Putting it in perspective

[BayesysLeftBoot]

If I had of posted a message on this board straight after the game I would have been demanding players be dropped and traded and even dragged into the street and shot. However having had the last 3 or 4 hours to calm down and reflect on things I feel a bit different about things now.

I feel that the result needs to be put in perspective. 3 weeks ago we were just hoping to make the finals, I can't remember which player said it but in an interview the week before the Melbourne game one of them commented that if we could get a 2 wins out of the next three games it would be a great result. Which is exactly what we have done.

We weren't that bad tonight, we controlled the entire game with the first 4 minutes of the second half the exception. Admittedly it cost us badly and was a lapse in concentration we shouldn't have had. But if anything tonight proved that we are just as good as Adelaide, if not better.

While it's easy to get frustrated at tonights loss I think we should all be extremely proud of Sydneys accomplishments this season and look forward to being a part of the September action yet again, and hopefully a few good wins on the way.

Well done swans, Bring on september.

[Charlie]

The facts remain.

We lost a winnable game against an opponent playing ordinary football. We had a chance to make second spot our's for the taking, and wilted under the pressure. Skills were ordinary. Workrate was ordinary.

I'm not sure that we proved anything at all tonight. Three or four hours of thinking about it hasn't dulled my disappointment whatsoever. Premiership teams win these matches. Also-rans come out with so-called 'honourable losses'.

[swans_premiers]

We've beaten 3 of the top 4 teams and the one game we did lost we should've won. Another thing is that we seem to have a problem winning more than 3 games in a row..ive worked it out taht we win our next 3, lose in round 22 and win next three to win the premiership.

hoooray.

[cruiser]

Originally posted by swans_premiers
ive worked it out taht we win our next 3, lose in round 22 and win next three to win the premiership.

hoooray.

I like that thinking.

[wyatt]

4 weeks ago we were scheduled to take on the top 4 teams. Many of us agreed that 2-3 of these games were winnable. Well, we did just that. We beat the top team and we just got pipped by the 2nd team on their own turf. Sure, we had our chances to win this one as well, but I for one am pleased with a 3 from 4 result. It shows we can compete with the big boys and it has certainly made the media and the public stand up and take note that the Swans are a genuine premiership contender this year (how many of you claimed that at the start of the year?)

[Go Swannies]

Can't agree Charlie - good teams lose games (Lions 2001-03) but don't get thrashed. We didn't get thrashed last night. A few weeks ago just about everyone would have said that the Dees and the Cats were better than the Swans but look at how they capitulated this weekend (and the Lions!). We didn't - it was hard down to the wire. The result was poor but I don't think you can say the team played badly.

Poor quality or ordinary game? If the ground and ball were completely dry then that'd be fair. I'm presuming it was dewy and both ball and ground were damp. Or both teams need to check their motor reactions.

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie
Skills were ordinary. Workrate was ordinary.

Skills yes. Workrate???

[Charlie]

Originally posted by liz
Skills yes. Workrate???

Yes. They dropped their heads in the third quarter, in a game that they knew required that they remain on their toes for a full four quarter effort. It might have been just the one quarter, but that was all it took.

I'm not interested in any excuses. We've blown a top two spot. Absolutely no way of taking 'pride' or a 'noble loss' out of such a devastating result. I don't really care if I'm the only one that sees it - but we've gone from having our best chance at a flag since 1996 to being outsiders. 'Noble'? Pfft.

If we'd been beaten by a better team at the top of their game, I woudn't be so angry. But we weren't. We were beaten by a very ordinary Adelaide performance.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
Can't agree Charlie - good teams lose games (Lions 2001-03) but don't get thrashed. We didn't get thrashed last night. A few weeks ago just about everyone would have said that the Dees and the Cats were better than the Swans but look at how they capitulated this weekend (and the Lions!). We didn't - it was hard down to the wire. The result was poor but I don't think you can say the team played badly.

Poor quality or ordinary game? If the ground and ball were completely dry then that'd be fair. I'm presuming it was dewy and both ball and ground were damp. Or both teams need to check their motor reactions.

The Lions rose to the occasion whenever challenged. We didn't do that.

