Swans' flag hopes in tatters after Power pummelling
Swans’ flag hopes in tatters after Power pummelling
We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.
The Sydney Swans’ slow starts continue to curse them after crashing to a 22.16 (148) to 5.6 (36) loss to Port Adelaide in their worst performance of the season.
The Swans have had a season of two acts: the first, fluent and brimming with the confidence, the second has stuttered and spluttered with each of their major players not quite sure of the roles they once inhabited so seamlessly. Against Port Adelaide they completely forgot their lines.
The Swans did not manage a single shot on goal in the first quarter as Port Adelaide taunted and toyed with their reshuffled back line to bring up seven successive majors on the famous old scoreboard at Adelaide Oval.
By the end of the second quarter the game was over with 78 points separating the teams.
Port Adelaide put on the perfect impression of the Swans in the first part of the season, running freely in the midfield, pressurising the opposition relentlessly, scoring at will and looking primed for finals football in September.
Chad Warner and his Swans teammates trudge off the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.Credit: Getty Images
Charlie Dixon’s first goal for Port Adelaide highlighted the Swans’ lack of direction in defence after the full-forward easily marked the ball despite the attention of Tom McCartin and Aaron Francis.
The Swans’ defence huddled together wide-eyed beside the posts, unable to believe that their previous nightmares in the first quarter were about to start again. They could have had little idea just how excruciating the game was going to become.
Port Adelaide dominated contested possessions all over the field and their forwards were queuing up for their opportunity to get their scoring stats racked up for the season.
It got worse in the lead-up to Port Adelaide’s seventh goal when Swans defender Oli Florent hand-balled to the waiting Mitch Georgiades, who unable to believe his luck, slammed the ball through. It was his first of four goals on the night, joined by Willie Rioli also on four and Dixon on three.
Charlie Dixon of the Power celebrates a goal against the Swans.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The Swans desperately missed the leadership of Dane Rampe and poise of Lewis Melican, with Nick Blakey forced to a start in full-back role that largely left him unable to provide any forward thrust early in the game.
The Swans travelled to Adelaide Oval having lost four of their last five games. The late-season slump threatened to become chronic after last Sunday’s 39-point comprehensive defeat to the Bulldogs at the SCG. This performance from the Swans was considerably worse and a season that promised so much is now rapidly unravelling.
Last week, Port Adelaide’s 14-point win over Carlton in Melbourne gave them confidence and provided the perfect platform to totally dismantle a Swans side completely shorn of their previous confidence.
The Swans’ finely tuned midfield machine could once outrun and outplay any team in the competition, but those days seem a distant memory on current form. There is something wrong in the mechanism that cannot be located.
Isaac Heeney, Errol Gulden and Chad Warner were brutally outshone by Port Adelaide’s Connor Rozee, Willem Drew and Zak Butters.
While the Swans frequently fumbled the football, Port Adelaide moved it quickly and accurately, finding their targets at will.
The Swans were forced into a late reshuffle of their line-up after Joel Amartey was unable to play, forcing ruck Peter Ladhams to move into the forwards where he was ineffective. Captain Callum Mills also did not look comfortable on the field after starting as a half-forward.
The Swans’ earlier form that sent them on a stunning 10-game winning streak has provided them with sufficient credit to very comfortably keep them playing football into September.
What the Swans do when they arrive in finals is a different story, but based on their current form, their position at the top of the ladder looks increasingly incongruous.
Loading
