THE ball was kicked near the boundary, a few metres wide of the behind post at the Coventry end, 11 minutes into the final quarter.

This time, Adam Goodes read the flight right and marked alongside Bryce Gibbs.

The dual Brownlow medallist played on immediately and ran on to his left boot, opening up the angle. Gibbs, too, reacted quickly. He lunged, nearly catching Goodes in a tackle from behind. But a crucial goal was scored. Sydney's lead was 14 points.

"No excuses. Good players rise to the top when it's counted," said a gracious Gibbs.

"I was just buggered and gave my best effort and (he) just got away from me that time."

This moment was a rare instance in which Gibbs lost a contest. For three quarters, the Carlton kid out-thought, out-marked and out-positioned the veteran. His 26 disposals to seven weren't quite enough to compensate for the handcuffs that the Swans placed on Chris Judd and Nick Stevens, and Darren Jolly's butchering of the Carlton rucks.

While Gibbs-Goodes wasn't quite Roger Federer versus Raphael Nadal, it had a similar dynamic of the gifted upstart besting the established superstar. As with Nadal, the conquering Gibbs was highly respectful of his scalp, calling Goodes a "humble champion".

Goodes had a sore groin and wasn't bursting with that trademark athleticism. That said, Gibbs was especially superior in the more static one-on-one contests, when he positioned his body better and recovered faster. Despite a deficit of several centimetres, the kid was ascendant in the air.

"He legitimately outpointed him in some high balls and some ground balls and ran off with his decision-making and used it so well — (he) was outstanding," said Carlton's most famous former No. 4, Stephen Kernahan, a one-time teammate (at Glenelg) of Gibbs' father Ross.

Gibbs played Goodes in the manner of a good batsman, looking no further than the next ball before him. "You've just got to take it contest by contest, whether it's coming in high, coming in low, work on my body positioning. You know, what Ratts (coach Brett Ratten) and that have said, just back your footy ability."

The education of Bryce Gibbs has seen him given jobs on such luminaries as James Hird last year, Chad Cornes and now Goodes. Many precocious kids prefer to freewheel and use their attacking instincts. Gibbs, a footballer first, likes the challenge of head-to-head combat.

When Ratten told him he'd been assigned to Goodes, Gibbs thought "what a great opportunity to play on a two-time Brownlow medallist … I was looking forward to the challenge.

"I look forward to it every week. To play on blokes like that … I'm going to get so much out it, and I have, just the way he sort of works, his work-rate, where he runs, where he leads the ball."

Gibbs never assumed he had Goodes' measure.

"I think once you start thinking like that, you know, it only takes one contest like that one and he kicks a goal and puts them, you know, that extra goal in front, changes all what happens during the start of the day."

The pair had started in the midfield. But when Gibbs had six touches to Goodes' zero in the first term, Roos opted to send his star forward, seeking to isolate his gun on a teenager, albeit one with exceptional nous and ability.

As Kernahan observed, the Sydney coach finally "got what he probably wanted" when Goodes booted Sydney's 17th goal, perhaps the most important of the afternoon.

"But it look a long time for that to happen."

Not a Goodes day, but he had his moment.