Sydney v Hawthorn

[Dosser]

Australia v Pakistan play a 20/20 next Saturday. Footy in 2014 is now dead to me.

[Dave]

GO BLOODS 2015

Sorry, they have no right to be called The Bloods after that capitulation.

[Zlatorog]

This was a very poor performance not only by the players but also by the coaching staff. There will be changes to both of them. I don't think that the Swans will challenge the flag next year. I don't see how. They will have to rebuild this team with some fresh "blood" and I can see there will be some 4 of 5 players gone with some coaching staff as well by end of October. Knowing Longimer he will not tolerate such a poor performance and he'll cut. I'm sure and it will be quite deep. The Swans will challenge the flag again in 2016. It won't be earlier.

[BRISWAN]

Not so uninformed... I witnessed it first hand when I was involved in the club in the dark days of 93....Loss after loss, and I can guarantee you that good proportion of that team was out of the emotional doldrums by the time they arrived at the Moore Park after game functions. Even Kenny Williams used to say to me..."Mate...get over it...you are taking it a lot worse than they are..." Guess that came back to haunt me today...

Mate i know your disappointed like we all are but our boys would be embarrassed and have to carry today for ever.

I also witnessed the dark days of 93 and through the 60s 70s 80s with scant success

But I don't hang those who represent us and i DO give credit where it is due

Having said that?.a great effort by you to watch the game in your early hours

GO SWANS 2015?.GET ON BOARD !!!!!

[unconfuseme]

Hawks started fast and then got their tails up. Too good on the day and would have belted anyone ... Congratulations to them!
Swans had an off day, and never got into gear and were playing catch up whenever the Hawks let them have the ball.
It happens, just a shame it happened today.
Good news is Swans will be thereabouts for a while, and along with the Hawks and Port are clearly a grade above anyone else.

[Dave]

This was a very poor performance not only by the players but also by the coaching staff. There will be changes to both of them. I don't think that the Swans will challenge the flag next year. I don't see how. They will have to rebuild this team with some fresh "blood" and I can see there will be some 4 of 5 players gone with some coaching staff as well by end of October. Knowing Longimer he will not tolerate such a poor performance and he'll cut. I'm sure and it will be quite deep. The Swans will challenge the flag again in 2016. It won't be earlier.

I tend to agree with this. I can't even see top 4 at this point.

[Ampersand]

Full credit to the Hawks. They are the best team of the modern era, without question. Their accuracy and reward for inside 50 entries is almost superhuman.

I don't think we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater based on one performance, but even at our best over the past few weeks, the chinks in our armour were always obvious:

1. Something is seriously wrong with our clearance setup... Even when we thumped North Melbourne last week, we were equalized or beaten in clearances. Tom Mitchell might be the answer.

2. Our back six needs a serious overhaul... Teddy and Grundy are too slow. Rohan and Rampe are still learning. The Shaw-Malceski model or run and kick long to a contest is outdated and was well and truly shown up by the Hawks accurate passing coming out of their defensive 50. For mine, Biggs and Laidler offer more composure and kicking accuracy than Teddy and Rohan.

3. Goodes needs to retire... We need a small mobile forward in the mould of Rioli, Breust, Ballantyne or Walters. Someone who makes sure we get rewarded for our inside 50s and can apply defensive pressure. We are currentlyup there with the worst teams in the league for scoring off inside 50 entries.

4. Make Buddy captain... This result should draw a line under Buddy's time at the Hawks. He is a Swan now and he should take ownership and responsibility for the team. The dual captain setup is wishy-washy rubbish. Jack flubbed two golden opportunities in the early stages of the game and McVeigh didn't stand up when it mattered.

5. Our players are still learning the new structure and it will take time to adjust. Before 2013, the Swans haven't really had a key forward since Hall retired in 2009 (don't count Bradshaw). Given this fact, it's actually astonishing that we won the premiership in 2012. The way we play is far too one-eyed and predictable. Good teams know exactly what to expect.

[Big Al]

This will hurt badly and to be honest I'm pretty pissed off.

However I'm absolutely certain that like the Hawks after 2012 this will drive the boys to work harder and we'll be back bigger and better than ever. We have an amazing list and I'm sure in 2-3 years time we'll look back on today as the catalyst for a golden Swans era.

[Dosser]

Hawks started fast and then got their tails up. Too good on the day and would have belted anyone ... Congratulations to them!
Swans had an off day, and never got into gear and were playing catch up whenever the Hawks let them have the ball.
It happens, just a shame it happened today.
Good news is Swans will be thereabouts for a while, and along with the Hawks and Port are clearly a grade above anyone else.

Well said. We will challenge again next year - just watch last weeks game again and remind yourselves. They were on today and we were off. I know you would expect them to be on for a gf but there you go. Excrement happens.

[sWAns63]

I tend to agree with this. I can't even see top 4 at this point.

Swans will be top four again next year though need to move out a couple of the oldies.

[paper_rival]

+1 for everything Ampersand

[707]

I tend to agree with this. I can't even see top 4 at this point.

What other sides are going to push us out of the top four next year? We had a shocker today but are a cut above the bottom half of the eight.

Oh, and don't forget we have the Eddie annointed Messiah next year, Isaac Heeney!

[DamY]

This will hurt badly and to be honest I'm pretty pissed off.

However I'm absolutely certain that like the Hawks after 2012 this will drive the boys to work harder and we'll be back bigger and better than ever. We have an amazing list and I'm sure in 2-3 years time we'll look back on today as the catalyst for a golden Swans era.

I was reasonably impressed by how gracious the Hawthorn supporters were.
Disappointed by the mid's performance, no one stood up. I thought some of the Hawthorn players were kind of dirty, especially Brian Lake.

[paper_rival]

I was reasonably impressed by how gracious the Hawthorn supporters were.
Disappointed by the mid's performance, no one stood up. I thought some of the Hawthorn players were kind of dirty, especially Brian Lake.

I wasn't impressed with Lake or Gibson's absolute pounding on buddy. I get that they wanna show him what for but it was a touch over the line for me

[DamY]

Oh I definitely agree. They really did their best to take Buddy out of the game. I thought he was still really good