Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh says there’s no need for the Swans to panic after successive losses, as he prepares to face his old mentor Paul Roos.
The Swans head into next Saturday’s MCG clash with Roos’s Melbourne side off their first set of back-to-back losses in over a year.
A 14-point defeat away to Fremantle was followed by a four point loss to Western Bulldogs, which drops the Swans back into the mid-table pack, with a 3-2 record.
“It’s concerning to lose full stop, two in a row you never want to do that,” McVeigh said on Sunday.
“We were really motivated to put in a really good performance, we knew they were in good form.
“It’s not panic stations by any means. We’ve just got to get back to the way we want to play.
“I think our effort and our hardness has been there, it’s just the execution under pressure is what we’re lacking at the moment.”
Next Saturday’s game will represent the second time Roos will have coached against the club he steered to the 2005 flag, after the Swans defeated the Demons by 31 points at the MCG last year.
McVeigh said Melbourne were now adding flair in attack to the defensive improvements Roos had overseen.
“He’s gone down there and taught them the right way to play footy,” McVeigh said.
‘We’ll be ready for a big contest against them, we know Roosy.
“The way they play, it’s a very one-on-one contested style.”
McVeigh credited Roos with turning him into a two-way player.
“He was my first coach when I first arrived at the Swans, so he had a huge impact on my career,” McVeigh said of Roos.
“He taught me how the game is played and I had to learn a lot from him.
“Coming from the juniors you have a lot of attacking flair, but I had to tag there for a while and that taught me how to play on the best players.”
Swans’ coach John Longmire was non-committal about how Adam Goodes performed in his comeback game on Saturday, but McVeigh offered a more positive assessment.
“I thought he was good, he provided a lot of pressure and kicked a couple of goals and played his role for us.”
WhereIsGene
Guest
Why blame Rampe? He's being forced to play Malceski's role and his disposal isn't up to it. Ironically the Swans need to pray for no rain. Struggling in the wet is a sign they lack hunger at the contest, something Geelong also suffers from. Happens to a lot of old teams that've grown overly comfortable with themselves after years of success. Even Hawthorn was showing signs of it before the game against Norf. But I agree with the grand final's Mr Invisible, its a 25 round season and no need for panic stations unless the Dees get up this week. That said Longmire ought to keep Goodes in the NEAFL where he belongs and inject some much needed youth into the side, the team is looking extremely sluggish when it doesn't have the ball.
Rich_daddy
Roar Guru
Turnovers cost them dearly last week. Amateur hour in the backline. Very panicky kicking the ball out of packs in congestions as well. Still they have 1 win more than last season at the same stage.
Big Dallo
Guest
I'm with you peter. I think the swans are ripe to get rolled by the Dees. I would love to see some young blokes given a crack real soon. Shaw and Goodes need to be in the 2s and help some young guys out. I like Mitchell being back in the middle as he provides us with a bit of a hard edge. As far as the call for Rampe to be dumped by some. who is better at the moment I can't think of anyone. If the swans walk out and think they are a sure winner they might have their pants pulled down. All I can say is I hope it's a better spectical than the same game last year. I had the displeasure of sitting through that crap.
Peter Baudinette
Roar Guru
It isn't panic stations. You are probably turning a lot of dials, swearing a lot and those sorts of things. You never want to lose one of those games that are locked away when you are trying to finish top two and make amends for last season. You certainly don't want to lose an away game to the Dees. I recall the round 17 match in 2010 where they kicked 8 in the first qtr and left the Swans in their wake. I still remember the text message from my devoted Dees supporting brother ...."WOWEEEE". They followed that up with another 8 in the third. A bloke by the name Colin Sylvia had 28 touches and another bloke name Brad Green kicked 5. A young bloke in name Jordie McKenzie, in his second season, made 12 tackles. The Brownlow went to Sylvia, Davey, and Frawley. None of them are there anymore, nor a Green and Bruce who both had a day out. But they have been replaced with a rejuvenated line up. Howe, Lumumba, Vince, Cross, Garlett and Hogan. I was talking upsets last week, thinking the Demons could bring about the upset of the round. I've seen it happen to the Swans before, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.
kick to kick
Guest
Turnovers were terrible. But Rampe wasn't the major culprit and must be persevered with. he's played just over 50 games, is quick and competitive and will improve his decision making with experience. Rhys Shaw was a bigger worry. He gifted the Dogs 2 early goals when it looked like their spirit could have been broken early. That changed the game. And he's a 200 gamer. Not that I'd drop him but he can make some horrible blues. You can't fault the Swan's effort. They laid an amazing 109 tackles. But increasingly the game is about turnovers. I think Longmire said after the game the differential in scores from turnovers was 40 points. You can't win with that kind of profligacy.
James
Guest
Swans will continue to be susceptible to turnovers in the wet, or against teams that are fabulous at applying pressure in the contest. It's noticeable they don't protect each other within the pack, allowing efficient disposal. Instead, they rely on quick chain of handballs, that are prone to fumble or intercept. Their intensity at the start of every game bar Port suggests that the mindset is "we will automatically pickup where we left off", Moreover, the great pity about Goodes at the moment, and possibly why Longmire is non committal, is that he's not impacting the contest. Contested ground ball wins would probably have been zero or one against the dogs. He was very good at this. Instead, he's still trying to draw a free kick.
Winston
Guest
I do agree Grundy isn't great, but at least he's tall and that makes him irreplaceable unfortunately. Rampe on the other hand is. The number of times he stuffs up is unbelievable. At this level, effort alone just isn't enough. If he's bad he needs to go.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Rampe bad? Rampe's great and does all the hard things. Key heads let us down, not the new ones which makes the loss hurt. Grundy was one of few who did well and is having a great season.
Winston
Guest
Can people finally see that Rampe is no good? He cost us the game, again. We won the ball more than enough in the midfield. Our forwards kicked goals. But stupid mistakes in the back led to multiple easy goals. It's time to drop him. What happened to guys like Xavier Richards and Brandon Jack?
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Not panic stations given last year's start. Swans know they could have won both games and be 5-0. They didn't I know but it was their own fault and they know why. A good kick up the rear has never hurt the Swans team.