Smashed In The Grand Final

Clio was the ancient Greek muse of history. so we all thought that she would be an appropriate entity to run this site.

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I have a confession to make. My football team, the one I support and have done so for the last 30 years, was cruelly smashed in the Grand Final. This, unfortunately, is a repeat performance, as it happened also in 2022. Getting to a GF is no mean feat in and of itself – it is a heck of an achievement. This, paradoxically, makes the experience of seeing your team get thrashed in the ultimate game even worse. Not to make a fist of it but to be wiped off the stage so utterly is a devastating feeling, even for the fan. A gloom descends over one’s life and you feel like wearing a black arm band following such a build up and such a comprehensive defeat.

A Fan’s Grand Final Living Nightmare

It is ridiculous, I know, but such is the fate of the supporter on the side lines, living vicariously through the exploits of your team. I have at various times thought seriously about hanging up my imaginary boots and moving on to a less encumbered plain of existence. I mean putting your wellbeing into the hands of a score of young men you have never even met is hardly a recipe for sensible living. Of course, the club behind the team don’t want you to do such a thing, heavens no, they depend upon your membership money and love of their colours.

Sidelined Supporter Hopes Smashed Again

Each week I front up, like thousands of other devotees, in front of my TV screen ( I am an interstate supporter of the club) to do battle with another feisty club. A few deep breaths are usually necessary to prepare for the gut churning adventures ahead. At times, I find my quadriceps clenching and torso twisting in my seat as I watch the play unfold. This is no activity for the faint at heart my friend. My cries of dismay and passionate abuse at wrong headed umpiring decisions can be heard many metres away. The myriad of tiggy touchwood indiscretions of the rules are now legion in modern AFL.

Players performing at breakneck speeds are required to suddenly turn fierce tackles into gentle laydowns more suitable to remedial massage. For a game infamous for its 360 degree access to the play, with no offside, the new concussion lite version is unsettling – to say the least. Gone are the shirt fronts and the goal saving dumping tackles of yesteryear.

The Ultimate Let Down

Back to the matter at hand, however, the devastating disposal of my team, the minor premiers in 2 hours of football at the MCG in front of a 100, 000 fans of the game. To not fire a shot after quarter time in the ultimate contest and why you play the game was gut wrenching. To watch for this prolonged period, always hoping for some come back of any kind, and to be cruelly disappointed was very dirty indeed. Yes, the players themselves may well be doing it tougher than me and my fellow brethren. These highly paid wunderkinds who showed such flares of brilliance during many games during the season let us down at the worst possible moment of the year.

You might say, it is only a game! But is it! If some of these young guys are getting paid a million dollars a season – is it really just a game? AFL is big business, just ask the TV networks that broadcast the matches.

beautiful swans on body of water — Photo by Reggie Pankova on Pexels.com

Televised Ad Fest Spoils GF

Speaking of that, Channel 7 shows so many ads during the GF, and during most of its televised games, the viewer can forget why he or she is watching the box in the first place. It is a bloody disgrace. They talk about free to air! It is not free to air; as my time is money too and I do not want to waste it watching stupid ads from insurance companies and Telstra. Quite apart from the result of the GF not going my way, it is a travesty that fans are forced to watch the GF butchered by ads when we have paid streaming services and pay TV all year to enjoy ad free coverage of the AFL. The culmination of the season sees us dunked in the slime of Kerry Stokes and his toxic network. A purist who loves the game seeks out the most unadulterated presentation of the sport she or he can. An ad every 90 seconds does no justice to the great Australian game. The financialization of sport has poisoned the presentation of AFL for those not at the game. Indeed, it defines the timing of the resumption of play after goals, even for those seated at the stadium.

What Went Wrong With The Swans?

Okay, what went wrong with the Swans? Why did they capitulate so comprehensively to their opponents? Why was it strangely so similar to 2022 at the hands of Geelong? This possibility was raised slightly by the media in the lead up to the big match but we were assured by players and coach that this was a different team. They were promised to be older, wiser and super ready for the contest. This was proven to be a pack of lies. All over the field they were trounced in contest after contest. Second to the ball and ineffectually chasing backsides all afternoon. Uncompetitive in marking contests. Not able to run back fast enough to pressure their opponents when they went forward in numbers. Beaten around the ball all day. Woeful in defence. Useless in the rare forays forward. Missed shots at goal when in the few instances they had them. Mounting a comeback was not on the cards at any time during the match. The Lions were awesome but too many Swans did not turn up to play, it seems. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-29/sydney-swans-grand-final-analysis/104407822

The Disaster Movie Sequel You Didn’t Want To See Again

I wonder what went through the head of coach John Longmire, as this train wreck unfolded before him. Did he think to himself – I have seen this movie before in 2022 and I didn’t like it then? Smashed in the Grand Final what a movie title! Isaac Heeney, who had been brilliant in the previous 2 finals was negated. McInerney was hardly sighted all day. Brody Grundy was good but was largely a lone hand. Sydney players, it appeared, did not run back to apply defensive pressure on the Lions streaming forward. The team was sliced and diced, as the Lions pinpointed passes and kicked goals. It was a football disaster of epic proportions if you bled red and white.

