Oh, if life were made of moments, Even now and then a bad one--! 

But if life were only moments, Then you'd never know you had one.

(Moments in the Wood from Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim)

If this was a game for the ages, one to mark in the record books, then why can't I really recall it? I can still feel the tension; hear the roars and the silences broken by the cheers of those in Bays 2, 3 and 4; taste the salt on the chips. But the game itself? It's a blur.

Moments, though. It's the moments that stand out.

The klaxon blasts and it's game on.

Bump, push, spoil, scramble - the ball regularly comes into the Swans’ forward 50.  Our back six are meeting the challenge and sending it back into the middle. Bump, push, spoil, scramble...

In the middle it's the same. Neither side willing to relinquish the territory. Both sides scrapping at each other.

I can't see what our forward line is doing - they're so far away and the big screen displays the wide view not the close angle. We trade behinds and it's absorbing. Time goes on in this 44 man wrestle. We're more than halfway through the quarter and neither side has kicked a goal.

A spectacular Luke Parker mark, on the wing, over the top of Isaac Heeney is the first memorable moment. The crowd collectively gasps and then the overwhelming majority cheers.

Does it rally the home team? Not immediately; it's still several more minutes until a short kick to Tom Mitchell sees him slotting the first goal. There'll only be one more in the quarter - another moment from the Philthy/Buddy tussle. Davis tackles Buddy (beautifully, as always), Buddy loses the ball, Davis retrieves it, whistle, free to the Swans. Of course, Buddy is not going to miss from that angle and that distance tonight.

There are sounds and smells that I remember from the game experience and I shudder. The smell from the horse manure along the road when we're lining up for the bus on the way home. And the singing of "Sweet Caroline" by the Swans fans at quarter time. Yes, I know it's their home game but really?

The second quarter begins and it's even tighter than the first. The Swans break through with a goal first, but then the GIANTS respond with three in a row. Something has clicked and gaps are found, passes stick and timing is perfect. It's Coniglio reaching the Devon Smith bomb with enough poise to take up the ball and slot the goal (and not, like the Swans player, collect the goal post). It's a chain of handballs around the defensive 50 that lets Patfull find Stevie J in space, who then allows Patton to cleanly mark and kick his confidence-boosting goal. It's not as if Sydney has let up; they're trying just as hard. They're taking the intercept marks. They're spoiling; although the fist from Adam Kennedy to stop Buddy taking a mark is my defensive highlight of the quarter.

There's a lot of feeling in this game. The intensity has lifted and the animosity and competitiveness between the sides can be felt back in Row U. Then Hannebery finds a goal out of nothing and there's barely anything in it at half time.

No matter how much of a rivalry there is between these two teams - the transplant that has taken root and blossomed and the AFL created seedling - we all stand and applaud two champions in Adam Goodes and Mike Pyke. We salute and we honour. The only boos tonight are for the umpires.

Hostilities resume and it's tight; neither side wanting to give quarter and there's little between the two. The battle in the middle for possession is heated. Somehow the GIANTS are stopping up the ball from Sydney's many entries in the forward 50. There's got to be a point where somehow the game will be broken open. But when? But who? Shiel has been running hard and was heavily involved in the GIANTS goals. Kennedy and Parker for the Swans have demonstrated why the Swans midfield is one of the best in the competition. Patton kicks a monster from outside 50; but as the quarter progresses into time on, Buddy slots another.  The Swans have the upper hand going into the final break.

The Swans' supporter behind me knowledgeably says, as Buddy kicks his third goal early in the fourth quarter. "That's it. That's the game."

I don't want to believe him - but it's two more goals to the Swans and the game is getting too far away. When Mummy goals from a 50 metre free kick and Josh Kelly roosts it from out of nothing there's some hope but it still has the air of an honourable loss.

But you can't discount the brilliance of Shiel; who takes the ball on the half-back flank, neatly steps around his opponent and goes for a run. He finds Greene who kicks to Palmer who…MISSES.

That's it. Even though there is a mathematical chance, we know it's over. But we don't give up; we keep playing as though we can still win it. Even when Sydney goals and goals again and the clock demonstrates that it is not our friend.

It is that moment - even in defeat - that I know that as a team we've achieved something tonight.

In a moment you can make a decision that next time it will be different. There'll be no cheesy car karaoke in Round 12. No "Go Swans" on the scoreboard when you kick a goal. When the noise is just as loud but the cheers are for you.

Bring on Round 12. Bring it on.

Kath is a Foundation GIANTS member who loves to cheer them on from her seat just over the player's race (or Bay 3 at the SCG). You can also find Kath being a wife, mum, lawyer and manager of the Mighty Penrith GIANTS Under 10s, on the Footy Almanac site or Stereo Stories. 

More stories and other fan-writing can be found on the GIANTS page at www.footyalmanac.com.au