one goal in a rusty contribution.
Afterwards, coach John Longmire said there was no fresh concerns with Franklin and his substitution had been planned.
"That was the aim, if everything went OK, to get him [Franklin] off halfway through the third and bring Gary on," Longmire said.
"We were a little bit unfortunate that Nick got injured or didn't play anymore five minutes after that but as far as planning it went the way we wanted it to."
The Swans remain unsure of the severity of Smith's hamstring, with the injury to be assessed this week.
Perth trip last chance to atone for Saints, says Richo
Rohan, who has played one game since round 14, came on to replace Franklin and had seven disposals, and applied an impressive smother in the third term that resulted in a goal to Harry Cunningham.
While 10 goals to three in the first half set up the Swans’ win, five goals to one in the third made it hard for even the competition's comeback kings to contemplate a late fightback.
A final term flurry of five unanswered majors made it the Saints' biggest loss of the season, after they added just two behinds to their three-quarter time score.
The Saints were flat and had few winners, which surprised coach Alan Richardson given their recent run of strong key indicators.
"I was really positive coming today. I was really positive with respect to the way we trained, our preparation was as strong as I'd seen it," Richardson said.
"The players trained with real life and energy.
"There's some things that our guys have identified that are heading in the right direction, and coupled with the way we trained I thought we'd be pretty strong tonight so that's disappointing."
Jack Steven and David Armitage worked hard in the middle but were hurt by poor disposal, while Jason Holmes again showed promise in the ruck against Canadian Mike Pyke.
But it was the class of Josh Kennedy (33 disposals, nine clearances), the midfield contribution from Dan Hannebery (39 disposals after a slow start), and the Swans' multi-pronged attacking structure that set the teams apart.
They had 10 goalkickers, with Kurt Tippett making life tough for Hugh Goddard with 3.4 and seven marks, although the young defender fought hard, and Isaac Heeney bobbing up with four goals.
Lance Franklin finished the match in the red vest. Picture: AFL Media.
In comparison, the Saints' forwards were painfully quiet.
Nick Riewoldt spent time on the wing but didn't really make an impact, Josh Bruce touched the ball just six times and Tom Hickey twice.
Retiring veteran Adam Schneider ended as their highest goalkicker with two, in his 228th – and last – AFL game.
In short, it was a tale of two teams heading in different directions with one game left; the Saints to off-season holiday destinations after a brave performance last week against Geelong, and the Swans to a likely top-four finish.
Can anyone catch this Swan?! Jetta leaves the Saints in his wake as he kicks the Swans' first #AFLSaintsSwans http://t.co/p8qMj292aE
— AFL (@AFL) August 30, 2015
ST KILDA 1.5 3.9 4.12 4.14 (38)
SYDNEY SWANS 4.3 10.6 15.10 20.15 (135)
GOALS
St Kilda: Schneider 2, Riewoldt, Murdoch
Sydney Swans: Heeney 4, Tippett 3, Goodes 3, Mitchell 2, Reid 2, Pyke 2, Jetta, McVeigh, Franklin, Cunningham
BEST
St Kilda: Steven, Armitage, Roberton, Fisher, Savage
Sydney Swans: Kennedy, Hannebery, Mitchell, Heeney, Jack, Tippett
INJURIES
St Kilda: Nil
Sydney Swans: Smith (hamstring)
SUBSTITUTES
St Kilda: Tom Hickey replaced by Luke Dunstan in the third quarter
Sydney Swans: Lance Franklin replaced by Gary Rohan in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Bannister, Stephens, Ryan
Official crowd: 27,856 at Etihad Stadium
The siren has sounded to end Q4.
Schneider ends up with the ball in his hands in his final AFL match. He kicked two goals for the Saints (out of only four), but it was a disappointing afternoon for the St Kilda as Sydney inflicted their biggest defeat for the season.
BEHINDSwans (Harry Cunningham)
St Kilda have managed four goals for the match. Sydney have managed at least four goals in each of the four quarters, and outscored St Kilda's total match score in the 2nd quarter and are only four points off this quarter.
