Sydney's record in grand finals needs scrutinising

[Looney]

I was all aboard the Lion's wagon throughout the finals as they were so classy in defeat last year. Sydney on the other hand have an arrogant strain which shits me. Longmire clearly has a chip on his shoulder about us and Fly so that's a good reason to be delighted with yesterday's outcome.

Sydney's previous president hated us and Eddie with a passion and never hid the fact.

Most supporters have a couple of teams they have a particular hatred for and it's not always logical.

Sydney's insistence on playing their home games at the SCG was because Collingwood kept beating them at Stadium Australia.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Not sure...but one thing is certain, both of their teams lose Grand Finals more than they win them.

So maybe we’re fighting over bragging rights

 

[theprospector]

Sydney's insistence on playing their home games at the SCG was because Collingwood kept beating them at Stadium Australia.

Bet them about 13 times in a row. We’ve always matched up well on them

 

[Lunchtime]

So maybe we’re fighting over bragging rights

Maybe yeah lol

 

[kickazz]

Sydney's insistence on playing their home games at the SCG was because Collingwood kept beating them at Stadium Australia.

Turn it up. That place was an injury inducing shithole. They couldn't get away quickly enough

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

classic diversion from yesterday

Really?? So the morning after a team has suffered a devastating loss, you think it’s really normal to go on their board and hang shit on them?

Mind you, it was Sunday morning, which as we all know comes after Saturday night, which as we all know is when people go out and hope to get lucky, and so it was pretty obvious that…

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Sydney's previous president hated Eddie with a passion and never hid the fact.

In fairness, he was hardly Robinson Crusoe there. And McGuire did provide an awful lot of material to work with.

 

[theprospector]

The awful reality is that this thread will run like wildfire until they win a flag

 

[maxy87]

The heaviness of the defeats is a concern but I think Sydney peaked too early this year and their competitors went to work on them in the second half of the season. I never at any point this year considered them a complete premiership team. I know that sounds silly as they occupied top spot all year and made the grand final. But take a closer look - there forwardline is dysfunctional and lacks quality (Amartey, McDonald and McLean strike fear into nobody). This issue was papered over by their midfielders scoring goals (i.e., Heeney). Time and time again Andrews, Payne and Lester mopped up yesterday and they are far more accomplished defenders than the above mentioned are as forwards.

Sydney’s defence is undersized and other than McCartin lacks key position quality and an elite small defender that could go with Lohmann and Cameron. They also do not have an elite winger either, perhaps due to lack of necessity for such a position on the small SCG. You need an elite winger on the MCG.

So it’s basically down to their midfield which has proven to be very good for much of the season, though the hardened clearance players in Neale, Dunkley and the quality of Ashcroft exposed their soft underbelly. Brisbane were riding a wave of momentum, were desperate to atone for last year and are generally a better rounded and more compete team than Sydney. Don’t be fooled by the 5th place on the ladder. They were the best team in it this year in my opinion.

In 2022 the Swans were a very young side that were the beneficiaries of a Melbourne implosion and rode a bit of luck to get to the GF. The Cats were primed and far more experienced.

2016 was a big missed opportunity for them but like this year, they were facing a Footscray team riding a big wave of momentum and good will from neutrals.

The non-competitiveness of 2014 was an eyebrow raiser for sure.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

They also do not have an elite winger either, perhaps due to lack of necessity for such a position on the small SCG. You need an elite winger on the MCG.

The SCG is wider than Perth Stadium, GIANTS Stadium, Marvel Stadium, Adelaide Oval and GMHBA Stadium, so this would be a problem for most teams surely?

 

[Looney]

Turn it up. That place was an injury inducing shithole. They couldn't get away quickly enough

Worse than Marvel?

 

[maxy87]

The SCG is wider than Perth Stadium, GIANTS Stadium, Marvel Stadium, Adelaide Oval and GMHBA Stadium, so this would be a problem for most teams surely?

I’m thinking more length-wise with the 50m arcs basically touching the centre square. A more condensed set up with less need for hard running link up players on the wing. I do note that Florent got 24 disposals yesterday though so maybe that wing point is less salient.

 

[kickazz]

Worse than Marvel?

Yeah worse

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Worse than Marvel?

Way worse. Anyone who knows Sydney knows why that place is a shithole.

Absolute pain to get to if you live anywhere east of Ryde, which the majority of the Swans fanbase do.

There's nothing out there. No pubs within any walking distance, and no buzz or energy as it's so far from the city. It's been an albatross around Rugby League's neck for years.

Basically, take everything we love about the MCG and the surrounding areas, and take it all away while driving 45 minutes to an hour down the road to get there.

Add to that the injuries sustained on the ground and the health and safety elements (see Jarryd Roughead) and it's clear as day why they wanted to get out of the joint.