A telling moment, early on, was when Nick Blakey copped head contact and stopped to play for a free kick which was not forth coming. The play went on and Brisbane kicked an uncontested goal as a result. This is a Grand Final; you don’t play like that Nick!

AFL Ruckman Brodie Grundy Was Made For The Bloods

Even Fans Have Standards

You attempt to understand what went on, even as a fan. I mean, we watch all the games religiously, often I watch them a couple of times. I count myself as an intelligent chap, perhaps others may disagree with this assessment. What went wrong, then? Why was it so eerily similar to 2022? The Swans have become an offensive juggernaut in recent seasons. Gone is the dour, blue collar side of the Paul Roos era. AFL, like most sports, is about the balance between offence and defence. The eggs you put into the attacking basket must come out of the defending basket. This is a zero-sum game. AFL teams in the current era put their most attacking players on the half back line. Paradoxically, forwards now defend more and defenders are more attacking. However, if you get the balance in any game wrong you can pay the price on the score board. What happened in the 2022 and 2024 GFs would never have happened to a Paul Roos Sydney Swans team. Perhaps, the argument could be made that this type of team would never have made it to the GF in the first place? The AFL has manipulated the game through rule changes to make it higher scoring and less defensively orientated. The 6-6-6 rule at centre bounces is part of this. The stand rule at marks is another contributing rule change. Somewhere in all this Sydney has developed into a lightning fast attacking boxer but with a glass jaw for the right kind of punch. Brisbane delivered this in the GF, as did Geelong in 2022. Port Adelaide did it in round 22. If enough physical pressure is exerted all over the ground the Swans go to pieces. These incredibly talented players like Warner and Gulden go missing in their ability to drive the contest. The defenders are exposed as ordinary at times. Jake Lloyd is too small to defend in many instances against bigger players. Blakey is a much better attacker than true defender, which is great when things are going the Swan’s way. Melican was pretty good in the 2024 GF. Rampe and McCartin were not.

Does Sydney’s Game Plan Stack Up?

Where to for the Swans in 2025? Does their game plan stand up in the finals? Does it stand up in the Grand Final? The evidence says no, at this point in time. I have issues with the 2 weeks off in finals for teams that win their direct way through to the Preliminary. It is too much time off, in my view. Players need to be playing more footy at the pointy end of the contest. Sure you can get over injuries but you can also come off the boil and get complacent too. Young teams lack the maturity of old heads and hearts. If things are too easy for a few weeks in a row they can lose that battle hardened psyche necessary to win at the most ferocious time of the year. I reckon the Swans need an enforcer or two, not a dickhead who belts other players, but who channels brutality effectively without crossing the line too often. There is too much brilliance and not enough grunt, in my opinion. Perhaps, this stems from the leadership at the club, in that the coaches do not value this part of the game. For too many years the Swans lacked a ruckman of real presence. When we won Premierships in 2005 and 2012 we had two quality rucks in the team. Brody Grundy has been a good addition in this regard after too long a drought in the big man stakes. I admire the Sydney team ethos and the no dickhead’s policy originating with Paul Roos. However, AFL is still a full contact sport and physicality is of utmost importance. John Longmire emphases this when he talks about getting the physical pressure quotient right and everything else falling into place after this. This did not happen on the Saturday of the GF. Brisbane were mighty and they overwhelmed the Swans on this score. It was really disappointing for all of us. Defensive pressure – what you do when you haven’t got the ball. This was missing in action at the GF and was lacking in the last third of the season. The Preliminary against Port Adelaide probably did not serve us as well as the corresponding final between Brisbane and Geelong. Brisbane came to play and we did not. The Lions smashed the Swans in all facets of the game. The Bloods never showed up. Get some bigger mature bodies in the team and players with real grunt in their heads and hearts. James Rowbottom cannot do it all on his own. Inside strength vs outside run – getting the balance right. We need more fight in the team.