Autopsy Sydney Legacy in Grand Finals continues 10 goal loss to the Lions

[sherb]

I've taken this loss very hard, which is eye opening for me as I'm ostensibly a Blues supporter first and foremost. It's a mixture of anger, denial, frustration, bewilderment....the list of emotions goes on and on.

I guess it shows how ingrained the Swans are in my life, after all for the past 40 years they have been something to me the Blues have never been - my local AFL club. (I've never lived in Melbourne).

Regardless of the reason, I think I need to review my relationship with the game, I'm getting too old to let things I can't control - like AFL Grand Final results - affect me with this.

Finally, I'm grateful to be able to interact on the Swans board, with the good grace of the people here, to help me try to deal with this. So thank you all, it has helped....as much as it is possible to help me at present that is.

 

[sherb]

some interesting reading here from a neutral observer. So, Hipwood's freak goal, like Langford's 10 years ago, was the difference between winning and losing for the Swans? Oh well, I guess the 10-10+ goal margin in the two GF's wasn't relevant, just those two arsey goals lol.

Ah, no. Way to miss the point - which is actually that freakish goals like that can indicate that it's just not going to be your day.

 

[TheGoatBaron]

I've taken this loss very hard, which is eye opening for me as I'm ostensibly a Blues supporter first and foremost. It's a mixture of anger, denial, frustration, bewilderment....the list of emotions goes on and on.

I guess it shows how ingrained the Swans are in my life, after all for the past 40 years they have been something to me the Blues have never been - my local AFL club. (I've never lived in Melbourne).

Regardless of the reason, I think I need to review my relationship with the game, I'm getting too old to let things I can't control - like AFL Grand Final results - affect me with this.

Finally, I'm grateful to be able to interact on the Swans board, with the good grace of the people here, to help me try to deal with this. So thank you all, it has helped....as much as it is possible to help me at present that is.

You’re one of the good neutrals. Always have been mate. You’re always welcomed here

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

I've taken this loss very hard, which is eye opening for me as I'm ostensibly a Blues supporter first and foremost. It's a mixture of anger, denial, frustration, bewilderment....the list of emotions goes on and on.

I guess it shows how ingrained the Swans are in my life, after all for the past 40 years they have been something to me the Blues have never been - my local AFL club. (I've never lived in Melbourne).

Regardless of the reason, I think I need to review my relationship with the game, I'm getting too old to let things I can't control - like AFL Grand Final results - affect me with this.

Finally, I'm grateful to be able to interact on the Swans board, with the good grace of the people here, to help me try to deal with this. So thank you all, it has helped....as much as it is possible to help me at present that is.

This has been by far the most devastating GF loss of the last 5 the margin at HT was even greater than in 2022.

There is no justifying that performance none your boys showed more fight after being 65-0.

 

[sherb]

You’re one of the good neutrals. Always have been mate. You’re always welcomed here

Thank you, that's very kind.

 

[TasSixer]

Every damn social feed I check I get reminded about yesterday. This sucks

 

[Upstart Swan]

Ah, no. Way to miss the point - which is actually that freakish goals like that can indicate that it's just not going to be your day.

How Hawthorny of him though. Read through 40 pages of another board's thread, come across a vaguely negative comment about a Hawthorn player, then have a massive melt!

 

[TheGoatBaron]

Every damn social feed I check I get reminded about yesterday. This sucks

It’s hard to avoid thats for show when you’re online

 

[Dangas]

Every damn social feed I check I get reminded about yesterday. This sucks

It will linger sadly.

 

[swanssince2002]

Every damn social feed I check I get reminded about yesterday. This sucks

To be honest its deserved. And we will be the ones that cop it lol

 

[Troystenvic]

I'm over it now. Saw it coming for most of the year. Horse needs to go as sad as it is. I can't ever trust a Swans team led by him. He coaches next year and I'll watch from afar. No point winning games to just not show up for the GF.

The mentally weakest team in the league. Can't cope with any pressure at all.

Just another game my fluvking arse

 

[TasSixer]

To be honest its deserved. And we will be the ones that cop it lol

I more so mean seeing stuff about Brisbane being so happy. I'm envious.

 

[SeanM]

It was uncompetitive, how does it happen?

On all lines also , no winners

Just can’t seem to fathom it

Funnily enough I think they will do a review and come to the same conclusions as to why we struggled in the 2022 GF and 2023 season.

*It will be losing the midfield contest and not having enough inside midfield depth when Heeney/Warner/Rowbottom were having a down game. (which we tried to fix by recruiting Adams and Grundy)

*It will also be lack of forward half pressure because we lacked quicker pressure players . We had 3 talls (with Logan our most mobile tall injured), Parker, Fox playing forward early, Jordan who is worrying about Zorko and then quicker players Papley and Hayward who may not have been 100%.

