Swans Review - Qualifying Final vs. Hawthorn (6 September 2013)

Swans blown away by ruthless Hawthorn in the second half

HAWTHORN 3.4 4.7 9.9 15.15 (105) SYDNEY 3.3 4.7 5.8 7.9 (51)
Goals: Hawthorn: J Gunston 3 D Hale 2 J Roughead 2 B Hill B Lake J Anderson L Breust L Shiels M Bailey M Spangher P Puopolo. Sydney: K Tippett 2 G Rohan J White L Jetta M Pyke R O'Keefe.
Best: Hawthorn: L Hodge S Mitchell B Sewell S Burgoyne G Birchall B Guerra D Hale J Gunston B Lake. Sydney: K Jack J Kennedy L Parker T Richards C Bird T Mitchell.
Umpires: Shane Stewart, Brett Rosebury, Dean Margetts.
Official Crowd: 59,615 at MCG.

A game of two halves tonight. In the first half, the Swans were right in the contest. It ebbed and flowed, did the opening two quarters. One team had momentum, then another team wrestled it back. It was gripping, high-intensity football, and it seemed like we were in for much of the same in the second half. As the siren went to end the first half, Swans fans had good reason to think that their team had a serious chance at causing an upset.

Then, the Hawthorn machine cranked it's way into top gear and the Swans, the object lesson for the rest of the AFL's Final Eight where the Hawks offensive capability is concerned, had no chance. They were completely outclassed in the second half. The margin was 54 points in the end, and only after Hawthorn butchered some set shots at goal, particularly in the fourth quarter. In that, the Swans can think themselves lucky. 

The way the Hawks were moving the football, through a midfield that thoroughly dominated the Swans opposing unit, which is well in the upper echelon themselves was the sort of good that you can also label as frightening. Hawthorn, led by Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Brad Sewell, were frighteningly good. The difference between the two midfields was night and day today, as was the scoreboard difference, despite the Swans winning contested possessions and clearances. 

Aside from claiming those victories on the stat sheet, they were hammered by a far better team - and the Hawks have Lance Franklin and Cyril Rioli to come back. In the end, it might only be Hawthorn's stunning inability to beat Geelong that will deny them the 2013 premiership. Tonight, though, the Hawks took a solid step forward. The Swans, after playing the first half on their own terms, may have gone backwards. The good players - Josh Kennedy and Kieren Jack amongst them, alongside Jarrad McVeigh - continued to be good, but players like Dan Hannebery and Lewis Jetta were shown up under the bright lights of the Finals, and looked horribly underdone. Therein lies the danger of taking in players coming off injury into the Finals. Mistakes are magnified at this level, as is a lack of fitness.

In the week ahead, John Longmire might reexamine his forward line setup. Half the problem tonight was Sydney not being able to score when they got the football into the attacking arc. Granted, their Inside 50s were sparingly allowed by a stout Hawthorn defence, but the single-minded idea of thumping the football long to Kurt Tippett didn't work tonight and, really, hasn't worked for some time. Scoring was far more balanced last week with the spearhead out. They kicked more goals and looked more dangerous, ultimately in a game that didn't matter, when Tippett was out.

With Tippett back in the line up, far from him being the Wild Card for the Swans, it chanelled their attack to the point where it didn't take much thinking for Hawthorn's corps of defencemen to work out what the Sydney tactic was tonight. 7 goals will not win you an AFL Final. Not in this lifetime and not in the next, a fact that Fremantle might well discover that tomorrow in Geelong. 

Conceding 11 majors to the opposition in the second half is something else that won't win you an AFL Final. Particularly when you only kick three in return, the majority of those when the result was far beyond doubt. When Hawthorn applied pressure, the Swans, unfortunately, succumbed. It was a worse loss than I had thought possible. What their mindset going home to ANZ Stadium next Saturday night will be, I don't know. But, consider where we might have been, and what might have occurred had some of the Swans' injured brigade been on the field rather than in the stars. Goodes, Shaw, Johnson, Roberts-Tomson, Reid...all of them dependable players who would have steadied a team stacked with youngsters - talented though they are - when the Hawks rush started. There's nothing like experience in the heat of that Finals cauldron. It's tough to compete with other gun sides who have all their stars up and firing.

Turnovers killed, too. The Hawks were always there to pounce on every mistake the Swans made. They hunted in packs, overwhelmed the youngsters in the Swans line-up, and there were some mistakes made by veterans, too. Heath Grundy seemed unable to take a mark in defence, preferring to punch the football away. Ted Richards and Dane Rampe were brave at the back, as always, but working down there on this night was like standing in front of a spillway trying to stem the tide. The Hawks came and came again. Their possession was impressive, as was their ability to move the ball around just outside fifty, waiting for a target to present itself. More often than not, a target did present itself, leading to a Hawthorn goal. They were impressive. 

Far too impressive for Sydney to handle. Yet, by virtue of finishing in the top four, the Swans have another shot at making a preliminary final next Saturday night against the winner of Sunday's elimination final between Richmond and Carlton. Lots of work to do in the mean time.