The Sydney Swans suffered their second straight defeat after going down to the Richmond Tigers at the MCG last night.
The Swans, who had flown out of the blocks in the first five rounds, are now stumbling after successive losses to Adelaide and Richmond.
Sydney’s co-captain Adam Goodes was on the sideline as the Swans delivered a lacklustre performance against a younger and more hungry Tigers outfit.
In the 29-point defeat, Sydney were outplayed in the midfield with Richmond having 100 more disposals and 50 extra handballs than the Swans.
Trent Cotchin had a game high 29 disposals and Jack Riewoldt kicked four goals.
The game was lost in contested ball, with the Swans being starved of the Sherrin and not being able to hit key forwards at crucial times.
Adam Goodes, one of the AFL’s best midfielders, was sorely missed by the Swans in that department on the weekend.
Goodes who injured his quadricep in the Swans loss to Adelaide last week, is expected to be out of action for up to six weeks.
Which begs the question, can the Swans continue to fly-high despite being upset by Richmond and losing their star midfielder?
Fortunately for Sydney, they have a favourable draw over the next six weeks.
They play the Demons in round eight the Saints in round nine, Bulldogs in round 10 and have a bye in round 12.
With the Swans receiving a reality check on the weekend, Sydney can not afford to underestimate their opponents and take these games for granted.
Goodes played a major role in the side knocking off premiership contenders Hawthorn in his record breaking appearance.
Performances like that leave other team’s fans and players weary of the Swans potential for the 2012 season.
But, the drop in standard has left the Swans in limbo.
At times, the Swans play footy that puts them in the premiership winning conversation, with the likes of Geelong and Collingwood.
Other times, Sydney play footy that leaves them on the cusp of greatness, with mid-tablers like Fremantle, North Melbourne and St.Kilda.
This article may look like an over-exaggeration, but its not a case of paranoia or over-anxiety.
Adam Goodes is a key ingredient to the Sydney Swans’ 2012 title aspirations. The Swans fate will not be determined in the next 6 weeks.
But, this period will create the platform for a mid-season charge that will put the Swans in with a good chance come September.
Adam Goodes will thrive in the finals if his side takes advantage of the 6-weeks springboard the draw has provided them.
It may seem incredibly short-sided to judge Sydney based on one bad game and their first week without Adam Goodes, but the Swans need to address this issue before its too late.
Peter
Guest
I think you mean 'wary', not 'weary'. Good article.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Put White up forward. He reminds me of Leigh Brown. A little bit of love will go a long way. Reid in the back line or on the ball for a bit. He needs less love.
Stewie
Guest
I would say that whilst the loss of our beloved Goodesy does hurt, this combined with the loss of Shane Mumford, one of the better ruckman in the comp, Gary Rohan, who will be the definition of X-Factor in a few years time (injury pending), and even Lewis Roberts-Thompson, who is very underrated, hurts a lot more. The sad thing is that our forward stocks are really good! Mitch Morton recently kicked 10 goals in a reserves match, Tommy Walsh hasn't had a chance to prove himself on the big stage (NAB Cup doesn't count), and Trent Dennis Lane needs to play a full game this season. Give these guys a go! Also Jetta has really lifted this season, providing exciting run off the wing. Really pleasing to see.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Thats out f.cking problem. We have some appalling haircuts at GWS, but no mullets ...
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Sydney have a weakness against mullets. Taylor Walker last week, Maric this week.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Agree. Most successful teams have at least one high class player in each of the forwards, midfield and defence. Sam Reid may well develop into a high class player in a couple of years, but he looks way down on confidence at the moment. May be worth a spell in the seconds to regain some touch. I thought Jesse White would have developed into a gun forward by now, but he never seems to have quite made the jump up to AFL standard. He's too good for the seconds, but not quite up to the firsts.
Craig
Guest
I think the writer of this article has hardly watched any Swans matches this year. If he had he would recognise that where the Swans will miss Adam is his contribution in the forward line. He has hardly been in the midfield this year. The match against Richmond was I hope a shocking abberation. Apart from this match the Swans have displayed one of the best defences in the league (not suprising to a long time watcher of the Swans) and the fastest rising midfield in the league based on the young guns ( Hanneberry, Kennedy, Parker, Jack and Bird) with the oldies such as Bolton, OKeefe and McVeigh playing supporting roles. The Swans forward line is a mess and this is where Adam Goode's presence has been particularly needed along with the midfield drifting down and resting and being quite potent. Its also worth keeping in mind that the best 4 quarter match played by the Swans this year was against North Melbourne ,without Adam Goodes. Adam has improved in this role up forward but Sam Reid has gone MIA. There is little support for Reid ATM, with Matt Spangher being I think terribly missed. The forward line looked so much more potent late last year when he strung a few games together with Reid and co and this got them into the finals. For all of this I have never seen the Swans start so well. Usually they are poor starters. It is normally their storming finish to seasons (often against very good opposition) that gets them into finals at the back end of the year. The Swans need to do some serious rennovation of the forward line I think though to be a contender.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
While there's no doubt the Swans are lessened by the absence of one the real superstars of the AFL, he can't do everything. THe way the team played last weekend, they still would have lost even if he had been there. Swans have a real problem up forward at the moment. Midfield and defence are usually pretty good, but there aren't many effective targets up front.
Matt F
Roar Guru
There's no doubt that we'll miss him over the next few weeks. Who wouldn't miss a player as good as him? I think it's too early to tell how much we'll miss him though. We had him last season against Richmond at the MCG and we lost by 43 points. He missed our game against North this season and we won by around 6 goals. The fact that we still can't do anything at the MCG is probably the bigger talking point at this stage. We should be too good for Melbourne and the Dogs at home which will leave us with St K and Essendon, both at Etihad. We need to win at least one of those and based on the performances of both of those sides this weekend, it won't be easy.