WHEN Greater Western Sydney closed to within two goals of Sydney in the final quarter last Friday night, few could have blamed Swans fans for being overcome by a nasty sense of déjà vu.
After all, the Giants stunned the Swans in the most recent Sydney Derby, overcoming a 35-point deficit in the second term to win by 44 points in round 20 last year.
But this Sydney outfit is made of sterner stuff.
Led by a rampant Nick Blakey, who would go on to win the Kirk-Ward Medal as best afield, the Swans stormed away to claim a 41-point win and local bragging rights once again.
Blakey collected 10 disposals and a goal in the last quarter en route to 34 disposals, two clearances, and a game-high 882 metres gained, and said the shift in Sydney's group's mental toughness and maturity was evident when they were challenged.
"The pleasing part is that when it mattered, we put our foot down and ran away with it and won pretty easily in the end. Probably in previous years, we might have got rolled in a game like that, especially last year," he said.
"You don't have to play your best, but to win games (when you're not), it's hard to do."
Blakey attributed this shift to a mixture of tactical maturity and superior conditioning, noting the team's ability to "go again" in the final term to break the game open.
Even while admitting the Swans' execution was a bit scrappy, he pointed to their 100-point total as evidence of a system that now produces high scores almost by default.
"Maturity is a big part of it," he said.
"We've got some pretty good players in the team that are playing well and stand up in big moments. We've worked on our game extremely hard, and we know what to do in those moments... we've been put in those moments a lot of times. So, it was pleasing — we didn't play our best, but we still kicked 100 points and had a good win.
"In the last quarter, when it counted, and they got a bit of a run on... we went again. They were off a five-day break that was similar to us against the Hawks, and we knew that if we just stuck at it, then no excuses, we should be able to run out the game a bit better than them. I guess that happened in the last quarter."
Amid the Swans' 5-1 start to the season, Blakey is enjoying an outstanding individual campaign, averaging 21.4 disposals (17.4 kicks), 5.5 marks and 557.5 metres gained per match.
His fine showing on Friday night continued that form but he was quick to shift the spotlight away from himself post-match, highlighting the collective effort that enabled his rebounding role.
"It's nice. I mean, it's not really why I play, to win those individual awards, but playing well in big games is nice, and my teammates are pretty good as well, so that also helps," he said.
The match finished well behind schedule following a nearly hour-long delay after nearby lightning strikes triggered AFL safety protocols.
The weather forced such an extended half-time break that, at one stage, it appeared the game might be called off entirely.
Blakey said the delay was unwelcome but the players did their best to maintain their focus amid the uncertainty.
"You wind yourself up all day, and then you get to half time, and they say the game might be off. Everyone's a bit flat because (playing is) all you want to do. You train all week, and then you want to play, you don't want to not play," he said.
"I literally just lay down in the physio room and cruised out, pretty boring.
"But these things happen. The decent part is that we ended up running away with the win, and the boys were fresh."
