SWANS v MAGPIES - MATCH REPORT
Charlie Goodman - 25 Aug 2003
The Swans were absolutely pathetic on Saturday night. This report won?t stop at that, but if you?re in a hurry, you?ve read enough. That sentence sums it right up.
The Swans had a golden opportunity to take second spot on the ladder. Earlier that day, the Kangaroos had stunned Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, and the winner of the Sydney vs Collingwood match only needed to win the next week to gain a home final, maybe two. The Magpies rose to the challenge. The Swans didn?t.
The build-up to this match was spectacular, the likes of which the Swans haven?t enjoyed since 1999, when somebody named Tony Lockett was the centre of attention. This year, the hype wasn?t about a particular player. It was about the team. They?ve been playing exciting footy again, winning matches with flair, speed and confidence.
The problem was, last night?s conditions weren?t conducive to flair, speed or confidence. The weather ? it was raining heavily before and during the match ? took away the flair and the speed, and, in turn, the confidence. The Swans came up against conditions they?ve seen little of this year, but that?s no excuse. They should have been able to adjust.
Collingwood?s preparation and gameplan for the game were textbook wet weather football. Steve McKee, the Magpies? lumbering ruckman, was omitted from the side. Mick Malthouse had the foresight to recognise that McKee would be a liability in the conditions, and Mark McGough was recalled. The ?Pies stuck to the old-fashioned principles of suburban footy, kicking the ball long to the general vicinity of forward targets Tarrant, Rocca and Fraser.
In contrast, the Swans didn?t change a thing. They went into the match with three ruckmen ? Goodes, Meiklejohn and Roberts-Thompson ? and it was a crucial error. Meiklejohn and Roberts-Thompson are young and inexperienced, and can?t really be blamed for their ineffectiveness. At least one and possibly both of them simply shouldn?t have played, because they just weren?t skilful enough to handle the conditions. They had no impact on the match, and Sydney was effectively left to play with only 20 players.
The most frustrating factor in Saturday nights' loss was the Swans' inability to take clean possession of the ball, and dispose of it efficiently. This was exacerbated by the biggest error the Swans made all night, which was playing dry weather possession football. They insisted on kicking short, handballing to running players, waiting for a teammate ahead of them to get free and present an option. As we've seen, this works perfectly when playing in dry conditions, but somehow or other, the Swans failed to notice that rain was forecast. The result was a countless number of fumbles, dropped marks, sprayed kicks and costly turnovers that won Collingwood the game.
In the end, the Swans lost last night by three goals, after it got as bad as 38 points. If this game had occurred in round one, we may have been able to look back and conclude that while the result was disappointing, they fought back and made Collingwood earn their victory. This time, I'm unwilling to accept that. The team have gotten themselves into unacceptably dire situations against Adelaide (twice), the Kangaroos, Hawthorn and Collingwood. In addition, we struggled early against Melbourne and Brisbane, but came out on top. The Swans gave away the first three goals, and in the end lost by that margin. That's not a co-incidence.
The loss has hurt us badly. We've lost second spot; which realistically can't be retrieved. Quite possibly, we've also lost a fair few of the 72,000 people, some of whom felt it was worth braving the cold and rain to check out a new sport. They saw a poor effort, and one hopes they'll give us another chance. Even so, there is little point in continuing to cry over spilt milk. We have an opportunity to repair some of the damage against Melbourne next week, and surely there couldn't be a better team to play in the last round. It will be interesting to see just how good Melbourne's kicking is when a priority pick is on the line.
Best Players
Ben Mathews ? Saturday night's game was clearly Ben's best performance for the year. Although he has not been nearly as disappointing as his 2002 season, Mathews has struggled to make an impact on matches. That all changed against Collingwood, with 29 disposals, 6 marks, 4 tackles and only two clangers. Mathews was one of our more reliable players in a match where a long kick hitting a red and white target was a novelty.
Brett Kirk ? I'm sorry, Brett. Not just because I wrote you off last year (I've already apologised for that many times), but also because I've run out of superlatives. This time, it was Buckley who got caught in The Captain's headlights. If someone told you that Buckley had 19 touches and 5 clearances, you'd think that Bucks had an off game. They were Kirk's stats. Buckley only had 17, and his 11 tackles merely reflect the fact that he was relegated to following the ball all night. If the All-Australian team doesn't include the name Kirk, there's something seriously amiss.
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