Sydney’s staggering fall might be one of many worst within the trendy AFL period.
Almost 12 months in the past, Sydney completed the 2022 season in third spot on the ladder earlier than successful by means of to the Grand Final.
Seventeen rounds into this season and the reigning Grand Finallists sit fifteenth on the ladder with six-and-a-half wins.
Much has been fabricated from the post-decider thrashing curse. All of the previous 12 groups to have misplaced Grand Finals by 40-plus factors since 1995 have didn’t win a ultimate the next yr. So many have nonetheless made finals, however didn’t progress to the second week.
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But the Swans are actually out of finals rivalry. In reality, they’re going through the prospect of struggling a 12-position drop – the equal-second worst fall within the AFL period – ought to they continue to be fifteenth for the remainder of the season.
Fremantle fell 15 spots between its 2015 and 2016 campaigns (1st to sixteenth), whereas West Coast (third in 2007 to fifteenth in 2008) and Melbourne (fifth in 2018 to seventeenth in 2019) additionally fell 12 spots.
Only West Coast, North Melbourne and Hawthorn sit beneath the reigning Grand Finalists.
“That’s the depths that we’re talking right now – a Grand Finalist sitting there on the table. It’s amazing,” twin premiership Kangaroo David King instructed SEN Breakfast.
Remarkably, regardless of their alarming win-loss file, the Swans have a share of 110.8 – which is best than St Kilda, Essendon and the Western Bulldogs – because of monumental wins over West Coast (+171) and Hawthorn (+81), one draw towards Geelong and 5 of their eight losses being by underneath 20 factors.
Their share is even higher than Collingwood’s final yr, when the Magpies completed fourth because of a collection of exceptional shut wins.
But amid the Swans’ irritating, rollercoaster season, one flaw has remained obviously fixed: Their contested possession and clearance points, particularly towards the highest groups.
Sydney misplaced the contested possession by -34 towards Melbourne in Round 3. The Swans haven’t fared a lot better since towards Port Adelaide (-9), Geelong (-20), Collingwood (-9), Fremantle (-15), Brisbane (-29) and, most lately, Richmond (-9).
“This is a massive problem for them,” King instructed Fox Footy. “This will be the reason why they miss the finals – and they were humbled around clearance in a few finals last year and the Grand Final just exposed all flaws.
“Where do you go to if you can’t get it done with (Luke) Parker and (Callum) Mills and (Tom) Papley coming in and (James) Rowbottom in there – they’re senior bodies now.”
King then instructed SEN Breakfast the Swans are “just not tough enough”, to which co-host Kane Cornes replied with: “That’s fair, which is something we haven’t said about Sydney culture for a while, but the evidence is there.”
Triple Coleman Medallist Jason Dunstall mentioned the Swans, contemplating their points on the coalface, ought to spend money on “another high class inside mid from a recruiting perspective”.
King added on SEN: “I think they need someone to play that role. Since Josh Kennedy, they haven’t had a player that’ll stand there and move bodies through sheer physicality and size. They have players that are happy to move through stoppage, but not stand and deliver.”
Cornes then identified how ex-Swan Jordan Dawson had thrived as an inside midfielder since becoming a member of Adelaide, whereas George Hewett was “another one that they lost” to Carlton.
“The irony is Dawson and what he’s delivered at Adelaide. They were desperate to keep him, but that’s the irony, that Dawson was that outside type player and has gone and done exactly what they need at Adelaide while leading Adelaide as the captain,” Cornes mentioned.
“I think they’re going to make some significant changes in the off-season, because they made none last year … Everyone else went and improved their list and Sydney didn’t. It’s been a big drop-off.”
Originally printed as Depths of Swan dive uncovered by near-AFL worst file
Source: www.news.com.au
