Sydney has kept alive its hopes of a top four finish with a final round win over Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday but the win has come at a huge cost with champion forward Michael O’Loughlin suffering a serious hamstring injury in the dying minutes.

O’Loughlin was clearly best afield in the Swans’ 14.10 (94) to 9.6 (60) victory but pulled up clutching his hamstring as he chased a loose ball with just three minutes left.

Melbourne’s loss to the Swans means the Demons have lost their past eight matches to finish the season with just five wins, giving the club a priority draft pick at the National AFL Draft.

O’Loughlin, who kicked five goals in the 34-point win over the Demons, is now in danger of missing the entire finals series – continuing the Swans’ dreadful run of injuries after the recent losses of key players Jason Ball (shoulder) and Jason Saddington (knee) for the rest of the season.

But the one consolation for Swans coach Paul Roos is this win at least ensures that at worst Sydney will begin its finals campaign on home soil

The Swans could yet still finish fourth and earn the double chance if both West Coast and Adelaide lose their respective round 22 matches - which would then see the Swans earn a first-up trip to Adelaide to face minor premiers Port in a qualifying final.

But if either West Coast or Adelaide win their final round matches, the Swans will finish fifth or sixth and will host an elimination final at Telstra Stadium in western Sydney.

However it took a final quarter cameo from Nick Davis to seal victory against the 14th –placed Demons on Saturday as Melbourne made a mockery of pre-match talk it would prefer to lose Saturday’s game in order to earn an extra draft pick.

While the Demons will still earn that extra selection – awarded to any team that wins five matches or less in a season – its commitment could not be faulted for the first three quarters against the high-flying Swans.

In fact Melbourne led by 11 points at half-time, on the back of some fine work by Scott Thompson in midfield, as the Swans managed just three goals for the whole first half.

The Swans were struggling for goals mainly because spearhead Barry Hall was being well held by impressive Demons youngster Nathan Carroll, who in only his seventh game kept Hall goalless.

But it was left to the highly-skilled O’Loughlin and Davis to rescue from a potentially disastrous loss after half-time as they finally capped off the good work in midfield of Nic Fosdike and veteran Paul Williams, who lifted after half-time.

After the Swans had wasted some early chances in the third term, O’Loughlin set Williams up for a goal to reduce the margin to a single point and when Williams returned the favour at the 18-minute mark O’Loughlin’s goal gave the Swans the lead for the first time.

O’Loughlin added another one three minutes later following a pass from Ryan O’Keefe after a costly turnover from Daniel Ward.

That gave the Swans an 11-point lead as Sydney was being rewarded for its more direct play after over-using the ball in the first half.

A late goal to Melbourne skipper David Neitz in the third term gave the Demons some hope of causing an upset but it was quickly snuffed out by Davis, who kicked two goals in the first two minutes of the final term.

The first came in fortunate circumstances when the umpires missed a blatant free-kick to Demons tagger Simon Godfrey – which allowed Hall to grab a loose ball and set up Davis for a goal on the run.

And when Davis followed up with another at the 11 minute mark of the final term, the Swans were home.

It was then left to O’Loughlin to put the icing on the cake of an impressive second half performance by the Swans with two more goals but unfortunately for Swans fans it could well be the last they see of the highly-skilled forward for 2003.


MELBOURNE: 3.1, 5.4, 6.5, 9.6 (60)
SYDNEY: 1.2, 3.5, 6.9, 14.10 (94)

GOALS: Melbourne: Neitz 2, Williams 2, Brown, Green, McDonald, Thompson, Yze
Sydney: O’Loughlin 5, Davis 3, Schneider 2, Crouch, Mathews, O’Keefe, Williams
BEST: Melbourne: Thompson, Carroll, Jolly, McDonald, Bizzell, Rigoni
Sydney: O’Loughlin, Mathews, Fosdike, Kirk, J.Bolton, Goodes, Davis
INJURIES: Sydney: O’Loughlin (hamstring)
UMPIRES: Kennedy, Jeffrey, McInerney
CROWD: 22,969 at the MCG