Serong seals it for Swans with last-gasp winner to break St Kilda hearts

On a beautiful Sunday in Sydney, the Swans learned how to win ugly, fighting back from 33 points down to defeat St Kilda by two points.

Jai Serong kicked the winning goal with 15 seconds left on the clock to stretch his team’s unbeaten streak at the SCG to seven. It was Serong’s fourth goal of the season, and by far his most important.

Swans coach Dean Cox had prepared for a determined St Kilda team and knew that every minute on the clock was going to count.

“I said to the players at the start of the week and before the game this is going to take the whole 120 minutes against a really disciplined, hard, contested two-way running team, so it took the whole 119 of them,” Cox said.

“To the players’ credit, at times when we were challenged, we rallied and we’re starting to build a lot of belief when we’re in those positions, we can still get it done.”

The Swans showed great spirit to battle back after injuries claimed two of their best. Key defender Tom McCartin left the field with a worrying head knock that rules him out of next week’s match against Port Adelaide, while Justin McInerney was sidelined by a hamstring strain.

Cox confirmed that McCartin didn’t undergo an HIA, but medical staff had ruled him out of the game, and that McInerney would have scans to assess his hamstring.

Undermanned for much of the second half and poor for most of the game, the Swans ultimately still found a way to win. No doubt, they will play much better in 2026, but the character of this performance will provide motivation for the rest of their season.

St Kilda forward Liam Ryan, picked up from West Coast in the club’s highly spruiked off-season recruiting spree, was the spark for the visitors, kicking five majors, but his efforts were in vain.

On face value, the Sunday afternoon was custom-built for the Swans to play their fast-flowing brand of football. The sun was out, there was no wind and their opponents were so far yet to impress or find consistency this season. But Saints coach Ross Lyon had designed the perfect game plan to frustrate the Swans.

Inspired by the return of star midfielder Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who enjoyed sparring with Isaac Heeney, St Kilda played fearless football in the first quarter and most of the second, silencing a Sydney crowd anticipating a comfortable home win.

Throughout his press conferences this year, Cox has repeatedly stressed that his team is still a work in progress—and for most of the first half, it was obvious why.

The Swans were inaccurate with their disposals, sloppy in defence and squashed by the pressure of St Kilda.

It took just 40 seconds for Justin McInerney to kick the Swans’ first goal after a sloppy handball from St Kilda’s Darcy Wilson. But after that, the Swans’ reputation as slow starters was enhanced.

In his return from a calf strain, Callum Mills kicked poorly from defence, gifting the ball to St Kilda’s Liam Ryan, who outpaced the Swans captain and kicked a simple goal. Ryan then kicked St Kilda’s second major.

The Swans were wasteful in front of goal, including a clean miss by Charlie Curnow, but midfielder James Rowbottom stepped up as an unlikely hero, snapping up just his second goal of the season.

St Kilda replied with three consecutive goals followed for St Kilda, two to Cooper Sharman and one to Max Hall, giving the visitors a 17-point lead, which few could have predicted.

The Swans had plenty of the ball but wasted most of it. When Jack Sinclair quickly answered Isaac Heeney’s lucky goal, St Kilda successfully kept Sydney at arm’s length.

Despite failing to land a goal in the first half against Hawthorn last round, St Kilda had managed 11 majors by half-time against the Swans.

Further goals by Mitch Owens, Darcy Wilson and Wanganeen-Milera extended Saints’ lead to 33 points.

St Kilda threatened to run away with the game, but Hayden McLean and Malcolm Rosas jnr kicked successive goals to start a potential Swans comeback. But St Kilda again managed to find the answers via goals to Tom De Koning and Ryan.

Chad Warner had been poor during the first half, struggling with his disposals and running into St Kilda defenders. But when the Swans needed him, he kicked beautifully from a sharp angle for his first major to lift the home side.

Swans forwards Joel Amartey and Curnow both produced their first majors of the afternoon to cut St Kilda’s lead to eight points.

But Sydney’s efforts late in the second term to bridge the margin were quickly undone early in the third quarter when Ryan nailed his fourth goal.

It wasn’t just on the scoreboard where Ryan was hurting the Swans. Midway through the third quarter, he flew fairly for a mark, colliding with McCartin, who’d turned into his path to intercept.

However, the Swans regrouped and when Heeney, Curnow and Rosas Jnr each chimed in with their respective second majors, the they had set up a grandstand finish.

In the final quarter, McLean kicked his second goal and pulled the lead back to one point before Ryan’s fifth goal – to go with a mark-of-the-year contender – and a major to Bradley Hill restored St Kilda’s lead to 11 points.

Warner then landed his second goal to pull the Swans within a goal with five minutes left. With the game on the line, Nick Blakey could have given Sydney the lead, but Jack Silvagni desperately marked his searing, low drop punt on the goal line.

But Sydney had one final chance. Heeney found space to calmly work the ball clear of a stoppage in the goal mouth to Serong, whose left-footed snap secured a memorable victory.

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