The Greater Western Sydney GIANTS played their first ever match at ANZ Stadium today against the Swans reserves. The GIANTS came out firing, kicking four goals in the first quarter to put the GIANTS up by 20 points going in to the first break. However, the young GIANTS lost momentum after the first change and eventually lost by 96 points.
The GIANTS put in a solid performance in the first quarter, with Ben Casley kicking the first goal of the match in a set shot, 30 meters out. Casley kicked his second goal at the ten-minute mark of the first term, running towards an open goal square. Harry Cunningham kicked the GIANTS third goal in the first quarter before Dylan Shiel delivered the ball to Casley who lined up and kicked his third goal for the quarter. The GIANTS went into the first break with a 20-point lead.
The Swans came out firing kicking three goals in a row. The GIANTS showed some promise with Curtly Hampton delivering the ball to Jeremy Cameron on the boundary line before Cameron lined up for goal but missed to the right of the post. This was followed by another three goals from a more experienced Swans side before Jeremy Cameron took a set shot at goal, delivering the GIANTS their fifth goal of the match. The GIANTS trailed by 30 points going in to the half time break.
The GIANTS kicked two goals in the third term but were continuing to lose momentum against an impressive swans unit. Jeremy Cameron took a great mark 60 meters out before Simon Tunbridge kicked a goal for the GIANTS at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter. Jeremy Cameron kicked the GIANTS final goal of the quarter and his second for the match after Adam Flagg delivered him the ball on the boundary line. The GWS GIANTS went into the final term trailing the Swans by 51 points.
In the final term the GIANTS continued to show some promise but were unable to run out the game. Jeremy Cameron kicked his third goal of the match after a scramble in the forward line left him running into an open goal square. Jack Hombsch took an impressive mark in the GIANTS backline, stopping what would have resulted in a Swans goal towards the end of the match but the Swans were too strong for the young GIANTS. At the final siren the GIANTS were defeated 8.10.58 to the Swans 23.16.154.
In only his second game as a GIANT, Ben Casley was the stand out in the first quarter, saying that whilst three goals in the first quarter was a good achievement, the young squad had a lot to learn from today’s game.
“The first goal was really exciting but it comes down to the work that the team has done around the ground. It’s good to be on the end of a few goals but it really comes down to the work that the whole team does so the credit goes to them.
“Getting the first goal of the match was pretty exciting, I gave it a bit of a fist pump. We’ve all got a lot of work to do though you can’t rest on that, you just have to keep working hard.
“I feel good, it was good to get through the game but we were disappointed not to get a win. I’m sure that the boys learnt a lot from the match so now we can go away and go over the game as a group and with our line coaches and have a look at some tactics for next week against Ainslie.
“The swans move the ball really well. They work really hard at the ball so we really need to improve our work rate and keep our heads in the game.
“I’m sure that we’ll learn a lot in the first few rounds of the NEAFL so hopefully next time we come up against the swans we’ll give it more of a contest,” Casley said.
Greater Western Sydney
?8.10.58
Sydney Swans ?
23.16.154
GIANTS goal scorers
B Casley 3
J Cameron 3
H Cunningham 1
S Tunbridge 1
Bests?
Cameron, Hampton, Shiel, Cunningham, Casley?
Injuries?
Nil
