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From today's ROK Reporter
[this publication has a small circulation and does not appear online. With the author's permission the article is quoted in full]
Swan's temporary captain, Leo Barry, remains philosophical despite his sides woeful perfomance on Saturday night.
"You know, it was just one of those nights," the defender said. "It was like Keystone Cops at times, confusion at the centre bounces, strange match-ups, blokes running off the interchange willy nilly."
"Sometimes you just have to stand there and scratch your head. Things like that are pretty much out of the players' hands once we take the field. There is not much communication between the players and the coaches. Come 1/4 time and 1/2 time we are generally to fuct to speak. Playing as 18 inside midfileders takes it out of everyone".
However, Leo was keen to put the performance in perspective.
"You have to remember they are a working class unit. There is no Leigh Matthews or Kevin Sheedy up in the box, not even a [David] Parkin or [Malcolm] Blight. We just don't have the cattle to devise a positive, exciting or even interesting gameplan."
"I don't like to point fingers, but Roosey can be a bit stubborn at times, a bit set in his ways. He gets an idea in his head and refuses to admit he could be wrong. The more criticism he cops, the more reluctant he becomes to change. As players we get a bit frustrated at times, but we put it down to experience. There is no use sending him to the reserves; George Piggins could coach the reserves to a flag this year."
"Overall, there wasn't a lot to like about us on Saturday night, probably everything that could go wrong went wrong," Leo said.
"But credit to [St Kilda], I think Grant Thomas and his men came out and they were a lot smarter than our leaders and ready to play, and for whatever reason, our coaching staff just didn't come to play on Saturday night. They left their heads in Sydney, or at least forgot to pull them out of their arses when the opening siren sounded. We are always going to struggle when the coaches don't turn up", he said.
"The players will sit down with them during the week, look at the video, and show them how pathetic we look to the spectators. They are a good bunch of blokes and work hard. It will sink in eventually"
Leo identified areas where the Swans were let down, and was able to praise many aspects of the Saints' gameplan - dubbing them as the "better coached side" on the night.
Despite holding the Saints in a brain numbing stranglehold for the first three-quarters while applying their infamous bore the opposition into submission style, in Leo's opinion, the Swans were primarily beaten in the coaching box.
When quizzed about his own game, in which he was towelled up by St Kilda gorilla Fraser Gehrig, Leo appeared a little terse.
"Put it this way," he said, "I think I'd have rather been in Wagga, hanging around in a pocket, kicking a lazy 6"
The Swans return to Melbourne this week, under the leadership of Leo's namesake Hall, to take on the equally inadequate Blues. Asked to comment on how he thought Barry would deal with the responsibility of leading the side, Barry seemed a little confused.
"Oh, Bazza's name came out of the barrell for this match? Good luck to him. Anyone know who's turn it was last week?"
[this publication has a small circulation and does not appear online. With the author's permission the article is quoted in full]
Swan's temporary captain, Leo Barry, remains philosophical despite his sides woeful perfomance on Saturday night.
"You know, it was just one of those nights," the defender said. "It was like Keystone Cops at times, confusion at the centre bounces, strange match-ups, blokes running off the interchange willy nilly."
"Sometimes you just have to stand there and scratch your head. Things like that are pretty much out of the players' hands once we take the field. There is not much communication between the players and the coaches. Come 1/4 time and 1/2 time we are generally to fuct to speak. Playing as 18 inside midfileders takes it out of everyone".
However, Leo was keen to put the performance in perspective.
"You have to remember they are a working class unit. There is no Leigh Matthews or Kevin Sheedy up in the box, not even a [David] Parkin or [Malcolm] Blight. We just don't have the cattle to devise a positive, exciting or even interesting gameplan."
"I don't like to point fingers, but Roosey can be a bit stubborn at times, a bit set in his ways. He gets an idea in his head and refuses to admit he could be wrong. The more criticism he cops, the more reluctant he becomes to change. As players we get a bit frustrated at times, but we put it down to experience. There is no use sending him to the reserves; George Piggins could coach the reserves to a flag this year."
"Overall, there wasn't a lot to like about us on Saturday night, probably everything that could go wrong went wrong," Leo said.
"But credit to [St Kilda], I think Grant Thomas and his men came out and they were a lot smarter than our leaders and ready to play, and for whatever reason, our coaching staff just didn't come to play on Saturday night. They left their heads in Sydney, or at least forgot to pull them out of their arses when the opening siren sounded. We are always going to struggle when the coaches don't turn up", he said.
"The players will sit down with them during the week, look at the video, and show them how pathetic we look to the spectators. They are a good bunch of blokes and work hard. It will sink in eventually"
Leo identified areas where the Swans were let down, and was able to praise many aspects of the Saints' gameplan - dubbing them as the "better coached side" on the night.
Despite holding the Saints in a brain numbing stranglehold for the first three-quarters while applying their infamous bore the opposition into submission style, in Leo's opinion, the Swans were primarily beaten in the coaching box.
When quizzed about his own game, in which he was towelled up by St Kilda gorilla Fraser Gehrig, Leo appeared a little terse.
"Put it this way," he said, "I think I'd have rather been in Wagga, hanging around in a pocket, kicking a lazy 6"
The Swans return to Melbourne this week, under the leadership of Leo's namesake Hall, to take on the equally inadequate Blues. Asked to comment on how he thought Barry would deal with the responsibility of leading the side, Barry seemed a little confused.
"Oh, Bazza's name came out of the barrell for this match? Good luck to him. Anyone know who's turn it was last week?"
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