Injury to Kieren Jack sours Sydney Swans' win over Gold Coast Suns and a top-four berth

Swans 19.13.127 Suns 9.10.64

SYDNEY 6.3 9.7 11.11 19.13 (127) GOLD COAST 0.2 6.3 7.7 9.10 (64)
GOALS Sydney: Cunningham 3, Reid 3, Towers 2, Heeney 2, Kennedy 2, Tippett 2, Goodes, Hannebery, Rampe, Franklin, Mitchell. Gold Coast: Dixon 2, Lynch 2, McKenzie 2, Stanley, Garlett, Kolodjashnij.
BEST Sydney: Mitchell, Kennedy, Tippett, Hannebery, Reid, Towers. Gold Coast: May, Stanley, Hall.
UMPIRES Ryan, Jeffery, Brown.
CROWD 25,424 at SCG.

It was mission accomplished for Sydney on Saturday night but not without a major blow to their premiership chances.

The Swans secured a top-four berth but it has come at a huge price after Kieren Jack hurt his knee early in their 63-point victory over Gold Coast.

Finals doubts: Kieren Jack of the Swans feels the pain. Photo: Matt King

Jack will miss two to three weeks after straining the medial ligament in his left knee, which means he may not return this year unless the Swans win through to the grand final.

"The initial diagnosis from the doctor is it's a medial strain so two or three weeks," said Swans coach John Longmire.

 "You get an injury around your knee at this time of year you're not doing cartwheels so he's not too happy about it. That's football and he's going to do everything in his power to give himself the best possible chance."

Knee injury: Kieren Jack of the Swans is assisted from the field. Photo: Matt King

After a week of controversy over the resting of players in the final round, the Swans may well have wished they were in a position where they could have placed more of their stars on ice.

The captain joins reigning best and fairest winner Luke Parker in the casualty ward, robbing the Swans of two elite midfielders for the most important phase of the season. Nick Smith and Jarrad McVeigh are expected to return.

Jack suffered the injury two minutes before quarter time when Danny Stanley's shoulder crashed into the outside of his left knee. He hobbled off the ground with the assistance of trainers and was subbed out of the match during the first change.

It had been one-way traffic leading up to Jack's injury but the mishap appeared to take the wind out of the Swans' sails.

What appeared early to be walk in the park turned into an at times nervous night for the partisan crowd of 25,424.

Leading by as much as 38 points early in the second quarter, the Swans were outplayed by the unfancied Suns for the best part of the next two quarters.

Gold Coast closed to within 14 points midway through the third term before successive goals to Sam Reid and Isaac Heeney calmed frayed nerves. The Swans kicked 10 of the final 12 goals to run out easy winners.

Perhaps they thought the job was done or they had entered self-preservation mode but there was a marked drop off in the second and third terms.

It coincided with a lift from the Suns, who were non-competitive early. Allowed to do as they please in the first quarter, when they kicked six goals to nothing, the Swans suddenly found roadblocks all around the ground.

The Swans' ball movement, so clean early, was now stilted while their drop off in workrate also made life difficult for their key defensive pairing of Heath Grundy and Ted Richards.

They had little to do early but with reduced pressure up the ground they were meeting their match in Charlie Dixon and Tom Lynch.

The Swans would also have liked to see more from Lance Franklin, who still appears rusty on the eve of the finals.

The superstar forward was held to just one goal by Steven May and is in need of more match practice. His only goal did not come until the dying minutes of the game when the sting had long left the contest.

Pleasingly for the Swans, they still managed 19 goals and had 10 different goal scorers despite Franklin's troubles.

Josh Kennedy, with 31 touches and two goals, continued his excellent form, becoming only the second player since 1999 to collect 30 possessions or more in 10 consecutive games.

But he will receive plenty of competition for the three Brownlow votes from Tom Mitchell and Dan Hannebery.

There was also a lot to like from the Swans' lesser likes with Harry Cunningham, Dean Towers and Jake Lloyd all making handy contributions.