The Men's Club wrapped up their regular season with a win against the Central Blues. The win secures the Swans a second place finish in the AFL Ontario ladder with a 10-2 record.
Travelling down to Toronto for the third time this season, the Swans came out slow in the first quarter. Weighed down by a short bench and an early injury, the Swans only managed to stay level with the Blues. A goal late in the second half by Greg Bridges put the Swans ahead 32-28 heading into the break.
The third quarter, known as the premiership quarter, was a completely different story. The Swans came out strong and started controlling the game, with Morgan Whyte again dominating the ruck and Blair Oliver making a number of great marks in half forward before being moved into the midfield to increase the pressure further on the Blues.
Rookie Derek Picketts shined in the backline with two goal saving tackles that helped shift momentum back to the Swans, and was part of the reason the Blues were unable to add to the scoreboard in the entire second half of the game.
The Swans added three more in the fourth quarter to close out a 74-28 victory. “We feel like we’re where we need to be heading into the finals,” said head coach Rod Frank. “The team put on a strong performance today and played our style of football, which is what we’ve been working on all season.”
Both Ottawa based women teams had games in Montreal this past Sunday. One came away with a win and the other suffered their first loss of the season. The Rideau Shamrocks were up first against the Plateau Eagles. The Shamrocks have struggled with numbers this season and Sunday was no exception, however with the return of former Swan Alisa Dafoe (visiting from Australia) and Warriors Belinda Wozniak and Vivian Nguyen they were able to match numbers. The team, made-up mostly of veteran players, came together and played a solid game. The back line anchored by captain Nathalie Presseau were key in keeping the Eagles scoreless for almost half of the game. That, with consistent kicking into the forward line and at goals resulting in a final score of Shamrocks 12.8.80 to Eagles 2.2.14.
Unfortunately the winning for Ottawa did not continue in the second game of the day. The Carleton Warriors were handed their first defeat of the season. The Notre-Dame-de-Grace Giants found a way to beat the undefeated Warriors in a close game were the lead flip-flopped throughout the match. Jane Fenelon, usually a work-house in the middle of the field, found herself in the backline. Her tenacity was missed in the center of the field, but once see found her footing it was hard for the Giants to find the goals. The Warriors continued to display great ball movement, however even with dominate rucking from Margaret Werniuk they came up just short, losing by two goals. Giants 8.5.53 to Warriors 6.6.42.
The ladies will play a make-up game this Tuesday at the Manotick Polo Club. It's Shamrocks vs. Warriors for the last game of the season. The results of this game will affect placements leading in to playoffs, which start September 11 in Montreal.
The men’s payoffs start the day before on September 10th. With a second place finish, the Swans will play the 5th place Toronto Dingos in the first round of the finals at home (Manotick Polo Club).
Last Modified on 31/08/2016 06:04