Rampaging Swans crush toothless Tigers

Sydney 28.12 (180) def. Richmond   9. 8 (62)

Sydney have sent the rest of the competition an ominous message: Watch out, we're back, and we're very, very good.

After suffering the dreaded 'premiership hangover' for the first month and a half of the season, the Swans dismantled Richmond to the tune of 118 points at the Telstra Dome today, celebrating two-time best and fairest winner Paul Williams' 300th game in fine style with their largest ever score and winning margin at the venue.

Ryan O'Keefe also played his hundredth game for the club, while Richmond handed a debut to young defender Luke McGuane, cousin of former Collingwood champion Mick, as the reigning premiers also notched up the highest ever score at the Telstra Dome by a non-Victorian side.

The Tigers were behind the eight-ball from the start, with Darren Gaspar, Ray Hall and Andrew Kellaway joining Nathan Brown and skipper Kane Johnson on the sidelines, in stark contrast to Paul Roos' men who had a clean bill of health.

For Sydney, the list of best players stretched from the ground back to New South Wales. Amon Buchanan was probably the most influential with his touches and added two goals, Barry Hall kicked five goals with 14 marks and O'Keefe had it 24 times, took 11 marks and booted four.

Michael O'Loughlin and Nick Malceski both kicked three apiece, while Brett Kirk was outstanding early and Williams celebrated his milestone game with a blanketing performance on last week's hero, Dean Polo.

Matthew Richardson was probably Richmond's best, with seventeen touches and two goals, while Richard Tambling and Chris Hyde both worked hard for little reward, but it told the story of the match that the best 20 players on the ground were all wearing red and white.

The Tigers seem to be gaining a reputation for being involved in first quarter records this season; last week they were involved in the most inaccurate first quarter in league history, as they combined for one goal and 17 behinds with Essendon, and this week it was Sydney's best ever first quarter at the Telstra Dome.

The Swans were electric, kicking eight goals straight for the term - it could have been nine if an Adam Schneider major wasn't reversed for a freekick - and all eight went to different players, with Hall and Ted Richards orchestrating the avalanche up forward. Richmond replied with four of its own, but the ease in which its opposition was converting would have given Terry Wallace a major headache.

If the Tigers were hoping for some respite in the second quarter, they had a glimpse of hope when Luke Ablett and Kirk both missed gettable shots to blemish their side's impeccable scorecard. However it didn't last long, as the visitors piled on four of the next five goals to stretch the margin out past 40 points.

Tiger fans could have been forgiven for thinking everything was against them, as Richardson was denied a clear goal by a baffling decision by the goal umpire to award a touched behind, and the error was compounded by goals to Ablett, Buchanan and Goodes, as the Swans went into half time swimmingly, leading by 52 points.

If anyone doubted the game wasn't over as a contest at halftime, they would have changed their minds just four minutes into the third term, as both O'Loughlin and Hall kicked their third each. Ablett grabbed his second soon afterwards, and when Hall marked strongly to bag his fourth, the margin was out to 77 points, and evoking memories of Richmond's round one defeat to the Western Bulldogs.

Youngster Cleve Hughes and Kayne Pettifer both kicked goals to stop the rot, but one could have forgiven fans of the Yellow and Black army for leaving before the start of the last quarter, such was the level of dominance from the reigning premiers. Malceski then snapped his third, and they had already started to depart.

Predictably, the final term was all a question of how much, and the Swans answered in style, kicking five goals before time-on to bring up the century, highlighted by a trademark running goal from the milestone man in Williams. The records continued to tumble, but the only one that will concern Terry Wallace is the fact that his side have been on the end of the only two 100-point margins of the season, and we're only seven weeks in.

Next week, Sydney play an 'away' game at the SCG against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night, while the Tigers take on a red-hot Adelaide outfit that afternoon at the Telstra Dome.

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