 

[Gavin Excell]

I know there's a tendency to hyper analyse at these times, but I found Dane Rampes comments interesting

"Im at peace with our preparation which makes this hollow, we don't know what went wrong"

 

[Kobe Gryant]

I know there's a tendency to hyper analyse at these times, but I found Dane Rampes comments interesting

"Im at peace with our preparation which makes this hollow, we don't know what went wrong"

Rampe seems like a pretty switched on dude, at least by footballer standards.

Probably just taking the philosophical route that we did all we can to prepare, and what will be, will be.

Maybe not ideal for a captain, but I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Rampe seems like a pretty switched on dude, at least by footballer standards.

Probably just taking the philosophical route that we did all we can to prepare, and what will be, will be.

Maybe not ideal for a captain, but I wouldn't read too much into it.

Yes true, but it suggests that the loss has come as a complete shock to them

 

[sherb]

Way worse. Anyone who knows Sydney knows why that place is a shithole.

Absolute pain to get to if you live anywhere east of Ryde, which the majority of the Swans fanbase do.

There's nothing out there. No pubs within any walking distance, and no buzz or energy as it's so far from the city. It's been an albatross around Rugby League's neck for years.

Basically, take everything we love about the MCG and the surrounding areas, and take it all away while driving 45 minutes to an hour down the road to get there.

Add to that the injuries sustained on the ground and the health and safety elements (see Jarryd Roughead) and it's clear as day why they wanted to get out of the joint.

Is the Novotel no longer there?

 

[Tedeski]

It has to be Longmire.

They have the runs on the board, the players, the wins, but even after the loss, he provided no real insight into it and hardly seemed disappointed.

For decades now, we've been told how well Sydney is run as a club, essentially suggesting they’re the best. They don’t need to bottom out, always make finals, and are always in contention. Yet... are they happy with this status? Maybe, just maybe, they’re content with it all. The media never criticizes them, always praising them for being 'on top'.

You sound envious that we are a well run club.
What’s your problem with that? We have to battle against a few bigger sports in the state than the VIC teams do. What I don’t get about your club is why in round 7 at the G Swsn supporters outnumbered Hawk supporters at a lousy crowd of 34,000 or so.
By round 23 the mothballs were taken out of the gold jackets & your mostly bandwagon supporters were back in the stadium again. Now that is pathetic support if ever I’ve seen it.

 

[Tedeski]

Sydney's insistence on playing their home games at the SCG was because Collingwood kept beating them at Stadium Australia.

No it’s because it’s been our home ground since we moved to Sydney.

 

[The King!]

.

The awful reality is that this thread will run like wildfire until they win a flag

.

This

Endless theories will be thrown up, but nothing matters until they win a flag basically.

We could go 23-0 and win 2 finals next year and it will still be the big story and rightly so through that

 

[Cuzz09]

We had this exact issue right up to the 2018 flag.

kept getting eliminated in semis/Prelims at the G

Lost there during seasons.

Then in 2018 we won every game we played at the MCG (and won every game we played in Vic) and the GF and the chatter all went quiet.

Sent from my SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[RCAB]

You sound envious that we are a well run club.
What’s your problem with that? We have to battle against a few bigger sports in the state than the VIC teams do. What I don’t get about your club is why in round 7 at the G Swsn supporters outnumbered Hawk supporters at a lousy crowd of 34,000 or so.
By round 23 the mothballs were taken out of the gold jackets & your mostly bandwagon supporters were back in the stadium again. Now that is pathetic support if ever I’ve seen it.

I don't envy your success at all. In fact, I'm offering insight into why you tend to fall short at the final hurdle so often. If this isn't something you’re concerned about, then my initial point still stands

 

[PerthBoy86]

Does anyone remember squiggle with the tracker that tracks a clubs overall defence and offence .
I remember looking at squiggle once and noticed that clubs that have historically been stronger defensively than offensively namely Sydney, Collingwood and Saint Kilda have lost three times as many grand finals as they have won more or less.
That's just an observation I thought was interesting. In 1991 Hawthorn beat the more favoured Eagles in a grand final because Hawthorn had a more stacked forward line and the Eagles coach put too much emphasis on defence against the Hawthorn forwards rather than just fighting fire with fire imo.

Maybe I'm greedy, but really wish we'd pinched 91. It galls me we're 0-2 against the Hawks in gfs and may never have a chance at revenge. Not really, but it's a mild annoyance.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Hindsight Harry and all that.....but I noticed that in the lead-up, the Lions players looked so much more relaxed and easy-going whereas Sydney were more po-faced and serious.

I did wonder if the Swans were going to get overwhelmed by a 'this is serious business' mentality, a bit like Adelaide in 2017.

Rampe's expression vs Neale's holding up the cup was commented on.

One team excited to take on the challenge of winning, the other terrified of bottling it again. You could tell they truly did believe they not only could but would win. Almost from the start there was almost a sense of inevitability they'd win.