GOALSwans (Adam Goodes)
BEHINDSaints (Josh Bruce)
Make that 13. Sydney are eyeing off their first 100 point win for the season, and are just five points off their highest score for the year (which came last week against GWS).
GOALSwans (Kurt Tippett)
Sydney have scored 12 goals from turnovers today, while St Kilda have scored just three.
GOALSwans (Mike Pyke)
The big American, Holmes, registers his first kick for the game, and the third for his career. And it's an effective one!
GOALSwans (Isaac Heeney)
...And of course, as soon as I bring that up Sydney score the first goal for the quarter! That goal broke a run of eight behinds between the two teams.
GOALSwans (Tom Mitchell)
BEHINDSaints (Jack Steven)
This quarter has seen 15 inside 50s and four shots on goal between the two teams, but no goals scored yet. And we're past the halfway mark.
BEHINDSwans (Josh P. Kennedy)
Josh Kennedy has just registered his 30th disposal. That's his 9th game in a row with 30 disposals, just one shy of Dane Swan's record of 10 consecutive game.
BEHINDSwans (Adam Goodes)
BEHINDSwans (Kurt Tippett)
BEHINDSwans (Josh P. Kennedy)
Sam Fisher has taken four intercept marks in the Saints' defensive 50 today, a match high.
Q4 is now underway.
The siren has sounded to end Q3.
Holmes has had a serviceable game in the ruck today in his second game. He has had 15 hitouts, four to advantage (both match highs), but has struggled to have an impact elsewhere with just two disposals to his name.
BEHINDSwans (Rushed)
BEHINDSaints (David Armitage)
BEHINDSaints (Jack Steven)
This quarter, the Swans have had seven more clearances, six more inside 50s, 15 more marks, 10 more tackles, 14 more contested possessions, the ball in their forward half for 68 per cent of time and kicked five goals to one.
GOALSwans (Tom Mitchell)
GOALSwans (Harry Cunningham)
BEHINDSwans (Rushed)
GOALSwans (Adam Goodes)
Sydney Swans InterchangeJosh P. Kennedy replaces Jarrad McVeigh due to the blood rule.
St Kilda have only transitioned 10 per cent of their defensive 50 chains to their forward 50, and scored just 0.2 (2) from them. Sydney have transitioned 32 per cent to their forward 50 and scored two goals.
Sydney Swans InterchangeNick Smith off due to an injury.
BEHINDSaints (Rushed)
Hannebery has had an amazing 9 disposals this quarter, and we're only just past the halfway mark. He is the leading disposal getter on the field with 23. Roberton has the most for the Saints with 20.
GOALSwans (Isaac Heeney)
BEHINDSwans (Rushed)
BEHINDSwans (Josh P. Kennedy)
Sydney have laid 14 tackles this quarter to the Saints' six despite having had 22 more disposals and possession for 56 per cent of the quarter.
Sydney Swans InterchangeGary Rohan was substituted into the game for Lance Franklin.
St Kilda InterchangeLuke Dunstan was substituted into the game for Tom Hickey.
GOALSwans (Sam Reid)
First goal of the second half to the Saints! Schneider has kicked his second goal in his final game. He has had 9 disposals and 7 kicks and two inside 50s today.
GOALSaints (Adam Schneider)
BEHINDSwans (Rushed)
Q3 is now underway.
Sydney made the most of their opportunities that quarter. They only had three more inside 50s than the Saints, but their kicking efficiency in the forward half was 17 per cent better than St Kilda's.
The Saints kicked the first goal of that quarter in the first minute which was followed by six Sydney goals. Murdoch kicked a goal after the half time siren for the Saints to pull the margin back to 39 points.
The siren has sounded to end Q2.
GOALSaints (Brodie Murdoch)
GOALSwans (Adam Goodes)
GOALSwans (Kurt Tippett)
St Kilda InterchangeJack Steven replaces David Armitage due to the blood rule.
BEHINDSaints (David Armitage)
Sydney are using the ball better by foot than the Saints this quarter. They have had six more effective kicks, while St Kilda have had three more clangers than the Swans.