[Matt79]

Originally posted by Charlie
Yes. They dropped their heads in the third quarter, in a game that they knew required that they remain on their toes for a full four quarter effort. It might have been just the one quarter, but that was all it took.

I'm not interested in any excuses. We've blown a top two spot. Absolutely no way of taking 'pride' or a 'noble loss' out of such a devastating result. I don't really care if I'm the only one that sees it - but we've gone from having our best chance at a flag since 1996 to being outsiders. 'Noble'? Pfft.

If we'd been beaten by a better team at the top of their game, I woudn't be so angry. But we weren't. We were beaten by a very ordinary Adelaide performance.

Sorry Charlie, I disagree. The game was as intense as I have seen between two sides hell bent on winning for a long long time. As mentioned in the last quarter by a commentator, there had been over 150 tackles made in the match which was a testiment to the fierce pressure both sides applied at all times to the ball carrier.

It was simply a 3 minute period at the beginning of the 3rd quarter that got us, not to mention the two freak goals that Riccuto (torpedo from 60m) and Burton (snap over his shoulder) got for the Crows in the second. Our inaccuracy in the last quarter was frustrating but all in all I am proud of the effort the team displayed, very intense finals like footy against a quality opposition on their own dung hill.

If we play like we did last night against the remaining sides, we will win easily, as IMO I thought I pressure on the ball carrier was outstanding.

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie

I'm not interested in any excuses. We've blown a top two spot. Absolutely no way of taking 'pride' or a 'noble loss' out of such a devastating result. I don't really care if I'm the only one that sees it - but we've gone from having our best chance at a flag since 1996 to being outsiders. 'Noble'? Pfft.

If we'd been beaten by a better team at the top of their game, I woudn't be so angry. But we weren't. We were beaten by a very ordinary Adelaide performance.

If we blew our chances at finishing top 2, it happened during that lacklustre performance against the Tiggers a few weeks back. Work-rate during that game <i>was</i> pathetic.

My view is that you don't go from being contenders to pretenders in the space of 3 hours, especially when those 3 hours were spent losing narrowly to a very good team away from home.

We still have every chance of finishing top 4 and from there it is winnable, even though we aren't (and don't deserve to be) on the front line of favouritism.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by liz
If we blew our chances at finishing top 2, it happened during that lacklustre performance against the Tiggers a few weeks back. Work-rate during that game <i>was</i> pathetic.

My view is that you don't go from being contenders to pretenders in the space of 3 hours, especially when those 3 hours were spent losing narrowly to a very good team away from home.

We still have every chance of finishing top 4 and from there it is winnable, even though we aren't (and don't deserve to be) on the front line of favouritism.

I didn't say we're pretenders. We can still the flag... it's just that we're now no more than a minor chance.

[Sanecow]

I don't know what game you people were watching, the boys put in a massive effort all night but were let down in front of the sticks. I would not mind facing the Crows in week one of the finals in Adelaide, they are not nearly as hot as they think they are!

[sharpie]

Charlie, surely you've watched enough AFL in your day to know that it is a game of momentum. Do you really expect any team to have all the momentum for all of the game? It never happens, even when the best teams play the worst teams. The swans did not drop their heads during that period, the momentum simply shifted at that stage. Adelaide had the momentum for a total of about 15 minutes. This equates to a great effort by the swans in general play. We lost because of poor conversion, not because we dropped our heads.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by Charlie
I didn't say we're pretenders. We can still the flag... it's just that we're now no more than a minor chance.

I think we are one of the four teams that have a chance at the flag. That's a loody sight better than any of us thought two months ago. AND we play hard, tough finals footy that may get us across the line when the tempo goes up. Yet to see how West Coast and Crows perform when their nerves are high - the Crows were certainly getting flustered in the first half last night.

If we had beaten the Crows we would still have been battling for third and fourth spot. We still are.

And I don't know what game you watched - unless you thought the Eagles game was also "ordinary"? It looked to me that we did exactly what you claim we didn't - got beaten by a better team at the top of their game. And at home and the week after perhaps our toughest game of the year.

I know you were bitter after the Saints loss (weren't we all?) but you don't seem to have perspective here. And I'm not making excuses - the game was there to be won and we didn't (I've discussed that elsewhere) - but throwing an easy game? I don't think so.