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There are losses and then there are humiliations. Losses can be difficult to overcome, but humiliations scar athletes for indefinite periods of time – sometimes for the remainder of their careers.
With the AFL season only three weeks away, it remains to be seen whether the Sydney Swans have exorcised their demons after their capitulation to Hawthorn in the 2014 grand final.
Hawthorn’s 63-point win was the equal-ninth highest winning margin in a grand final and the biggest since Geelong decimated Port Adelaide by 119 points in 2007.
The scars of the Power’s humiliating defeat, in which they managed only two goals after halftime, weighed heavily on players, coaches and fans alike. They faded to irrelevance when they finished 13th in 2008.
The Power’s demise is not at all unusual though.
Since 1985, 10 grand finals have been won by 50 points or more. Of the teams to lose by 50 or more points, Port Adelaide and two others have finished the following season outside of the eight: Collingwood in 2004 and Melbourne in 2001.
Collingwood were made to look second-rate when they lost to the Brisbane Lions by 50 points in 2003. Melbourne were equally as humiliated by Essendon in 2000 when they lost by 60 points.
While 50 or 60 points may not sound like a thrashing, in the context of a grand final – a game designed for the two best teams in the competition to decide an overall champion – it’s a blow out.
It was an unexpected blow out for the 2003 Collingwood team that had stretched Brisbane in the 2002 grand final, which many commentators thought would be one-sided.
Melbourne’s thrashing was probably less of a surprise. Essendon had bullied every team into submission in 2000, bar their one loss to the Bulldogs in Round 21.
Despite these differences, the outcomes were the same. Collingwood fell from runner up in 2003 to 13th in 2004, while Melbourne fell from runner-up in 2000 to 11th in 2001.
These stats do not bode well for the Swans. But then again it’s not all bad news for Sydney either.
Hawthorn rebounded to win the 1986 flag after Essendon defeated them by a massive 78 points in 1985. And West Coast won their maiden premiership in 1992 after Hawthorn defeated them by 53 points in the 1991 grand final.
Some clubs have the ability to harness a humiliating loss and use it as ammunition, while others are crippled by the shame of having competed so poorly.
2015 will add to the depth of this history when we reflect upon the Swans’ season come September.
Are they a side that has more in common with the Hawthorn of the ’80s or the West Coast of the early ’90s?
Or do they resemble a 2007 Port Adelaide – so destroyed it will take six years to reach another finals series?
The Swans were minor premiers in 2014, something they have in common with the West Coast side of 1991. But the Swans also came into the 2014 grand final as favourites. West Coast, on the other hand, were in their first AFL grand final against a Hawthorn side that had featured in seven of the last eight grand finals.
They didn’t carry the same weight of expectation as the Swans did last season, which may have made it easier for the Eagles to bounce back the next year.
Perhaps the Swans can draw inspiration from Hawthorn’s 1986 flag on the back of their ’87 grand final defeat instead. The Swans have been a dominant team over the past decade and dominant teams can draw on recent success to regroup. Then again, the Hawthorn team of the 1980s is arguably the most talented list that we’ve ever seen.
Can the current Sydney list even be uttered in the same breath as a team that had the likes of Dermott Brereton, Jason Dunstall, Michael Tuck, Gary Ayres, and Robert DiPierdomenico?
I doubt it, especially given the Swans lost key All-Australian defender Nick Malceski over the summer and, with the COLA trade restrictions, have gained no new big talent.
So if the Swans are unlike Hawthorn in the ’80s or West Coast in the ’90s, are they more likely to end up out of the eight in 2015 like previous grand final losers Port Adelaide, Collingwood and Melbourne?
For now, the jury is still out. But it would be remiss to expect a team built on the ‘Bloods’ culture to lie down so easily.
Almost as remiss as them losing a grand final by 63 points.
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