GVL Data | Shepparton Swans doing the hard work

That isn’t necessary, however, when the whole fires on the sum of its parts like the Swans’ engine room has.

In last weekend’s 16-point win over Shepparton United in a home derby, the Swans won all five of these categories, three of which were by significant margins.

Registering 40 more contested possessions (163-123) is always going to put you on the front foot, but doubling your opponent’s ability to clunk contested marks (18-9) has the potential to do real damage as well.

When one of your primary targets coming out of the middle is Matt Perry, who claimed two grabs over others among his five inside 50 for the day, coinciding with three goals, the midfield brigade has reason to feel validated.

Getting back to that aspect, there is a clear ruck disparity forming throughout the league — it’s not often 56 hit-outs a game only just gets you on the podium — but the Swans will be more than happy Mark Kovacevic puts them on the winning end.

Zac Alderton and Nathan Hrovat were kept well-fed at ground level and reaped the spoils of the rucks’ toils, combining for a huge 39 contested possessions and 19 clearances.

Kovacevic helping himself to 18 contested touches along the way certainly goes down a treat for Jedd Wright’s men as well.

Now, while the Swans were wasteful in periods and squandered many of the scoring chances created from stoppages, producing 9.1 from midfield turnovers proved essential.

Stoppage scoring opportunities aside, it still came across like the most well-rounded performance of 2024 for a Swans outfit that has had to rely on bursts of offence.

The question lingered as to whether the trademark late frenzies could be extrapolated over a long enough time to avoid the necessity of the late theatrics.

The United game has yielded positive results to that end, but a second straight derby this weekend against the Bears will serve as the litmus test.