Swans Review - Collingwood (10 August 2013)

Swans grounded in disappointing effort against Collingwood at ANZ Stadium 

COLLINGWOOD 2.4 6.6 12.10 14.16 (100) SYDNEY 4.4 5.9 9.10 10.11 (71)
GOALS Collingwood: Elliott 3, Reid 2, Thomas 2, Sidebottom 2, Cloke 2, Grundy, O'Brien, Pendlebury. Sydney: Tippett 6, Bolton, Kennedy, Jack, Shaw.
BEST Collingwood: Pendlebury, Beams, Swan, O'Brien, Williams, Ball. Sydney: McVeigh, Tippett, Hannebery, Malceski, Bird, Jack.
UMPIRES Stevic, Dalgleish, Nicholls.
CROWD 42,627 at ANZ Stadium.

Where to start with tonight's events? Here: aside from Kurt Tippett, Jarrad McVeigh, Dan Hannebery and the 200-gamer Ted Richards (what a horrible milestone game this was), there were few bright spots for the team in red and white. It appears that we're back to the dark old days of 2006 - 2012 where the vast majority of Swans players on the field put in absolute shockers. Worse, Collingwood thoroughly dominated in the clinches, beating the Swans at their own game. Second to every contest, there just wasn't enough want tonight.

With a home final and a spot in the top two on the line at ANZ Stadium tonight (quite aside from it being the 200th game for a wonderful servant of the club, Ted Richards) Swans Nation were quite entitled to expect much, much more than what their team served up. It was a majorly disappointing night, and a tough pill to swallow. What is frustrating is that the Swans are a markedly better team than they showed tonight. Knowing they can apply themselves at the highest level, and not actually seeing them do that is most galling. The talk of back-to-back premierships, at least for the time being, came to a grinding halt tonight.

Though, it started well and the six-game winning streak seemed poised to continue. The Swans were on fire early, booting four goals in quick succession. Whoever thought that they would only kick five more for the game? Not me, certainly. Kurt Tippett's post-siren goal was the only major kicked by Sydney in the second quarter. They had plenty of chances in front of goals, but - and this is what reminded me of so many games previously against Collingwood, the so-called Jinx Years - they could not capitalize, and this is what ultimately lost them the game. Players like Jude Bolton, experienced heads who have been there and done that in the AFL, appeared overawed by the situation. Bolton, a solid kick normally, missed a fairly rudimentary shot in that second quarter. But he wasn't alone. Not by a long shot.

Whereas Collingwood looked a genuine threat to score every time they made an entry into their attacking 50m, the Swans were firmly at the other end of the spectrum. Their offensive capability, particularly through the midfield, was stunted at best, and non-existent at worst. They were messy, hurried, harried and undisciplined in their execution, given no room at all in which to operate. To their credit, Collingwood shut down what was touted as being the very best midfield in the AFL. Perhaps, not now.  

So well contained was the Bloods midfield that it was a case of 'Tippett or bust'. Ben McGlynn was so bad that he had the red subsititue vest on in the fourth, and Jesse White was barely sighted after the first quarter and a half. Kieren Jack's run was missing, as was that of Ryan O'Keefe, Tom Mitchell and a lot of others. It was not the same smooth-moving midfield operation that we've been used to seeing. Craig Bird, Nick Smith and Luke Parker seemed MIA. Thank goodness, then, that the big man was on song, utterly dominating Collingwood defender Nathan Brown on his booting six goals for the night, or the score line might have been far more lopsided than it turned out to be. 

We can also thank Collingwood big man Travis Cloke for keeping the final winning margin in check: his back-to-back howlers in front of goals in the fourth quarter were about the only thing that saved most Swans fans from going completely insane as the Pies ran away with the contest late. There's nothing worse than giving Collingwood fans a whole quarter to savour their 29-point victory. They are, without doubt, the worst winners in Australian sport.

Defensively, things weren't much better. Ted Richards basically played a lone hand down back, only given some help when McVeigh dropped back. By the end of the game, the normally mild-mannered Richards was visibly upset with his corps of defensemen, gesturing angrily at times, and you can't blame him. Amongst the worst: Dean Rampe was beaten badly and Heath Grundy seemed invisible on the field for long stretches. The most impressive Swans wins this year have come buy way of a 100% team effort. That was sorely missing tonight.

Tonight's game will make a lot of people around the AFL sit up and take notice: perhaps the Swans, without a raft of premiership stars, are more vulnerable than first thought? And what of Collingwood? Written off as finals contenders a few weeks ago, the Pies have strung impressive wins against Essendon and Sydney together in the space of just seven days. Surely, they will re-enter premiership talk? 

The less said about this game the better. Onto St Kilda next week (Sunday, 3.20pm at the SCG) and hopefully a much better effort by the men in red and white. There is much work to be done, but the light at the end of the tunnel is the return of a group of very good players, Adam Goodes amongst them, Goodes who tore Collingwood apart in their MCG game earlier this year. Based on tonight's effort, the reintroduction of the great #37 cannot come quickly enough.