"If you can't play four quarters you're wasting your time." Jarrad McVeigh pointedly stated after the Fremantle game in this article.
John Longmire agrees. ''We have shown signs of it at times but we really haven't put together a real four quarters of consistent performance for quite a while,'' Longmire said.
While it is a positive that the club acknowledges this was an issue on the weekend, as Horse rightly points out we haven't done it for quite a while. Certainly not this year at least.
But this problem has been going on longer than that. Here's a quote from a very astute poster who claimed in October last year that we didn't do it in 2010 either and if we continued in the same vein things would turn a little sour in 2011
But I'm going to go further back. The last four quarter performance I remember from the Swans was in 2006. Round 7 against Richmond to be precise, and we were reigning premiers at the peak of our powers back then. If anyone can remember a four quarter effort since then feel free to correct me.
Even the famous finals series of 2005 the plan of attack seemed to be "Let the other team take control, then pull off an amazing come from behind, against the odds victory." The 2006 Grand Final is a classic example of what happens when this plan doesn't quite come to fruition.
Of course the other side of the ledger is that we don't let other teams dominate us either. A recent article on the AFL website gave the statistic that we are the only team since the year 2000 to not suffer a 100 point loss - and in the same period we've only lost 5 games by more than 60.
While that's a pleasing statistic there's no denying it's completely frustrating to watch a capable team blitz their opponents for 10 minutes only to go missing for the next two quarters. The Brisbane game earlier this year neatly underlines the point. We tore the Lions apart in that first half, but watching the second half one couldn't help but wonder whether the players were thinking about possibly getting a window seat on the flight home.
If we put in a consistent effort for four quarters we are capable of beating any team in this competition including Collingwood. Until that day comes, enjoy watching us blow crucial games to the Adelaides and Fremantles of this world.
John Longmire agrees. ''We have shown signs of it at times but we really haven't put together a real four quarters of consistent performance for quite a while,'' Longmire said.
While it is a positive that the club acknowledges this was an issue on the weekend, as Horse rightly points out we haven't done it for quite a while. Certainly not this year at least.
But this problem has been going on longer than that. Here's a quote from a very astute poster who claimed in October last year that we didn't do it in 2010 either and if we continued in the same vein things would turn a little sour in 2011
But I'm going to go further back. The last four quarter performance I remember from the Swans was in 2006. Round 7 against Richmond to be precise, and we were reigning premiers at the peak of our powers back then. If anyone can remember a four quarter effort since then feel free to correct me.
Even the famous finals series of 2005 the plan of attack seemed to be "Let the other team take control, then pull off an amazing come from behind, against the odds victory." The 2006 Grand Final is a classic example of what happens when this plan doesn't quite come to fruition.
Of course the other side of the ledger is that we don't let other teams dominate us either. A recent article on the AFL website gave the statistic that we are the only team since the year 2000 to not suffer a 100 point loss - and in the same period we've only lost 5 games by more than 60.
While that's a pleasing statistic there's no denying it's completely frustrating to watch a capable team blitz their opponents for 10 minutes only to go missing for the next two quarters. The Brisbane game earlier this year neatly underlines the point. We tore the Lions apart in that first half, but watching the second half one couldn't help but wonder whether the players were thinking about possibly getting a window seat on the flight home.
If we put in a consistent effort for four quarters we are capable of beating any team in this competition including Collingwood. Until that day comes, enjoy watching us blow crucial games to the Adelaides and Fremantles of this world.
