An AFL analyst believes alarm bells are “ringing loud and clear” at the Sydney Swans after their fourth loss in five games.
The Swans were rendered helpless by the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, falling by 39 points — their largest loss since Round 6 of last season — and looking unlikely to mount a winning charge at any stage.
Fox Footy’s Leigh Montagna placed the onus on coach John Longmire — who after Round 17 said it was “a bit drastic” to say alarm bells were ringing — to lead them back into the form that previously had the AFL landscape fearful.
Watch every game of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >
“Well, the alarm bells aren’t drastic anymore, John,” declared the 287-gamer on Fox Footy’s The First Crack on Sunday night.
“The alarm bells are now ringing loud and clear, because you could argue at the time — and we certainly have on this show — close losses, one kick this way, that way and things could be completely different, but maybe that was masking over the cracks.
“It may have been leading to the performance today, because this is not the same side from the first half of the year. To be fair, they were on world-record pace — the numbers they were putting up were off the charts.”
Over the course of Sydney’s past five games, it lost by a combined five points against Fremantle, St Kilda and Brisbane — but its 39-point defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs demonstrated it could be beaten comprehensively.
Bulldogs make light work of Swans! | 02:18
Montagna stated it was Longmire’s duty to guide the Swans back to optimal form as they prepare for a crucial finals assault.
“I think now it is on John Longmire to coach this team back to their best form,” the St Kilda great told Fox Footy on Sunday night.
“It was easier for a coach earlier in the season when they were humming — they were the best pressure team in the competition, they were hunting the opposition.
“They had three players that were playing at an incredible level, their offence was going really well, they were fit and healthy, and there was nothing really wrong for them, and John Longmire could really let them roll out and they would do their thing.
“Well, all of a sudden, we know that’s changed. All of a sudden, they’ve got injury concerns, parts of their games have been taken away by the opposition, they’ve lost parts of their game, now the opposition are hunting them.”
After a clean start to the year, the Swans’ injury troubles are beginning to mount — in addition to the already-sidelined Justin McInerney (knee), James Rowbottom (cheekbone), Tom Papley (ankle) and Dane Rampe (calf), key defender Lewis Melican (hamstring) became the latest to succumb.
Beveridge thrilled with powerful start | 07:39
Between Opening Round and Round 14, the Swans were first in the AFL for points-from-turnover differential, fourth for pressure and second for clearance differential — but between Rounds 15-20 they have dropped to 14th for points-from-turnover differential, 16th for pressure and 14th for clearance differential.
“You can see the dramatic drop-off — this isn’t just from today or the last couple of weeks, this has been building for six weeks,” Montagna continued.
“As we know, what you do earlier in the year doesn’t really matter — it’s what you can do at the back end of the year.
“All of a sudden, the pressure is on John Longmire. It’s tough being at the top, and this is the reality for them for being so good for so long — teams are coming after them, and it’s hard to sustain those levels. It’s a big challenge now for Sydney.”
Longmire frustrated with lacklustre loss | 04:37
Sydney’s scintillating midfield triad of Chad Warner, Isaac Heeney and Errol Gulden have regressed in form across the same six-week period — after they all ranked inside the AFL’s top-17 rated players, none of the trio ranked inside the league’s top 30 between Rounds 15-20.
On Sunday evening, Longmire expressed his candid displeasure with his side’s performance.
“We’ve been competitive for the entire season, and we weren’t today,” he told reporters post-game.
“I’m really disappointed in how we went — (we) got off to another poor start and not really any part of our game looked like it should, so it was a really disappointing performance.
“The previous (losses), we lost those by a kick, and I’d think there’d be quite a few people who’d say we were really competitive in those games, and we had a chance to win all of them, so this one’s a bit different — this one’s a disappointing one.”
The Swans travel to Adelaide to play the in-form Power in Round 21 before intriguing clashes with Collingwood and Essendon.
Source Agencies
