Buddy Hell?

Alarm bells are certainly ringing for the Swans, who are staring down the barrel of a disastrous 0-3 start – which would be tough to come back from – ahead of a trip down to Adelaide to face the Crows on Saturday, but before you mistake the tone of my mood and of this piece, I’m going to make a bold statement:

Despite what the media will almost certainly report tomorrow, Monday and, most probably, throughout the rest of the week, the Swans 20-point loss to Collingwood at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night wasn’t Buddy Franklin’s fault.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Buddy was one of the better players in red and white. Although that isn’t saying much, based on the body of work the Swans produced tonight, it’s worth noting. Once, twice and maybe a third time, too. Buddy was pretty good. He kicked two timely goals, and toiled hard, double-teamed for most of the night, and with little support from his team mates. You know, Buddy did what he could. He was good.

I caught a look at Franklin at the full-time siren, and the look on his face said it all. Etched there was a mixture of frustration and hapless resignation. He knows that the reports aren’t going to be kind to him this week. Conversely, had the Swans won the game, then those bandwagon fans currently suggesting that he’s single-handedly responsible for the death of the Sydney Swans Football Club would be lauding his two nice goals and remarking about how much better he played this week.

That won’t matter to the media types. Listen closely…hear that sound? Yeah, that’s the Melbourne media sharpening their knives. They’ll be absolutely loving this, loving that Buddy, who apparently hated the suffocating fishbowl environment created by prying journalists enough that he wanted to head north to Sydney to escape it.

Of late, the Sydney media seems to have picked up on this Buddy bashing. He seems to be their favourite target. So much rumour and innuendo. Most of it coming from Melbourne journalists and their unnamed sources. It’s easy to shovel a steaming pile of you-know-what rumour and call it fact from sources that they can’t name. Even Buddy’s partner has been dragged into the firing line of late.

It’s getting to become disgraceful. Let’s get off the guy for his giant contract. He didn’t ask for such a figure – though you’d imagine he doesn’t hate getting paid what he’s getting paid. This was a decision made by the Swans. If you want to blame anyone, blame the recruiters for tabling that contract.

Though, I’d be waiting at least a few more weeks before doing that. This might yet turn out to work well. I’m not prepared to give up. Remember the last time the Swans started 0-2? No? Well, I do. It was 2006. The year the Swans made the Grand Final and very nearly made it back-to-back premierships.

The real issue is a deeper one than just the new kid on the block. Let’s face it: the Swans, as a unit, aren’t very good at the moment. In fact, tonight, they were pretty bad. Their basic skills and execution were sorely and notably and woefully missing on Saturday. Of course, Buddy doesn’t play in defence, so the three goals to Jamie Elliot and the powerful effort, despite wayward kicking, from Travis Cloke can’t be blamed on him. Similarly, he isn’t a midfield and a forward lives and dies on the footballs being stabbed his way by the mids. As a whole, I don’t know that I’ve seen a worse combined effort in a decade.

Sydney prides itself on the midfield brigade of McVeigh, Jack, Hannebery, Parker, Kennedy and co. Most of those guys were horrible tonight. Jack, in his season debut looked sluggish. McVeigh’s usual sharp decision making seemed to have deserted him. Parker didn’t seem to want to tackle. Kennedy toiled hard, but with little support. In the ruck,  Mike Pkye was (rather impressively) bested by Brodie Grundy.

It seems that Ted Richards’ bogey forward is Travis Cloke. Sitting in ANZ Stadium, I had the sinking feeling that I’d seen this move before. Time and time again, Collingwood’s towering forward has gotten the better of the usually-dependable Swan. The problem with Cloke is his immense size. If he gets in front of you at the outset of any given contest, you’ve got as much chance of moving him as you do of learning Japanese overnight. That’s where he gets the best of a lot of his opponents.

If Richards was bad down back, he wasn’t alone. Rhyce Shaw seemed a turnover machine. He coughed up the football to Collingwood on at least three occasions that led directly to a goal. Hard to win playing that sort of football. So dire were things in the Sydney back half that Sam Reid had to push back to provide some defensive stability which, of course, meant he couldn’t give Franklin any support inside their attacking 50m.  That will matter little to most journalists though.

You don’t need me to tell you that Buddy actually isn’t Superman. Even if he gets the better of his two opponents at the outset – they wore him like a glove most of the night – the sheer weight of numbers against him dictates that they’ll eventually get on top and make it difficult. Push some other red and white jerseys forward to give him some assistance. He is trying hard. It must be supremely frustrating, given all the ancillary pressure heaped on him, and given how many people seem to want him to fail and fall.

I thought John Longmire was out-coached tonight, and that’s something I haven’t had cause to think about much during Horse’s tenure. Nathan Buckley definitely won the duel in the boxes. Longmire seemed slow to adapt his team to the changing tactics. He must be frustrated, too, with his team’s inability to do the simple things right. They appeared unfit and devoid of both football smarts and, shockingly at times, interest in the contest.

It wasn’t the most spectacular game. More like a slog between two teams who might be okay, but don’t really look it at the moment. The ANZ Stadium turf appears to be as shoddy as ever, particularly on the wings, where the turf is covered by seats when the Olympic venue is in rugby league configuration.

My backyard looks better than the field out at ANZ at the moment. That isn’t saying much. The sheer amount of players going down and not being able to secure solid footing is an indictment on the condition of the ground. It also isn’t the first time we’ve noticed this. The AFL needs to do something. The on-field product is spoiled when players can’t hardly keep their feet.

So to, do the Swans. They need to do a lot of something’s before the trip to Adelaide Oval for next Saturday afternoon’s clash with the Crows, who have problems of their own, also staring down a 0-3 start. The Swans’ recent record at AAMI Park wasn’t great. Let’s hope the Adelaide Oval is a better hunting ground.
But, you know – buddy hell! It isn’t all his fault. He hasn’t destroyed the Bloods Culture. He didn’t single-handedly give up all those goals to Collingwood. He actually had a pretty good game, and will get better with Swans game experience.

We would do well to remember that.