AFL greats lament ‘disappointing’ Swans lapse in ‘least competitive’ showing of season amid 5-yr low

Sydney has slumped to a 2-3 start to a season for the first time since 2020, and the side’s defensive lapse during a key stretch of the game has been put on blast.

The Swans were neck-and-neck with Collingwood in the early going but were outmuscled from quarter-time onwards as their corridor transition game was stunted by a sticky Pies defensive web.

Sydney remains without stars Errol Gulden, Callum Mills and Tom Papley, but there was no excusing its poor pressure levels in the first 15 minutes of the second term.

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Brisbane Lions legend Jonathan Brown labelled Sydney’s pressure rating of just 139 during that period of time “horrible” and “unacceptable at AFL level” as it conceded five of the first six goals in the stanza amid a Pies run that irrevocably blew the game open.

“That’s just horrible. That’s unacceptable at AFL level,” Brown said in response to the sub-standard pressure rating.

“They’ll be disappointed with that.”

Overall, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley called it Sydney’s “least competitive performance for the year”.

“The loss against Hawthorn I thought was meritorious — they kept coming — the loss against Brisbane they probably should have won … then they had (their wins), (but) that’s the one where they looked like they were unpacked,” Buckley assessed on Fox Footy’s post-game coverage.

“And they didn’t really have anything to come back with. So, that’s going to be a challenge. That review will throw up a few things for the coaches to have a look at; they might learn a bit out of that.

“Sydney couldn’t put a chain of possessions together without being pressured and kicking it under pressure to a Collingwood defender who would intercept and then go back the other way. They just weren’t able to get any flow in their offence at all after quarter-time.”

Brown added: “Sydney actually had more inside-50s, but they just really couldn’t get any penetration, apart from the first quarter when they had some clean runs (and) they took the ball from one end to the other.”

Demons great Garry Lyon said: “The confidence was there early, the Lizard (Nick Blakey) was going, (Riley) Bice was going and (Braden) Campbell, but not after this (Collingwood shut down the corridor) … they’re going to have to work through it.”

But keeping in mind the aforementioned casualty ward, which also includes Harry Cunningham, Robbie Fox, Justin McInerney (suspension) and now Joel Amartey (hamstring), AFL legend Jason Dunstall warned against judging Dean Cox too harshly.

“He (Cox) shouldn’t be judged until he’s got a fit list to work with,” Dunstall said late Friday night.

“Whether they can salvage it in time to make a real charge remains to be seen. They’re 2-3 at the moment with half a dozen of their best players from their best 10-12 out of the lineup.

“So, the back end of the season will be very important for the Swans.”

Asked post-game what specifically let him down, Cox responded: “Basic fundamentals.

“Collingwood was cleaner, tougher on the ground, they absorbed the ball well, they put enormous pressure on, it was really efficient — we couldn’t fight our way through it,” he said in his press conference at Adelaide Oval.

In response to a question about his side’s pressure in the second quarter, Cox said his Swans were able to rectify it closer to half-time but “couldn’t do it for long enough”.

The 43-year-old first-year senior coach ultimately placed the onus on his leaders to show the younger brigade the way.

“I think that’s the first part anyone goes to is the leaders and senior players — you can’t rely on the kids to get it done — they’ve got to lead the right way and that starts Monday when we get back training,” Cox said.

“But one thing I’ve always said is that the players that represent the club, no matter what their name tag suggests, we need to play our way and play to a system that requires us to give ourselves the best chance.

“Some of the kids are learning their way through that and some of our experienced players need to help them a little bit more by performing the way that we know that they have in the past.”