FOUR points went on offer yesterday, and while Sydney claimed the prize ahead of Carlton, it amounted to a win-win situation for both teams.

Sydney will earn plaudits for another gutsy win, secured with two key players going down with injury, two others hampered but still playing, and from a deficit of 29 points during the second quarter. Carlton lost the match at Telstra Dome but won new respect for courage under the type of fire you encounter in a game against the battle-hardened warriors of the Swans.

It was a graduation of sorts for Brett Ratten's team, which has been routinely slaughtered by Sydney's iron men over recent seasons. In the end, it could have gone either way. Nineteen points down midway through the final term, the Blues conjured the last three goals of the match so that one more centre clearance and they might have pinched the game.

Ratten paid tribute to Sydney for their resilience: "They just claw [back] and no margin, really, is too far for them to conquer."

But, in fact, at the finish it was Carlton doing the chasing down, and Sydney flagging. Nineteen seconds remained when the ball went back to the centre after Eddie Betts ran in to an open goal at the 28-minute mark to reduce the margin to two points but, at the bounce, Sydney found one more player to dive on the grenade. Jude Bolton took the high contact he knew was coming from Chris Judd, won the free kick, and the siren came.

Mostly, Carlton did everything right. It was started by the wunderkind Bryce Gibbs, who was given the big job of running with Adam Goodes in the middle. Gibbs was quickly on top and Sydney shifted Goodes forward trying to expose the teenager; Gibbs, still, would not wilt. In fact, he beat the dual Brownlow medallist a handful of times in one-on-one combat. "It just shows the kid can play just about anywhere," Ratten said.

With Brendan Fevola (five goals despite suffering a corked thigh in the first quarter) on top of Leo Barry up forward, Carlton looked potent. Sydney, the competition's No.1 defence, concedes just 10 goals a game. The Blues had that many by half-time and the Swans had been unlocked, trailing 20-8 in the free kick count and looking slow.

Inevitably, Sydney came in the third quarter. But then Barry twanged a hamstring and Michael O'Loughlin rolled an ankle, both rendered useless. Ryan O'Keefe, one of the Swans' best already, went up the race for treatment on an ankle injury. And Goodes, impotent with two disposals in the first half, was running at half-power because of a groin injury, and well-covered by Gibbs.

Sydney found a way. Jarrad McVeigh used his big engine to push forward and find four goals, continuing his exponential improvement. Even Paul Bevan, employed as a front-half tagger on Heath Scotland, found two unlikely majors. Ruckman Darren Jolly snared a couple, and O'Keefe, still running hard, finished with three. O'Keefe was indefatigable after a poor game against Hawthorn, and Paul Roos paid tribute to the ability of he and Goodes to make a contribution despite injuries. "We wouldn't have won without those two blokes digging in," he said.

In the middle where it would be decided, Sydney evened out the earlier discrepancy in contested ball. Jolly's dominance at the bounces and around the ground only grew, and Carlton's weakness in that area would prove crucial. Brett Kirk clamped down on Judd and Luke Ablett kept a tight rein on Nick Stevens. With Goodes beaten, the Swans sent Jude Bolton in to the furnace to win the football in close. Bolton had a game-high 16 contested possessions, seven critical clearances, and was judged as having done an "exceptional" job by Roos. "We had a few lockdown players, and we needed someone to get after the footy and win the footy for us," Roos said.

Sydney are six points clear in fourth spot, holding grimly to the double-chance. Carlton are two games out of the top eight and may miss the finals, but Ratten was content.

"Sometimes you go to battle and you can fight and fight and it's an arm wrestle and you just don't get over the line," he said.

Carlton are expected today to announce they will wait until after September before negotiating with the out-of-contract Fevola.