SYDNEYÂ 5.6 14.9 22.11 25.14 (164)
RICHMOND 0.5 1.6 2.8 7.9 (51)
GOALS: Sydney – Franklin 7, McGlynn 5, Rohan 4, Hewett 2, Kennedy 2, Mitchell, Parker, Heeney, Jack, Richards. Richmond – Cotchin 3, Hampson, Riewoldt, Lloyd, Edwards.
BEST: Sydney – Franklin, Kennedy, Jack, McGlynn, Rohan, Mitchell, McVeigh, Rampe. Richmond – Cotchin, Martin, Lloyd, Riewoldt, Vlastuin, Edwards, Grigg.
UMPIRESÂ Kamolins, Harris, McInerney.
CROWDÂ 36,570 at the SCG
Lance Franklin exploded back to form on Saturday helping Sydney secure a second minor premiership in three years as Richmond's season of misery endured one last embarrassing 113-point flogging.
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Swans finish top with Tigers rout
Sydney thrash Richmond by a massive 113 points.
Franklin was unstoppable kicking seven while Ben McGylnn (5) and Gary Rohan (4) contributed heavily as the Swans collected their 17th win this season against an insipid Tigers outfit who looked for the most part as if they were only at the SCG to fulfil an inconvenient round 23 appointment.
They certainly didn't contribute in any way to making this a contest with even the competition's best defender Alex Rance a step or two off his usual lofty standards.
In fairness to the Richmond backman, no AFL defender past or present would have controlled Franklin as he returned to form with deadly force and impeccable timing.
He was superb, marking everything on the lead and finishing with deadly accuracy leaving the Tigers powerless to quashing his influence.
"The ball was coming in with no real defensive pressure on it," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.
"It was a lot harder for Alex [Rance] tonight than it should have been.
"Their talent base is incredible.
"I remember saying to our guys before the game if we put our backs and our mids and had their forwards, all of a sudden your side looks different.
"They've just got quality across every line, they're very well drilled, they've played together for a long period of time and then they've been able to add talent along the way."
It started in the middle for the Swans where they out tackled and out enthused the hapless Tigers, Josh Kennedy, Kieren Jack and Tom Mitchell leading the way in that respect.
It made Franklin's and Rohan's jobs much easier, and allowed Ben McGlynn acres of space around the 50m arc with ball in hand.
"He [Buddy] has been good all year," Longmire said.
"His pressure was outstanding tonight, it just wasn't about just the goals he was working really hard putting enormous pressure on, he was up and down the ground.
"I was really happy we out tackled them that's a good sign when you have so much of the ball and you're in a really strong position for the whole night.
"We take a lot of pride in making sure the defensive aspect of our game's strong and we'll continue to do that.
The Swans now rest for a week before embarking on the serious month of this premiership quest.
Richmond meanwhile could only vamoose from the SCG, from season 2016 in fact, with a limp tail between its legs. The Tigers will play no further part this year, and face a tremendous uphill battle if they're to feature in September next year.
The Swans started powerfully with an early signal of intent, kicking five goals to nil in the opening term.
It set the early tone and demonstrated almost immediately the huge gulf in class on show here. A finals team, playing with a finals intensity, against a battling club which had seemingly checked out for the season.
The Tigers managed just one goal in the second term as Sydney ramped up their attack and turned this into some sort of intra-club shootout between Franklin, McGlynn and Rohan.
At one stage Franklin looked a chance to overrun Josh Kennedy in the Coleman Medal race but his influence was eventually curbed.
Not before Rance was removed in favour of Grimes in the third quarter, before the pair eventually swapped back to their original assignments.
This was a training session for the Swans and the 36,570 crowd. A handful of those were hardy Richmond supporters, and not many of them lasted to the full-time siren.
In the second half the Swans hit the scoreboard with frightening ease and regularity further strengthening their standing as the number-one seed come September.
The only downer for Sydney was Sam Naismith being reported for rough conduct on Bachar Houli in the second quarter.
The Tigers managed to kick a few late, captain Trent Cotchin landing three including his 100th at AFL level. By this stage though, these contributions were merely superficial and did little to rebalance the scoreboard.
Hardwick will take no solace from the fact his side won the final quarter.
On a bleak afternoon for the Tigers there was one significant positive.
Sudanese-born Mabior Chol made his AFL debut and for long stretches throughout, was marked by Kenyan-born Swans defender Aliir. It was simply beautiful to observe in a truly exciting time to be an AFL supporter, and long may we continue to blood these African-born talents.
Aliir won this battle unsurprisingly, but there were promising signs from Chol and he can at least emerge as a diamond from the wreckage that was Richmond's season in 2016.
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