The Gold Coast Suns’ finals’ dream is still alive after retiring club champion David Swallow lifted his side to a one-point win in fairytale scenes to end Fremantle’s season.
With Mac Andrew’s clutch goal with 72 seconds left tying the scores in Saturday night’s elimination final in Perth, Swallow then thought he’d delivered the biggest goal in Suns history with just nine seconds to play to send the club through to a semi final.
While it was determined the goal was touched on the mark by review, the point was enough to seal the 11.14 (80) to 12.7 (79) victory at Optus Stadium.
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“This is the biggest moment in the Suns’ history,” Fox Footy caller Dwayne Russell said.
The result ensures the club made history at Optus Stadium with their first-ever AFL finals win in extraordinary and joyous scenes for Damien Hardwick’s side.
Bailey Humphrey’s three-goal second term proved the difference in what had been an arm-wrestle up until that point, while star duo Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson combined for 66 disposals in the midfield to lead their side.
The one-point result ensured Swallow’s farewell tour rolls on for at least one more game – a semi final meeting with the Lions in Brisbane.
And while it was jubilation for the Suns, it was devastating for Justin Longmuir’s Dockers who threw everything at the Gold Coast – but left their run too late in the final game of Nat Fyfe’s glorious career.
Luke Jackson’s goal late in the fourth term put Fremantle in front for the first time with three minutes still to play.
But Fremantle couldn’t hold on late.
Two-time Brownlow Medallist Fyfe bid farewell to the record 57,507 crowd after earlier announcing his retirement.
While there’ll be disappointment for the Dockers, a big talking point will centre another off the ball free kick – after the drama surrounding Lion Cam Rayner on Friday night.
It was midway through the second term, with Freo leading 32-21 when the match turned sharply in Gold Coast’s favour.
Karl Worner had been awarded the 50m penalty to walk him out of defence as Touk Miller failed to stand when told to do so.
But instead of being able to send the kick inside 50, off the ball contact from Pat Voss on Sun Wil Powell saw the free kick reversed in the middle of the ground.
And from there, the Suns kicked the next four goals of the game to open up a 25-point half time buffer.
“I heard you say in the call Bucks that we’re going to see a lot more players flopping behind the ball because they’re being rewarded,” Fox Footy’s Kath Loughnan started.
“It’s a game of strength,” Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley explained.
“I don’t think Pat Voss is doing any more than trying to push his player off to potentially create some space.
“That is what we don’t see that often – If you’re at the ground you see it. If you’re watching it on the TV there’s a lot of work that’s being done off ball to prepare to go and win that ball – whether it’s a defender owning position or whether it’s a forward trying to create space.
“That is something that happens 150 times a game.
“On that particular occasion, Pat Voss won that contest by too much – and then was awarded a free kick against.
“I think that needs to be let go.”
At the time of the reversal, four-time premiership winner Jordan Lewis was adamant the call was incorrect.
“That’s not a free kick – we saw this the other night,” he said.
“Did they watch last night’s game do you think these umpires?” Dwayne Russell added.
“Surely they would have got a little bit of a chat about what was or wasn’t a free last night.”
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