The Lions had one more scoring shot than the visitors, but Sydney’s dominant opening quarter and slick finishing proved decisive in their 18.12 (120) to 11.20 (86) win.
Swans Full Forward Mitch Morton bagged eight goals after kicking 10 the previous week, as he outpointed a Lions defence which sorely missed the size of Niall McKeever and experience of James Hawksley.
Stephen Wrigley continued his impressive season with an outstanding defensive display, and he was ably assisted by Cheynee Stiller - but Morton and partner in crime Tommy Walsh (two goals) capitalised on almost every opportunity they were afforded.
The Swans’ twin towers were well supplied all afternoon by captain Jarred Moore and Heath Cunningham, who racked up plenty of classy touches and kicked a goal each.
In 27° heat at Yeronga the Swans seconds kicked 6.1 to the Lions’ 0.5 in the first quarter to open up what proved to be an unassailable lead.
Rohan Bewick and Bryce Retzlaff both hit the post, and Jordan Lisle missed a gettable shot as the Lions registered their first goalless quarter of the season.
The Swans skipper yelled encouragement to his troops for their ‘excellent run and voice’ all quarter; two big factors in the visitor’s early midfield domination.
From quarter time onwards however the contest was much more even.
Sam Sheldon narrowly missed twice and Aaron Cornelius had his kick smothered on the goal line early in the second quarter as the Lions started to push inside 50 more regularly.
Jackson Starcevich finally kicked the home team’s opening six-pointer at the ten minute mark, after snaffling a measured Amon Buchanan pass.
Rohan Bewick then nailed the first of two trademark running left-footed bombs from just inside the arc, before Cornelius stamped himself on the match.
The man known as ‘Ace’ first used his body brilliantly to bump out a defender, mark and goal, before plucking a towering up-and-under from in between another two Swans and converting his second in a minute.
The 192cm full forward snapped another from a stoppage soon after, before Morton dribbled one through against the run of play late in the half to extend the margin back out to 23 points at half time.
A brace of behinds from Retzlaff and Starcevich after the long break continued the Lions’ kicking woes, but both men responded with goals midway through the third quarter.
Cornelius snuck through his fourth after a customarily strong overhead grab, before Retzlaff missed another gettable shot.
The Lions skipper led from the front all day, but his poor conversion in front of goal blighted what was otherwise another strong showing.
Amon Buchanan floored Swans youngster Tony Armstrong with a bone-crunching hip and shoulder late in the third term, and Josh Dyson laid on a similarly jarring hit early-there was no faulting the Lions’ physicality.
While the home team was muscling up, Morton was upping his goal tally, and his side held sway by 29 at the last change.
Dayne Zorko watched on as fellow goalsneak Josh Green goalled in the first minute of the term from 50 metres, after playing on from taking a diving chest mark.
The home team was buzzing; winning the clearances and contested possessions and sweeping the footy away from stoppages.
But the story of their day was poor shooting in front of the big sticks; ascendancy in open play wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard.
Behinds to Cornelius, Lisle and Retzlaff, among others, stifled any chance of a final stanza resurgence, and the full time 34 point margin was a little flattering to the visitors.
The Lions would be heartened by the performances of Wrigley, Dyson, Bewick and Stiller, who were all stand outs in a losing side.
Elliot Yeo had moments of great promise; backing himself to run the ball out of defence on several occasions, and Jordan Lisle didn’t stop trying.
The Lions slip to third on the NEAFL ladder after the loss, but they’ll be confident of bouncing back this week against the UWS Giants.
The Lions trumped the Giants by 28 points in Sydney earlier in the season in what was probably their most complete performance of 2012.
But UWS are coming off an upset win over the Gold Coast, and will surely be buoyed by their senior side inaugural win on the weekend.
The game kicks off at 9:30am Sunday May 20 at Yeronga.
Sam Canavan reports on Lions Reserves home games.
You can follow him on Twitter - @samcanavan - for live match updates on game-days.
