After crashing to six consecutive losses to inaugurate the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership competition, the Sydney Swans were left for dead, with more than one fork stuck in them.
Their perseverance has paid off with a thrilling victory over the Greater Western Sydney Giants, a 96 – 83 victory that now has them sixth on the ladder, although, in terms of premiership points, their 36 has them in close proximity to the Melbourne Demons, the West Coast Eagles and the Saint Kilda Saints. If the finals were to start today, St Kilda would once again be on the outside looking in, following last season, where they missed out to the North Melbourne Kangaroos by the narrowest imaginable margin.
By beating the Giants, they sent GWS to the third rung; the lowest they have been all season. The Geelong Cats notched a thriller over the game Hawthorn Hawks, who may have seen their hopes of a 2017 finals appearance, go up in smoke.
Geelong now moves onto the second rung with 46 premiership points, trailing the Adelaide Crows, who predictably had no trouble with the Demons, by two points.
The rest of the Round 17 fixture stayed true to form, more or less.
Round 18 will feature the battle for the top of the ladder, as the Crows will travel to Simmonds Stadium for a game that will have major implications for home ground advantage and byes in the finals.
The Crows have outpaced the Cats by nearly 200 points in offense during the year and have held their opponents to nearly 100 points less than have the Cats, but those advantages will be accounted for by Geelong being the hosts.
GWS has hit a rough patch at the worst possible moment, with two consecutive draws followed by a loss, although it appears that the last major test they face will be the Cats in the final round of the home-and-away season. The round 15 meeting accounted for one of the Giants’ draws.
