{"id":30596,"date":"2026-06-13T14:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T14:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/30596\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T14:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T14:53:12","slug":"sydney-escape-to-claim-thrilling-comeback-win-over-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/30596\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney escape to claim thrilling comeback win over Port"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney have produced another great escape, toppling Port Adelaide by three points to claim equal top spot on the AFL ladder.<\/p>\n

The Swans trailed by eight points at three-quarter time, but prevailed 14.9 (93) to 13.12 (90) Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

A week after coming from six points down at the last change to pip St Kilda, Sydney kicked five goals to three in the final term against Port.<\/p>\n

The Swans (12 wins, two losses) join Fremantle (12 wins, one loss) at the top of the ladder, with the Dockers ahead on percentage.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

For the second week running, Sydney scored a thrilling win to stay joint competition leaders. (Matt Turner\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“It was good to get away with it in the end,” Swans coach Dean Cox said.<\/p>\n

“It was a grind all the way through.”<\/p>\n

Sydney have a bye next weekend before a challenging month: Brisbane Lions (away), Western Bulldogs (home), Fremantle (away) and Adelaide (home).<\/p>\n

Unfancied Port (15th, four wins, nine losses) held a match-high 20-point break midway through the second term.<\/p>\n

The Power’s initial half-dozen scoring shots were behinds and they led 3.6 to 3.2 at quarter-time.<\/p>\n

Port kicked the opening three goals of the second term to create a 20-point break and held a 7.9 to 5.6 halftime advantage.<\/p>\n

Their mid-season draftee Xavier Bamert, on AFL debut, featured in two flashpoints in the third term.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old, plucked from North Melbourne’s VFL team, booted his first AFL goal eight minutes into the term.<\/p>\n

But soon after, he gifted the Swans a goal: standing the mark, he misheard an umpire’s call and advanced on Riley Bice, who was given a 50m penalty and goaled.<\/p>\n

Bice’s strike put his side two points down and star midfielder Isaac Heeney gave Sydney the lead minutes later with a classy long-range left-footer.<\/p>\n

Heeney’s strike was the fourth major in an ominous dozen minutes for the Swans, but Port responded with two rapid goals to take a nine-point buffer into three-quarter time, 10.11 to 9.8.<\/p>\n

Flag fancies Sydney then booted four consecutive goals in the final term to turn their deficit into a 15-point lead.<\/p>\n

\"Isaac<\/p>\n

Isaac Heeney led the Swans with 30 disposals and also slotted one goal at Adelaide Oval. (Matt Turner\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

But the Power again rallied with the next two majors to trail by three points with five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

Swan James Rowbottom crumbed a goal with two-and-a-half minutes left, only for Port’s Jordon Sweet to convert with 34 seconds on the clock – the last score of the game.<\/p>\n

“It was a really good performance from the team against quality opposition (but) we fall short again,” Power coach Josh Carr said.<\/p>\n

Sydney captain Callum Mills (29 disposals), Isaac Heeney (30, one goal), Chad Warner (26, one goal) and defender Nick Blakey (25) were prolific ball-winners, while Charlie Curnow and Logan McDonald booted three goals apiece.<\/p>\n

Port’s acting captain Zak Butters (27 touches, one goal) and Joe Richards (23, one goal) were standouts, while teammates Sweet, Mitch Georgiades and Corey Durdin slotted two majors each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney have produced another great escape, toppling Port Adelaide by three points to claim equal top spot on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12191,28257,524,247,28256],"class_list":["post-30596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-adelaide-oval","tag-isaac-heeney","tag-port-adelaide","tag-sydney","tag-the-swans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}