The Lions trailed by 47 points early in the final term, but pegged the lead back to just one point before a late Swans goal gave the visitors a narrow seven-point win.
The Lions booted six and seven goals respectively in the second and fourth quarters, but managed just one solitary goal from the first and third terms.
The anomaly left Reserves Coach Nathan Clarke scratching his head considering there was no wind to speak of at Giffin Park.
“There was definitely a case of one end being harder to score at,” Clarke said.
“I guess both sides found it hard to score down one end, although the Swans were able to kick four goals down that end in the second quarter.”
“It was an unbelievable day for football with no wind to speak of whatsoever. It’s hard to fathom, but for some reason we found it tough to score up that end.”
“While it’s disappointing that we didn’t come away with a win, the pleasing thing was that we stayed in the game and fought it out.”
“Even when we were 41 points down at three quarter-time, there was a sense from the boys that we still weren’t out of it.”
“Then they came out and kicked the first goal to make it 47 points. But we kicked the next seven goals four to bring it back to one point with about 3-4 minutes left to play.”
“It was one of the best roll-ons I’ve seen.”
Much like the senior team, Clarke said the Reserves found it difficult initially to adapt to Sydney’s typical style of play.
“We struggled to win the footy and when you can’t win the footy against the Swans, it’s hard to get the ball back off them,” he said.
“But I think we learned a bit out of that game.”
Clarke applauded the efforts of James Hawksley who was a contributing factor behind the late surge.
“He was the clear standout. He had 38 possessions, took 10 marks and showed a good balance of contested and uncontested footy,” Clarke said.
“We threw him on a wing in the last quarter and he just took the game apart. He was the direct beneficiary of the hard work from Harwood and Buchanan in the middle.”
“One of our top-up boys Scott Clarke was also really good and kicked three goals before breaking his collarbone.”
“He gave us a lot of mobility across half-forward.”
“We also moved Niall McKeever to the half-forward area which gave us a better balance in our back six because they were quite small in attack.”
“Xavier Clarke also showed that he’s getting back into it. He adds that element of class to the side, and when he gets confidence back in his body, I reckon he could go back and play seniors.”
The Reserves could potentially benefit from the return of a couple of senior players this week with both Tom Rockliff and Josh Drummond listed for fitness tests.
“Potentially both Rockliff and Drummond will be available this week, but I’m not sure whether they’ll go straight into the senior team or not.”
“We’ll get (NSW/ACT Scholarship player) Richard Newell back as well who missed the Swans game because he was selected to play for Queensland against SA on the weekend.
The task doesn’t get any easier for the Lions Reserves who take on the undefeated NT Thunder at their near impenetrable home ground in Darwin.
“It’s one of the toughest road trips in the competition. It would be equal of the trip we’ll make to Sydney in Round 21,” Clarke said.
“They’ll be tough to beat.”
“We’ll change a few things up because they have an astute coach who would be watching us closely. So we’ll make sure we have some surprises up our sleeve.”
“But the fundamentals will be the same - and that is showing a willingness to compete.”