BEHINDSwans (Dan Hannebery)
GOALSwans (Lance Franklin)
BEHINDSaints (Rushed)
BEHINDSaints (Tom Hickey)
Sydney have had eight of the last nine inside 50s, and scored 3.2 (20) during that period to no score by St Kilda.
GOALSwans (Isaac Heeney)
BEHINDSwans (Tom Mitchell)
BEHINDSwans (Kurt Tippett)
GOALSwans (Isaac Heeney)
Sydney are transitioning the ball from their defensive 50 better than the Saints. They have converted 5 out of 14 defensive 50 chains to inside 50s and scored 1.2 (8) from them. St Kilda have converted 1 out of 11 defensive 50 chains and scored 0.1 (1).
GOALSwans (Mike Pyke)
Fast start to the second quarter by the Saints! Two inside 50s, two scores, 1.1 (7) while the Swans have had just three disposals.
GOALSaints (Nick Riewoldt)
BEHINDSaints (Maverick Weller)
Q2 is now underway.
Both teams had 15 inside 50s that quarter, but Sydney made the most of their chances kicking four goals while the Saints could only manage one. Kicking efficiency inside forward 50: Sydney 50 per cent, St Kilda 17 per cent.
The siren has sounded to end Q1.
St Kilda InterchangeNick Riewoldt off due to an injury.
GOALSwans (Kurt Tippett)
BEHINDSwans (Adam Goodes)
After a run of eight consecutive inside 50s by St Kilda earlier in the quarter, Sydney have had nine of the last 13 inside 50 entries, but have not converted that on the scoreboard.
BEHINDSwans (Kurt Tippett)
BEHINDSaints (Sam Gilbert)
BEHINDSaints (Sebastian Ross)
GOALSwans (Sam Reid)
The Swans are winning the aerial contest so far in this match. They have taken the only two marks inside 50 and the only four contested marks for the match.
The old brigade for the Saints combine to create their first goal. Riewoldt and Montana both pick up a score assist and Schneider kicks the first goal for the Saints from their 11th inside 50.
GOALSaints (Adam Schneider)
An excellent goal by Jetta in heavy traffic gives Sydney the first goal of the match, and another to McVeigh hurts the Saints. St Kilda have been wasteful, kicking 0.3 (3) from 10 inside 50s. Sydney have had seven inside 50s and kicked two goals.
GOALSwans (Jarrad McVeigh)
GOALSwans (Lewis Jetta)
BEHINDSaints (Rushed)
Sydney are using the ball better by foot early in this game. Their kicking efficiency is 75 per cent, while St Kilda's is just 43 per cent. The Saints are creating more scoring opportunities though. They have been inside 50 eight times to the Swans' thre
BEHINDSaints (Maverick Weller)
BEHINDSaints (Jimmy Webster)
BEHINDSwans (Kurt Tippett)
Josh Kennedy has had 30 disposals in his last eight games (the record is 10 consecutive games by Dane Swan. Twice). He has has already had six disposals today, a match high.
Q1 is now underway.
Over the past six weeks, Kieren Jack has recorded 16 score assists, the second most of any player in the competition.
Nick Riewoldt has taken 146 marks this season, ranked fourth in the competition. He has taken 52 marks on the lead, also ranked fourth.
Both teams have struggled to convert inside 50s into scores. The Swans have scored from just 45 per cent of their forward 50 entries, ranked 14th in the AFL. St Kilda have scored goals from just 23 per cent of their entries, ranked 16th in the AFL.
Today is a battle of the two best tackling sides in the AFL. The Saints have laid seven more tackles than their opposition per match, ranked 2nd, while the Swans have laid 11 more, ranked 1st.
Don't forget to enter your tips for this match, you have until the bounce to make your selection. Tippers choice is currently Saints 6.2% and Swans 93.8%.
Changes for Swans Ins: L.Franklin, G.Rohan, T.Mitchell Outs: J.Lloyd, D.Towers, J.Rose
Changes for Saints Ins: S.Dempster, D.Roberton, A.Schneider, D.Armitage Outs: J.Saunders, T.Membrey, F.Ray, C.Shenton
Welcome to Etihad Stadium for the St Kilda v Sydney Swans Round 22 clash.