* Defenders making mistakes and losing contests because they were under pressure. Blakey/Rampe in 2024. McCartin making mistakes early in 2022.

 

[Jack2Jack]

Still all very frustrating. Not sure what changes happen in 25 to allow redemption, we just had our chance and failed dismally.
Literally everything you could have wanted was thrown at our feet - weak year, healthy list all season, comfortably top of the ladder all year, played a non vic team in the GF, played a non top 4 team in the GF, not only that played a non top 4 team who'd had 2 extremely tough finals leading in, missing their no. 1 ruck, in the GF.

Everything went our way, that won't happen again. Other teams will improve and we're not bringing much in, probably more quality going out than in.
A lot had career years, so not a huge lot of personnel improvement to come, maybe marginal improvements, where a few slight improvers will be offset by a few who slightly regress.
There's really only maybe 2-3 (Roberts, McDonald, Campbell) who are still in that age bracket where they're young enough to still have that significant jump in them (although for the latter 2 - year 5 coming up, which is delivery time, when excuses go and the glimpses won't be enough anymore). Maybe a kid yet to be drafted or outside the team could explode to be a big difference maker, big ask.

Outside of that, the playing group will seriously need to toughen up a bit mentally and physically and the coaches need to seriously evolve the tactics, if we're planning on doing anything next year it's mentally and tactically that are the only places where the significant improvement can come from, imo. Can't stand still in these 2 spaces or we're ****ed, even if a McDonald or someone exploded into a star in one offseason.

 

[WillowSF]

A few random thoughts…First and foremost, the players bear responsibility. (Particularly the stars like Papley, Heeney etc.) They weren’t collectively locked in. Brisbane has been very good but certainly beatable if your guys were 8/10th’s of their best.

I will say Longmire & the match day coaches didn’t do enough in the 2nd quarter when things started to go sideways. Where’s Plan B to minimize Brisbane scoreboard pressure when they have the momentum? If you go into Half Time let’s say 28 points down without having yet fired a shot, there’s still some belief.

Lastly, I know this is unlikely to happen, but if the AFL wants to be a true national competition, the grand final should be hosted by different cities each year like the NFL. Keeping it in only Melbourne is a relic from the VFL days.

 

[melbournehammer]

I feel it may have been mentioned here or somewhere else, but i'd like to see something like this happen, not as extreme and it probably won't happen in today's world but it would be cathartic to know this won't be accepted which is what it currently feels like.

'I didn't hold back': Sheedy's serve after 1983 GF

Kevin Sheedy came in like a whirlwind at a club function after the 1983 VFL Grand Final.

www.essendonfc.com.au

Fresh from an 83-point humiliation at the hands of fierce rival Hawthorn, the Bombers family – players, staff, partners and supporters among them - had gathered for a post-Grand Final function, with some paying decent coin to be there.

Little did they expect, however, what was to come when coach Kevin Sheedy took the microphone.

“It was time for Kevin to say something,” then-president Greg Sewell

“Well, you could have heard a pin drop after five or six words. He said, ‘If I see anybody in this room with a smile on their face, I’ll throw you out’. There was silence, and he just went on. He gave all of us the biggest serve ever about how we’d let ourselves down.”

Sheedy, who had seen his side embarrassed in his first Grand Final at the helm, remembered the moment vividly.

“It burnt a hole in their hearts and their minds,” Sheedy said.

“I didn’t hold back. I got an absolute baking from my wife because it probably hurt the players a little bit, but I think it hurt the girlfriends and wives more as well as the supporters.

“I mean, why would you want to go and celebrate the worst loss in VFL Grand Final history? You’re kidding yourself [if you do].”

But Sheedy wasn’t done there.

“We had the post-mortem at Windy Hill on the Monday,” champion midfielder Tim Watson said.

“He made us watch the whole Grand Final again and he would pause, and rewind, then fast-forward. It went for a long, long time.”

While Sheedy’s post-game approach may have come as a shock to some, there was a method to it.

The master motivator’s intention was clear - let the loss linger in the players’ minds and spur them on to go one step better.

The actual problem with this is that we need someone like Paul Roos to give it because it needs to start with horse.

You can’t have the four time loser coach who’s given his team the allegedly best prep say I’ve done it perfectly and you blokes gave let us down. He actually needs to be asked what was the thinking about watching brisbanes dominance with the ball. What strategy did you develop to prevent run ons because to be honest there was no evidence that it worked at any time this season.

