Baker proud of Swans’ gutsy win

IF Ballarat is to contest this year’s BFNL finals series, coach Ash Baker will look back on last weekend’s one-point thriller against Redan as a defining moment.

After working their way into a prominent position, 23-points up at three quarter time, the odds were suddenly stacked against the Swans in the final quarter.

Down a few rotations and with the Lions coming hard, it looked as if the Swans might falter.

They did in fact relinquish the lead late by a point, before a few last desperate sorties forward produced a pair of behinds to seal the win 14.11 (95) to 14.10 (94).

It was a hard-earned four points and even more valuable.

With Sebastopol upsetting Bacchus Marsh by 29 points and North Ballarat unable to get past Darley, it left the Swans six points clear of their nearest rival in fifth place and eight clear of the seventh-placed Roosters.

Baker did not hesitate in branding the win over the Lions as ‘gutsy.’

“We were down to two on the bench halfway through the second quarter – that was with one guy playing with a hamstring injury – and then Biggie (Nyuon) went down with a pretty bad injury in the third term, so we were down to one one rotation,” he said.

“To hang on was pretty good. They came really hard at us late.

“We were going okay until about the 20-minute mark of the last quarter, but they came banging and hit the front by a point.

“Luckily, we were able to see the ball at our end of the ground a couple of times and score a couple of points.”

The win came with a heavy injury toll, with the Swans losing Noah Drever to concussion early in the second quarter, Zac Haintz also in the second with a knee and Nyuon, who led the Swans with three goals, with an ankle.

Baker lauded Harry Butler for battling through a hamstring issue.

“It was a bit of a war, with blokes cramping, who we couldn’t take off because we couldn’t replace them,” he said.

“They were really brave.”

Baker was pleased with the response to the previous week’s heavy loss to East Point, but was quick to put the result into perspective.

“There looks to be three or four top teams in the league, but we’ve got to try to work towards bridging the gap,” he said.

“We had a few soldiers out, so we brought back four pretty good players into the team this week, which certainly helps.

“We are really young. Against East Point there were probably seven or eight boys between one and 10 games under their belt, and probably three more between 10 and 20 games under their belt.

“We are inexperienced, but things are coming together well.”

Zack Maple, Jack O’Brien, Tristan Maple, Bailey Fraser, Lewis Rinaldi and Fraser Perkins led the charge against Redan.

The Swans will face a tough test after the King’s Birthday weekend break, hosting third-placed Melton.

A loss left the Lions in ninth place on the ladder, four points below nearest rival Sebastopol, which claimed its second win of the season in beating the Cobras.

Rudie Forde, Taj Bond, Lachlan George and Hamish McNamara rated best against the Swans.

Round 8 recap:

Bacchus Marsh 10.10 (70) lost to Sebastopol 14.15 (99); Redan 14.10 (94) lost to Ballarat 14.11 (95); East Point 18.23 (131) def Lake Wendouree 6.6 (42); North Ballarat 8.8 (56) lost Darley 12.15 (87); Melton 13.10 (88) def Sunbury 9.11 (63).

Round 9 (June 14):

Ballarat v Melton; Darley v East Point; Lake Wendouree v Redan; Sebastopol v North Ballarat; Sunbury v Bacchus Marsh.