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Daryn Cresswell wants to taste finals football again.
Cresswell's dream
By TIM MORRISSEY
30jun03
DARYN Cresswell has one wish before he hangs up his boots at the end of the season.
The Sydney Swans 12-year veteran midfielder wants to taste finals football again.
And not just an unappetising nibble with a quick first-round exit, but a finals experience that potentially lasts deep into September worth savouring.
But Cresswell, 32, knows this won't happen if the Swans reproduce Saturday's 14.15 (99) to 8.12 (60) losing effort at AAMI Stadium against competition leaders Port Adelaide.
"Obviously this is my last year and I want it to be successful for me, but when we lose like that it's pretty disappointing," Cresswell said.
"I want to play in finals and be successful so [Saturday] was a pretty disappointing result."
The Swans blew a genuine opportunity to pull off their biggest win of the season because of their inability to kick straight in the first half.
Sydney's return from a flurry of shots at goal in the opening period was a miserly 1.5 followed by an equally woeful 1.4 performance in the second quarter.
The Swans could've been leading by four or five goals at the main break. Instead it was the Power ahead 4.5 (29) to 2.9 (21).
After being let off the hook, Port Adelaide produced a 5.9 third quarter to Sydney's 2.1 to set up their 39-point win to remain at the top of the table with 10 wins.
"We're certainly not very happy with the way we played at all so we have to do some work this week and try to turn it around against West Coast [at the SCG on Sunday]," Cresswell said.
"We missed our chances and made some stupid errors which gave them easy goals.
"But we don't have to reinvent the wheel, we played some reasonable footy [against Port].
"But some of our efforts were disappointing and some efforts [against Port] we haven't done this year so we just have to make sure we can fix them.
"It's been an even performance right across the board in all the games we have won this year.
"Barry Hall has played some great games but there hasn't been a stand-out player, everyone has contributed.
"But against Port that just didn't happen. We only had five or six guys that contributed and the other guys looked a bit flat . . . we need everyone playing well to win games."
The Swans might not have the services of hard-working defender Ben Mathews for the next one or two weeks after he suffered ligament damage to his left ankle.
After a sensational performance in the first half of the season to capture fourth place, the Swans ? now with eight wins ? can still easily slip back into the middle of the pack with another couple of loses, which would put their finals hopes under pressure.
But despite his team's woeful kicking, Swans coach Paul Roos doesn't believe the Port loss was a major setback for the club.
"You like to win every game you play but we are aware that Port are a very good team," Roos said.
"They are on top of the ladder at the moment and we were playing in Adelaide so it was always going to be an extremely difficult game.
"So I'm not sure you'd call this [loss] a setback.
"I mean every team is going to win and lose. It probably depends on where you want to be at the end of the year and where you want to be next year and the year after.
"But certainly winning is a lot better than losing."
Cresswell's dream
By TIM MORRISSEY
30jun03
DARYN Cresswell has one wish before he hangs up his boots at the end of the season.
The Sydney Swans 12-year veteran midfielder wants to taste finals football again.
And not just an unappetising nibble with a quick first-round exit, but a finals experience that potentially lasts deep into September worth savouring.
But Cresswell, 32, knows this won't happen if the Swans reproduce Saturday's 14.15 (99) to 8.12 (60) losing effort at AAMI Stadium against competition leaders Port Adelaide.
"Obviously this is my last year and I want it to be successful for me, but when we lose like that it's pretty disappointing," Cresswell said.
"I want to play in finals and be successful so [Saturday] was a pretty disappointing result."
The Swans blew a genuine opportunity to pull off their biggest win of the season because of their inability to kick straight in the first half.
Sydney's return from a flurry of shots at goal in the opening period was a miserly 1.5 followed by an equally woeful 1.4 performance in the second quarter.
The Swans could've been leading by four or five goals at the main break. Instead it was the Power ahead 4.5 (29) to 2.9 (21).
After being let off the hook, Port Adelaide produced a 5.9 third quarter to Sydney's 2.1 to set up their 39-point win to remain at the top of the table with 10 wins.
"We're certainly not very happy with the way we played at all so we have to do some work this week and try to turn it around against West Coast [at the SCG on Sunday]," Cresswell said.
"We missed our chances and made some stupid errors which gave them easy goals.
"But we don't have to reinvent the wheel, we played some reasonable footy [against Port].
"But some of our efforts were disappointing and some efforts [against Port] we haven't done this year so we just have to make sure we can fix them.
"It's been an even performance right across the board in all the games we have won this year.
"Barry Hall has played some great games but there hasn't been a stand-out player, everyone has contributed.
"But against Port that just didn't happen. We only had five or six guys that contributed and the other guys looked a bit flat . . . we need everyone playing well to win games."
The Swans might not have the services of hard-working defender Ben Mathews for the next one or two weeks after he suffered ligament damage to his left ankle.
After a sensational performance in the first half of the season to capture fourth place, the Swans ? now with eight wins ? can still easily slip back into the middle of the pack with another couple of loses, which would put their finals hopes under pressure.
But despite his team's woeful kicking, Swans coach Paul Roos doesn't believe the Port loss was a major setback for the club.
"You like to win every game you play but we are aware that Port are a very good team," Roos said.
"They are on top of the ladder at the moment and we were playing in Adelaide so it was always going to be an extremely difficult game.
"So I'm not sure you'd call this [loss] a setback.
"I mean every team is going to win and lose. It probably depends on where you want to be at the end of the year and where you want to be next year and the year after.
"But certainly winning is a lot better than losing."
