Down by four points at the main break to rival Shepparton United, the Swans were a class above and booted seven of the next eight goals of the match to run out 38-point winners.
The match was capped as Quade Johnstone, in his 200th match, was chaired off the ground in front of the Swans’ faithful.
Although the Swans got over the line in the Goulburn Valley League round 12 contest for Johnstone, the club favourite was quick to downplay the significance of his achievement and highlighted the importance of winning for the club — which was one of eight Swans victories on the day.
“I’m glad to see the boys have a win to be honest and more so for the club, than for me,” Johnstone said.
“It’s good to see everyone down here for Sponsors’ Day and a few supporters getting around after the club’s had a pretty tough couple of months.”
It was a tale of two halves for the Swans on Saturday.
And the game was won and lost on their execution with the ball going forward.
The Dees handled the slippery conditions better in the second term with three scores from only five inside 50 entries.
Key Stats
Disposals
Shepparton Swans: 351
Shepparton United: 299
Total ground ball gets
Shepparton Swans: 119
Shepparton United: 89
Clearances
Shepparton Swans: 38
Shepparton United: 37
Inside 50s
Shepparton Swans: 54
Shepparton United: 37
Tackles
Shepparton Swans: 63
Shepparton United: 83
In comparison, the Swans went at a miserly 28 per cent scoring efficiency from 14 entries.
But where the home side dropped away was its ability to hit targets moving the ball inside the attacking 50.
The Swans went at a game-low 35 per cent for inside 50 entries in the second term.
Johnstone highlighted that Swans coach Jedd Wright urged his outfit to fix its structure forward of the ball to create more one-on-one contests.
“The effort was always there and we were finding plenty of footy, it was just more the same message that goes out all the time, that is maintain our structure in front of the ball,” Johnstone said.
“You look at the stats and we win most of the stats in a lot of games, but we just fall down in structure. Once we were able to get that right (structure) the scoreboard took care of itself.”
And that it did.
In the third term the Swans went at 60 per cent for entries and improved their scoring efficiency to 46 per cent.
Wright’s outfit also managed four marks inside 50 in the quarter — a game-high.
Despite posting 20 turnovers for the term, the Swans were able to take advantage of United’s 18 errors to post 3.2 (20) scores from turnovers.
It was much the same in the fourth term with the Swans going at 57 per cent for inside 50 entries, compared to United’s lowly 14 per cent, while the home side chalked up a 50 per cent scoring efficiency to United’s seven.
