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Swans running off rails
20apr03
THE Swans' rebuilding program appears to be falling apart after Hawthorn recovered from a dreadful start to hand Sydney their third consecutive loss.
Sydney's brilliant 74-point win over Carlton in the opening round seems like a distant memory after the Hawks, led by superb performances from forward Ben Dixon and ruckman Peter Everitt, dismantled the Swans by 42 points.
"The end result was pretty ordinary again," Swans coach Paul Roos said.
"We've got some soul-searching to do, I guess, as a club and certainly as a team.
"We've got another 18 weeks to go and I think we've got some pretty big decisions to make in the interim in terms of where we want to take the club and the type of player we want playing for the club."
Unlike last week against the Adelaide Crows, the Swans were more bad than they were embarrassing.
Despite the final scoreline, they were right in the game midway through the third term, when Nick Davis kicked his second goal to push the Swans ahead 8.6 (54) to 8.3 (51).
However, again they seemed to drown in a sea of mistakes whipped up by lack of skill and execution in the clutch.
Perhaps the best explanation for what happened last night is that the Swans are simply a team that occasionally flirts with excellence, only to be slapped in the face by their own mediocrity.
The Swans' effort and intensity couldn't be questioned, with Adam Goodes superb in the ruck and midfielders Paul Williams and Stuart Maxfield working tirelessly throughout.
Dixon and Everitt finished with four goals each for the Hawks, while for Sydney Davis and full forward Barry Hall were kept reasonably quite with two majors each.
But it was the Swans' inability to look after the ball that was the real issue.
"We matched [Hawthorn] early on and were three goals up," Roos said.
"Certainly the start was a lot better [than last week].
"But I think the main problem tonight was we kept turning the footy over . . . it just went down the other end of the ground and they scored.
"I've said it before, the footy is like gold, you can't drop handballs and handball to the opposition or kick short."
Sydney started the game with a flurry of goals to take an 18-0 lead.
Instead of tightening the screws in the first quarter, the Swans let Hawthorn off the hook.
Andrew Schauble missed a gift after the Hawks gave away a 50m penalty that brought the Swans fullback to within 15m, but he only managed to kick a point.
Then two Swans' errors gifted Hawthorn's first two goals to Ben Dixon, before Angelo Lekkas converted back-to-back goals when left home alone in the goal square for his second major.
Hall kept the Swans in the match with two goals late in the the second quarter, leaving Hawthorn in front by two points at halftime.
However, the Swans were still their own worst enemies, with a lack of communication between Craig Bolton and Schauble in front of their goals spoiling a certain mark.
Hawthorn quickly pounced on the Swans' mistake and regained the lead through Nick Ries before Schneider compounded Sydney's previous error when his kick for goal hit the post.
Nothing seemed to be going right for Sydney with Williams giving away a free kick at close range when he fell on the ball after appearing to be tripped from behind.
Dixon converted his third major before Everitt also booted his third, leaving the Swans in need of some inspiration and a little luck going into the final period trailing 11.4 (70) to 8.7 (55).
Sydney simply fell apart in the final quarter thanks to their poor execution. Worse, their effort was questionable.http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.a...5E2771,00.html
20apr03
THE Swans' rebuilding program appears to be falling apart after Hawthorn recovered from a dreadful start to hand Sydney their third consecutive loss.
Sydney's brilliant 74-point win over Carlton in the opening round seems like a distant memory after the Hawks, led by superb performances from forward Ben Dixon and ruckman Peter Everitt, dismantled the Swans by 42 points.
"The end result was pretty ordinary again," Swans coach Paul Roos said.
"We've got some soul-searching to do, I guess, as a club and certainly as a team.
"We've got another 18 weeks to go and I think we've got some pretty big decisions to make in the interim in terms of where we want to take the club and the type of player we want playing for the club."
Unlike last week against the Adelaide Crows, the Swans were more bad than they were embarrassing.
Despite the final scoreline, they were right in the game midway through the third term, when Nick Davis kicked his second goal to push the Swans ahead 8.6 (54) to 8.3 (51).
However, again they seemed to drown in a sea of mistakes whipped up by lack of skill and execution in the clutch.
Perhaps the best explanation for what happened last night is that the Swans are simply a team that occasionally flirts with excellence, only to be slapped in the face by their own mediocrity.
The Swans' effort and intensity couldn't be questioned, with Adam Goodes superb in the ruck and midfielders Paul Williams and Stuart Maxfield working tirelessly throughout.
Dixon and Everitt finished with four goals each for the Hawks, while for Sydney Davis and full forward Barry Hall were kept reasonably quite with two majors each.
But it was the Swans' inability to look after the ball that was the real issue.
"We matched [Hawthorn] early on and were three goals up," Roos said.
"Certainly the start was a lot better [than last week].
"But I think the main problem tonight was we kept turning the footy over . . . it just went down the other end of the ground and they scored.
"I've said it before, the footy is like gold, you can't drop handballs and handball to the opposition or kick short."
Sydney started the game with a flurry of goals to take an 18-0 lead.
Instead of tightening the screws in the first quarter, the Swans let Hawthorn off the hook.
Andrew Schauble missed a gift after the Hawks gave away a 50m penalty that brought the Swans fullback to within 15m, but he only managed to kick a point.
Then two Swans' errors gifted Hawthorn's first two goals to Ben Dixon, before Angelo Lekkas converted back-to-back goals when left home alone in the goal square for his second major.
Hall kept the Swans in the match with two goals late in the the second quarter, leaving Hawthorn in front by two points at halftime.
However, the Swans were still their own worst enemies, with a lack of communication between Craig Bolton and Schauble in front of their goals spoiling a certain mark.
Hawthorn quickly pounced on the Swans' mistake and regained the lead through Nick Ries before Schneider compounded Sydney's previous error when his kick for goal hit the post.
Nothing seemed to be going right for Sydney with Williams giving away a free kick at close range when he fell on the ball after appearing to be tripped from behind.
Dixon converted his third major before Everitt also booted his third, leaving the Swans in need of some inspiration and a little luck going into the final period trailing 11.4 (70) to 8.7 (55).
Sydney simply fell apart in the final quarter thanks to their poor execution. Worse, their effort was questionable.http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.a...5E2771,00.html
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