He needs to be made accountable as much as the players

 

[Tedeski]

A few random thoughts…First and foremost, the players bear responsibility. (Particularly the stars like Papley, Heeney etc.) They weren’t collectively locked in. Brisbane has been very good but certainly beatable if your guys were 8/10th’s of their best.

I will say Longmire & the match day coaches didn’t do enough in the 2nd quarter when things started to go sideways. Where’s Plan B to minimize Brisbane scoreboard pressure when they have the momentum? If you go into Half Time let’s say 28 points down without having yet fired a shot, there’s still some belief.

Lastly, I know this is unlikely to happen, but if the AFL wants to be a true national competition, the grand final should be hosted by different cities each year like the NFL. Keeping it in only Melbourne is a relic from the VFL days.

Good thoughts mate.
AFL won’t move the GF.
Unfortunately that was no excuse for our performance this year. It would have been nice to get a game late at the G. Our first was rd 1 win against Pies, then rd 5 in the Tigers loss & then rd 7 against Hawks. That’s it.
Lions played previous final there & rd 23. That’s a good advantage to them but only a few goals, not the 70 odd points we were down by.
No this lot of players probably will never see another GF unless it’s for another club, such is the poor way we handle it.

 

[Tedeski]

The actual problem with this is that we need someone like Paul Roos to give it because it needs to start with horse.

You can’t have the four time loser coach who’s given his team the allegedly best prep say I’ve done it perfectly and you blokes gave let us down. He actually needs to be asked what was the thinking about watching brisbanes dominance with the ball. What strategy did you develop to prevent run ons because to be honest there was no evidence that it worked at any time this season.

He needs to be made accountable as much as the players

We don’t have the capacity to stop clusters of goals or a big run of goals. That was still happening on our way to a 13 & 1 start to the season. We had flaws then & we were excited about a top few players who were dominating but no back up for when Gulden, Heeney & Warner were quelled.

 

[Jeffers]

FMD first day at work and I mentally and emotionally feel like I’ve lost a pet on the weekend or something.
I honestly feel like I need to take a year off supporting them to get my mind back to normal.
I know in the end it’s just a sport but losing 2 grand finals in 3 years like that and all the expectation…you hit your limits.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

The mentally weakest team in the league. Can't cope with any pressure at all.

Sorry mate, that's horseshit. Clearly we're not mentally strong enough on the last day of the season and that discussion will be going for years, but no team that is mentally weak finishes minor premier, and no team that is mentally weak makes a grand final, let alone four in eleven years.

Let's be clear what we're talking about here.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

I've taken this loss very hard, which is eye opening for me as I'm ostensibly a Blues supporter first and foremost. It's a mixture of anger, denial, frustration, bewilderment....the list of emotions goes on and on.

I guess it shows how ingrained the Swans are in my life, after all for the past 40 years they have been something to me the Blues have never been - my local AFL club. (I've never lived in Melbourne).

Regardless of the reason, I think I need to review my relationship with the game, I'm getting too old to let things I can't control - like AFL Grand Final results - affect me with this.

Finally, I'm grateful to be able to interact on the Swans board, with the good grace of the people here, to help me try to deal with this. So thank you all, it has helped....as much as it is possible to help me at present that is.

All the very best mate, always appreciate your input and passion. Keep looking up! There truly is much more to life than footy, wonderful and heartbreaking though it is.

Just out of curiosity, given you've never lived in Melbourne, how did Carlton come to be your #1 team?

 

[Millky95]

FMD first day at work and I mentally and emotionally feel like I’ve lost a pet on the weekend or something.
I honestly feel like I need to take a year off supporting them to get my mind back to normal.
I know in the end it’s just a sport but losing 2 grand finals in 3 years like that and all the expectation…you hit your limits.

I'm not looking forward to all the "hey buddy..." and "what happened on Saturday?" I am going to cop today

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

I'm not looking forward to all the "hey buddy..." and "what happened on Saturday?" I am going to cop today

Just reply like you're a disinterested follower of the AFL in general with no club allegiance. You just love the game.

Make like you're a lab researcher examining the Sydney Swans in a test tube held up to the light.

 

[MR0808]

I'm not looking forward to all the "hey buddy..." and "what happened on Saturday?" I am going to cop today

I'm back at work for the first time in a week and a half, and I'm dreading the same. Just lucky most people work from home on Mondays

 

[KingV23]

I'm not looking forward to all the "hey buddy..." and "what happened on Saturday?" I am going to cop today

I am glad I am on annual leave for 3 weeks and dont have to deal with it. Although I did start receiving the messages at half time. Treat it like a bandaid and rip it off. Go in there and talk footy to everyone. By the end of the day, no one will care anymore haha.