Of all the warning shots and statements of premiership intent the Sydney Swans have fired over the past four months, Saturday's elimination-final win over Essendon was the most emphatic.
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Swans destroy Bombers
Essendon never came close to making a contest of it, as the Swans move forward to a finals blockbuster against Geelong.
The 65-point demolition of a team just one ladder position beneath them was as clinical a performance Swans fans could have hoped for on a weekend where contenders and pretenders have been siphoned off into their respective baskets.
Sydney joined Adelaide and Richmond as genuine premiership threats and may well need to overcome both clubs, in a preliminary final and a decider respectively, to secure a sixth flag.
Neither Crows nor Tigers fans will be sleeping as easily over the next two weeks having witnessed what Sydney did to the Bombers in front of a record 46,323 fans at the SCG.
Poor old Geelong supporters, meanwhile, may not sleep at all for the next week. They must now welcome the rampant Swans on Friday night at the MCG, still licking their wounds from this week's mauling by the Tigers and well aware that Sydney bundled their side out of premiership reckoning last season.
They would have been left quivering and shivering from what the Swans dished out against Essendon.
Sydney was dealt an early blow as Lewis Melican withdrew with a tight quad, to be replaced by Harry Cunningham.
And after a tight start, the game turned on its head in the second quarter, the instigator Coleman Medallist Lance Franklin.
He kicked three goals in a four-minute burst and ended up with four for the term as the Swans piled on 10 majors in that second quarter alone.
Most of the Bombers looked like deer stuck in headlights as the Swans' avalanche gained momentum in that second quarter. The visitors had no answers defensively, and possessed no forward structure in their rare forays into attack.
Sydney relented somewhat in the second half and Franklin was wrapped up in cotton wool in that final term, to avoid further risk of that corked thigh.
Just two wins separated these teams heading into this elimination final but the gulf in class was immeasurable between a genuine flag contender and a club still rising from the ashes they were reduced to throughout the lengthy supplements saga.
That gulf wasn't evident in a tight and competitive opening quarter, during which the vociferous crowd collectively gasped when their hero Franklin left the ground sporting a limp.
Flashes of last year's grand final loss to the Western Bulldogs, where an early ankle injury rendered Franklin almost ineffective, whizzed through the panicky thoughts of Swans' fans but their superstar returned just minutes later with heavy strapping around his right thigh and a potential crisis seemed to have been averted.
His right leg appeared to have collided with Brendon Goddard's knee in a marking contest just moments earlier but it proved not to be serious.
Franklin's night was made easier by the presence of Callum Sinclair in the forward line.
Coach John Longmire decided during the week to drop Kurt Tippett and recall Sam Naismith and the latter handled the bulk of the ruckwork on Saturday against Essendon big man Tom Bellchambers.
Curiously enough Dean Towers offered Naismith the occasional chop out, allowing Sinclair to provide the second target up forward. This was excellent coaching from Longmire, and Sinclair finished with three goals.
This was Towers' best game of the year and he grabbed three goals himself.
The other hard selection by Longmire this week was to bring Tom Papley back in for first-year goal sneak Will Hayward. Papley was a little off the pace throughout but managed to grab a fourth-quarter goal.
Bombers coach John Worsfold produced his own surprise tactic, using veteran Goddard as a spare in defence throughout. It seemed to hamper his potential influence on the game and it remains to be seen what role he's deployed in next season.
This marked the last game of AFL football for Jobe Watson, whose 220-game career deserved a much better finish than this game, and the years that have unfolded since the supplements scandal. Three-time premiership winner James Kelly also farewelled the AFL arena when the full-time siren sounded.
Essendon spearhead Joe Daniher tried his heart out all night both up forward and during occasional stints in the ruck, but he had too few teammates helping him out.
But this was all about the Swans' juggernaut, which has now notched a staggering 15 wins in 17 games, losing only to Hawthorn during that stretch.
There's a sense of superior timing from Sydney as always seems to happen in September, and Longmire knows his charges could find another gear still.
The cue was in the rack here long before three-quarter time.
SYDNEY 3.2 13.5 17.5 19.7 (121)
ESSENDON 1.3 3.4 5.8 8.8 (56)
GOALS: Sydney - Franklin 4, Sinclair 3, Towers 3, Kennedy 2, Heeney 2, Rohan 2, Jack, Lloyd, Papley Essendon - Daniher 3, Begley 2, Myers, Fantasia, Heppell
BEST: Sydney – Kennedy, Franklin, Towers, Parker, Rampe, Sinclair Essendon - Daniher, Zaharakis, Hurley, Heppel, Parish
INJURIES: Sydney - Essendon -
UMPIRES: Brendan Hosking, Ray Chamberlain, Simon Meredith
CROWD: 46,323 at the SCG
VOTES
Josh Kennedy (Sydney) 8
Lance Franklin (Sydney) 8
Dean Towers (Sydney) 8
Luke Parker (Sydney) 8
Callum Sinclair (Sydney) 8
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