Sydney’s blue-collar work ethic helped the club win AFL flags in 2005 and 2012 but on Friday night minor premiers Hawthorn gave the Swans a lesson in how to get an even spread of contributors.
After scores were level at 4.7 (31) at halftime in front of almost 60,000 fans at the MCG, the Hawks kicked away with an 11-goal second half to Sydney’s three goals.
Hawthorn’s 15.15 (105) to 7.9 (51) victory allows the Hawks to have a week off while the Swans will host a knockout semi-final on the night of Saturday September 14 at ANZ Stadium against the winner of the Richmond-Carlton elimination final.
Sydney coach John Longmire says the Swans want more spark out of speedsters Gary Rohan and Lewis Jetta, who’ve had injury-interrupted seasons.
Rohan (three disposals) was playing his fourth match of the season while Jetta (four possessions) was subbed on during the third term in his first game since round 10.
“That’s our challenge. We’ve got Gary Rohan amd Jetta coming back at the back end of the season, that we rely upon to give us a bit of a spark,” Longmire said.
“We need to get that going.
“We’ve also got to rely on the character of our blokes.
“We’re still alive. We’ve still got a bit of footy to play this year we hope.”
Longmire defended the selection of big forwards Jesse White and Kurt Tippett (two goals) plus ruckmen Mike Pyke and Shane Mumford, who was subbed out in the third quarter.
“We would have played all of them … if we had the choice again. All of them were in good form,” he said, adding that midfield depth was Sydney’s main concern against the Hawks.
“A few of our mids, Kieren Jack and Joey (Josh Kennedy) and those blokes did okay but we didn’t have the depth, our bottom six to eight players didn’t give us that depth that we’ve had, particularly through that midfield group.
“When you look at what Hawthorn had and their contribution throughout their whole 22, it was a bit more even than ours.”
The Swans were smashed 270-172 in uncontested possessions.
“Under pressure we just didn’t hit our targets and they were able to do that so well going back the other way. That was the thing that really hurt us,” Longmire said.
Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes will attempt to prove his fitness at training after being out of the side since round 13 because of a knee injury.
“He does a skills session on Sunday and he’ll look to train next week,” Longmire said.