Nothing went to plan on an afternoon where it was expected that the Swans, offensively resurgent behind marquee buy Lance Franklin, would continue their astonishing run of success against North Melbourne at the SCG.
Instead, when the final siren rang, it was the Kangaroos who had bucked the trend of being poor performers in the Harbour City, leaving with a resounding 43-point win that resigns the Swans to a 1-3 record heading into next Saturday’s clash against Fremantle, and also means that they’ve lost this season at all three AFL venues in Sydney: the SCG, ANZ Stadium and Olympic Park and Spotless Stadium, home of the GWS Giants.
As much as it pains most Swans fans to say, this team is in big trouble. Before you get the wrong idea about the direction of this piece, let me say that this isn’t a whack at Buddy Franklin. Sure, the big man didn’t have a good game, but he’s a key forward operating on a day when it was wet, one not exactly tailor made for a guy his size, and, perhaps more damningly for the Swans competitiveness going forward, Franklin was delivered precious little football from the Swans midfield.
Yeah, Buddy had a shocker, but he was far from the worst on the field, and certainly a victim of his team’s inability to find a target in the attacking 50m arc.
Let’s start with the midfield. I wrote last week that all the players who had looked ordinary or at sea against GWS and Collingwood to start the season were more like their old selves against Adelaide. Fast forward eight days, and it was a step backward.
Aside from a few notable names – Jarrad McVeigh, Kieran Jack, Ben McGlynn and Josh Kennedy – the Swans mids were soundly and thoroughly beaten by the Kangaroos. It’s a shocking thing to write because the Swans midfield has long been the catalyst for Sydney’s success. This time a year ago, they were being hailed as perhaps the best midfield unit in the league.
Hell, some were saying that of them in this pre-season. Instead, there’s a bunch of players seemingly running around as free agents, doing their own thing, without any concept of performing as a team. They are listless, slow and, most horrifyingly, not hard at the football, as modern-day Swans legends have always been. That was perhaps the most alarming thing of all.
On a Sunday afternoon when the Swans farewelled their legendary warrior Jude Bolton, his former team mates (some his protégés) displayed the opposite of everything that the football world has come to know and love Bolton for.
The pace that Ryan O’Keefe seemed to have rediscovered against the Crows had disappeared. On Sunday, he looked slow and was beaten to most contests, just like in the first two weeks. Dan Hannebery lacked polish most of the time, and even basic football skills on some occasions. Lewis Jetta doesn’t look like his head is in the game. Tom Mitchell, a revelation last season, isn’t getting the football nearly enough. The sub, Garry Rohan, barely had an impact on proceedings when he came on midway through the third quarter.
No wonder the Kangaroos had so much success. They beat Sydney at their own game. They made more of their possessions, they made better decisions, their kicks were lethally accurate and their tackling was supreme; all reminiscent of the Swans of this time last year.
Defensively, the Swans are a shambles. Why Heath Grundy hasn’t been spotlighted more is beyond me. He is a major liability at the moment, turning over the football in the most disastrous moments. I’d love to watch tape of all the goals the Swans have conceded this year, and tick off just how many have come from a moment of Heath Grundy madness. I’m sure there’d be a few. He was woeful today, but had company. Basic skills like taking a clean mark in defence seemed to be missing. Friendly fire knocking over two or three Swans, thus allowing North an easy goal seemed to happen over and over again.
Sadly, Rhyce Shaw is done. He looks slow at the best of times, and though he labours and toils hard, it’s clear that his time is past. I wonder when the Swans will admit that by making a change. It isn’t an easy situation, for Shaw has been brilliant, his dash and spark from half back having started so many attacking raids over the years he’s been in Sydney, but those days are over, and Sydney’s football brains trust needs to look to the future. Unfortunately, Shaw is not a part of it anymore.
Of course, bad defence and a midfield not able to get clean football into the attacking arc spells doom for the Swans offensively. Lance Franklin was largely a victim of those issues. I lost track of how many times he pushed forward of centre, just to get a touch. He wanted his hands on the Sherrin somehow, someway, and he certainly wasn’t getting much of a look down in the forward arc. Without the midfield delivery, not Tippett, Goodes, Franklin or even the great Gordon Coventry is going to manage to kick a winning-score.
It’s no wonder, then, that Franklin, the man with so much pressure sitting squarely on his broad shoulders, snapped late, lashing out at North players. Scott Thompson held him brilliantly. One behind, a very few touches and that moment of anger will surely mean that Buddy is the focus of things this year. His name is already mud on social media. Don’t believe me? Check out the Swans Facebook page, and the comments on the post detailing the game’s final score.
I find this troubling because the all-Buddy narrative pedalled by the mostly pro-rugby league media up here – you know, the ones who love seeing the Swans and their big-name recruit stumble and fail as they are – means that other players who are playing worse than #23 are undeservedly missing out on having the fierce blowtorch of media attention turned on them. Some tough love, by way of the media, wouldn’t be such a bad thing now.
Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson spoke in his press conference last week about how a few senior players needed to have a long and serious look at themselves during the week. Ironic that the coach of the team whose victory brought about such a remark will likely be saying the same thing this week.
There will be no let-up. Fremantle come into the SCG on Saturday. Essendon and Hawthorn are on the Swans’ schedule over the next month or so, perhaps the season's death-knell given the team's current form. It probably won't be a pretty sight, next week, unless there is a massive and abrupt turnaround in the next six days.
There is a chance here for the football heads at the club to make tough decisions; by removing some of the Swans’ favourite sons in favour of young talent waiting in the wings, they can at least shape the future, and make it a positive one.
Sad as it is for this Swans fan to say, the way the team going at the moment, an infusion of new blood might be the only way to stop the rot.
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