What went wrong?

[Bas]

Goodes injury obviously flaired after last week.

Beaten by a better side and the age of some of our players showed. Hopefully, a few more to join Spida in retirement - Leo and Crouchy.

[TheMase]

In hindsight, we should have done a West Coast this year. We are an aging unit with a prospect of slooooooooooooooowly slipping down the ladder over the next few years. West Coast recognised that they have lost a number of their stars and decided to bottom out so that they can blood youth immediately, and also be in a position to get good draft picks in the last uncompromised draft before GC and West Sydney come into the competition.

What have we achieved this year? We were never going to knock Geelong off who are a killing machine. We are in decline, not on the way up like Hawthorn or Bulldogs. We need a rebuild.

WCE did not decide to bottom out deliberately (IMO), in fact they took a similar run to us. The Swans had 6 players debut this year, and another 6 or so that have not played much AFL footy.

The difference is, they had many many injury problems, and we didn't have quite the same amount(and we did not lose Cousins and Judd)
Given our reliance on Goodes, Hall, O'Loughlin, O'Keefe, Malceski, Kennelly etc, it is amazing we did what we did.

Imagine if those 6 players had uninterrupted seasons... it would have made a big big difference.

2008 was always the start of our rebuilding, it just so happened that we did not fall very far. (in fact we did better!) The Swans have decided not to bottom out, and to replace the players as required.

[Swans_Lad11]

At the end of the day I think for most of the season we have been punching above our weight and last night it finally proved one bridge too far.
For whatever reason we couldn't kick the goals when we needed them and once the Dogs got on top we didn't have the ability to force the game back in our favour. The kids did us all proud this season and the veterans proved there is plenty of life in their legs just yet. Now that the youngsters have had this experience they will be better equipped to provide the necessary support for Goodes, Barry, Hall, O'Lauchlain & co next season for a shot at the flag. I think there is a lot to be excited about next season!

[Bas]

At the end of the day.........

The cows came home on our season. I agree with the rest of what you're saying. I can't see any drastic changes for next year. The year after yes in that Leo, Micky, probably Kirk will retire.

It depends on how high the Swans rank our rookies. The Swans will gradually bring the younger ones through and like this year with Benny, the oldees moved to the retirement village.

[Swans_Lad11]

Agreed. the likes of Kirk and Crouch and Barry still have a lot to offer both on the pitch and in experience, and if they can manage 10-15 games each (though Kirk we probably still need for 15+) then we will still keep the benefit of their onfield experience and it gives the players coming to replace them much needed match experience of their own. Just shows how important it was to bring in the likes of Mattner and Richards and to a lesser extent Playfair to fill the gaps between the vets and the rookies

[Mogg0]

I wasn't overly shattered because I think the season ended aptly for us. 5/6th is an accurate representation of where we are at right now, and last night we were simply beaten by a better team, with a better game plan and a faster set of legs.

We really tapered off in the second half and offered little resistance in the 3rd when the going got tough. A combination of poor goal-kicking and heavier legs decided the game. You can't blame any outside factors as the umpires were quite good all night. No complaints there.

I'm disappointed but I'm not heartbroken because we just aren't good enough at the moment.

[barry]

We really just looked tired in the 2nd half and stopped running / leading.

No, in the 3rd quarter we were trying to slow the tempo. Chip kick, wait, Chip kick wait.

Very hard to do these days with the rule chances since 2005. And the dogs manned up well.

"Tempo" football hasnt worked for us all year. I think as a tactic, its finished.

[Matty10]

Tempo football still requires players to work hard (to make space, to lead up, drop back etc) in order to control the play - not necessarily to slow it down - and the effort (for whatever reason) wasn't there in the 2nd half.

[ScottH]

Everything. Got killed all over the ground after 1/4 time.

[liz]

I wasn't overly shattered because I think the season ended aptly for us. 5/6th is an accurate representation of where we are at right now, and last night we were simply beaten by a better team, with a better game plan and a faster set of legs.

We really tapered off in the second half and offered little resistance in the 3rd when the going got tough. A combination of poor goal-kicking and heavier legs decided the game. You can't blame any outside factors as the umpires were quite good all night. No complaints there.

I'm disappointed but I'm not heartbroken because we just aren't good enough at the moment.

That's pretty much a perfect summation. After half-time they just looked like they didn't have anything left in the tank.

It's also easier to bear the season ending now knowing that we were playing for the right to be smashed by Geelong next week. Although the Dogs looked better yesterday than they have for most of the last two months, I think they will get soundly beaten next week.

Geelong aren't quite invincible but an opponent needs everything to be close to perfect to stand a chance. With no Micky O, Goodes, Malceski and Kennelly all well below their best through injury, Spida well past his best and the youngsters still a year or so away from being able to to be reliable 4 quarter contributors, I don't think we currently have a team whose best is capable of beating Geelong's average.

[AussieAnge]

You can't blame any outside factors as the umpires were quite good all night.

There were 2 decisions that perplexed me. The 1st one was Aker's deliberate in the 1st quarter - I doubt you can get more deliberate than that and it wasn't paid. The 2nd was the shepherd against Leo (3rd quarter iirc) when the ump could clearly be heard saying "you weren't within 5 metres of the ball" (or words to tha effect) and the replay showed he was about 2 metres from the ball. The 2nd resulted in a goal to the Dogs.

[Triple B]

The most blatant missed free kick was the 'Mark Lewin' sleeper hold put on Leo early.

That said, it was good leaving the ground knowing the umpires were in no way responsible for our loss.

[liz]

There were 2 decisions that perplexed me. The 1st one was Aker's deliberate in the 1st quarter - I doubt you can get more deliberate than that and it wasn't paid.

It was paid, wasn't it? Whoever took the free found Hall on the lead but tight in the pocket and he missed his attempted shot on goal.

[NMWBloods]

The Aker deliberate one resulted in a free to Malceski who missed the shot.

[Lakeside]

I thought the umpires didn't get in the way last for a change and great to wach!