AFL live: Swans roar back at the SCG; could former teammate be in trouble for incident with Heeney?

That’s three in a row for Sydney in five minutes, and it is game on.

Logan McDonald marked strongly in the goal square in front of Carlton’s Lewis Young. It was an easy shot on goal and he nailed it.

Six minutes into the third term: Blues 6.4 (40) lead Swans 5.6 (36)

Sydney have kicked two on the trot to bring the Blues’ lead back to just 10 points.

Both goals came from the boot of Justin McInerney, who has had quite the purple patch.

Carlton defender Adam Saad fell heavily in a marking contest, and might need some attention.

Carlton have opened the scoring in the third term with two quick goals to take a game-high 22-point lead.

Ollie Hollands found the ball in the square and after butchering the ball in the first half found Ashton Moir with a deep pass. Moir kicked truly.

Soon after, surprise packet Marc Pittonet kicked his second of the game. He contested a ruck duel in the Blues’ forward line and when the ball hit the ground he soccered it through for a major.

Good news for Sydney, and maybe Oliver Florent – Isaac Heeney has started the second half.

He has obviously passed concussion protocols.

The Swans fans came expecting a star performance from Charlie Curnow, but what they have had is a feast of fumbles and their team getting smashed in the contest.

Cooper Lord and Sam Walsh are hoovering the football, with 18 and 16 touches so far respectively, while Isaac Heeney finished the half with three.

He will desperately want to change not only his own performance, but that of his team. Don’t bet against it.

Seven have broken their coverage of tonight’s AFL game for a beautiful tribute to the late Dennis Cometti.

“He didn’t just call a moment, he became part of it,” his former Seven colleague Bruce McAvaney said.

McAvaney said his great mate had the “wisdom to know when to let the moment speak for itself”.

The tribute was introduced by Hamish McLachlan, who said Cometti “gave a game of chaos a sense of calm”.

“With Bruce, you became the best pairing in sport,” McLachlan said.

Cometti passed away on Wednesday. He was 76.

To quote the late and legendary commentator Dennis Cometti: “What I found over the years sitting and watching is that you can see where you can say things and where you can’t say things.”

For Cometti, it was all about timing and balance, and it was an art he came to perfect over decades.

And so it was on the eve of the 2026 AFL season that the health struggles his family had kept private in recent years finally overcame him.

Maintaining the timing that only a precious few in Cometti’s profession manage became the task facing new Swans boss Matthew Pavlich, who was hosting visiting media at Sydney headquarters on Wednesday when he heard his friend and one-time business associate had died.

Having already insisted to the AFL that the Sydney-Carlton game would balance celebrating the SCG season opener with a sombre pre-game tribute to the 15 people slain at Bondi, the Swans – in league with Cometti’s long-time employer Channel Seven – will now also screen a tribute to the Australian Football Hall of Fame member Cometti at half-time.

Seven announced this month that a Cometti documentary had moved into pre-production.

The project had been driven over the off-season by sport bosses Chris Jones and Gary O’Keefe along with Cometti’s long-time colleague, co-caller and fellow hall of famer Bruce McAvaney.

That trio has been aware for some time that Cometti’s brilliant mind and famous turns of phrase had deserted him. They hoped, though, that the former WAFL footballer, coach and long-time commentator and sportscaster would live to witness the doco being made with the support of the Cometti family.

Read all of Caroline Wilson’s emotional tribute to Cometti HERE.

Ollie Florent collected Isaac Heeney’s head with his knee in that second term, and it looked terrible on the replay.

The knee went right into the side of Heeney’s head and that will be a talking point at the final siren.

Carlton have scored two goals in the second term and are finally getting rewarded on the scoreboard after dominating the contest all game.

Heeney has gone to the rooms for a head injury assessment. That’s MRO scrutiny for sure.

The Sydney medics are telling Seven’s coverage that the gun midfielder will be OK, as Nick Riewoldt referred to it as “an ugly looking incident”.