Grand Final: Sydney 11.8.74 lost to Hawthorn 21.11.137 at the MCG

Venimus, vidimus, amisimus...maximus*

Part of the psychology of being a fanatic of a sporting team is mental preparation of the possibility that you team may lose, and never more so than when the stakes are at their highest � in a championship decider. So for all of us, the excitement of Grand Final week would have been tempered with the nagging thought of how we�d feel if the Swans came away empty handed. We experienced it in 1996 and again in 2006 so knew full well how empty the feeling might be. What none of us would have prepared for was the notion that the team would not just lose, but would be comprehensively and utterly smashed, that they would fail to do justice to the hard work and determination that had earned them the right to play off for the premiership in the first place.

But thus it was destined to be in 2014. A mildly positive start quickly gave way to a one-sided affair, with the Swans seemingly unprepared for the physicality the Hawks brought to every contest, unable to make bread-and-butter tackles stick, and unwilling or unable to produce the relentless running and chasing required to win against a very good side. Of the Swans� highly vaunted midfield, only Kennedy came remotely close to what he is capable of. Jack tried to wrench back some control but was not as effective as usual, while McGlynn, Parker and McVeigh all had afternoons they really won�t want to remember.

The likes of Jetta and Hannebery struggled to pick themselves up after being flattened early, while Franklin was made to pay a physical price for every contest he entered by his erstwhile team mates, some of whom (exhibit A: Brian Lake) were more than happy to overstep the bounds of decent sportsmanship.

It was a sorry afternoon and one that fans and players alike will take some time to fully recover from. But a new season always follows the last, and in a few short months the 2015 season will commence and provide our boys with a shot at earning redemption.

* We came, we saw, we got our backsides kicked

Goals: Franklin 4, Goodes 2, Jack 2, Kennedy, McGlynn, Tippett
Bob Skilton Medal votes: Lance Franklin 36, Josh Kennedy 28, Kurt Tippett 21


TLM Votes
5 Lance Franklin
4 Josh Kennedy
3 Nick Malceski
2 Adam Goodes
2 Mike Pyke

No Points for Luke, 5 to Lance to steal 2nd place from Luke, and 4 points to Josh Kennedy makes him the 2014 TLM winner.
his 2nd TLM in 3 years.

Congratulations Joey!!!!!

Final Leaderboard
60 Josh Kennedy
52 Lance Franklin
51 Luke Parker
36 Ben McGlynn
28 Dan Hannebery
20 Jarrad McVeigh
17 Nick Malceski
15 Kieren Jack
13 Mike Pyke
12 Rhyce Shaw
12 Harry Cunningham
11 Dane Rampe
10 Craig Bird
9 Ted Richards
9 Nick Smith
6 Gary Rohan
5 Tom Mitchell
5 Adam Goodes
4 Kurt Tippett
3 Lewis Jetta
3 Jake Lloyd
1 Sam Reid