Don’t try to convince Carlton AFL coach Brendon Bolton there’s any merit in close losses.
His side gave flag contender Sydney a mighty scare before the Swans scraped home by six points at the SCG on Saturday.
Bolton’s side lost by seven points to another competition heavyweight West Coast last week and he stressed he would never be satisfied with narrow defeats against more favoured clubs.
“I don’t think that’s performance mindset,” Bolton said.
“If you think that way you always give always give yourself an out.
“We will always recognise and acknowledge and should enjoy the growth of a team and individuals.
“We think we’ve made plenty on that front, but it can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy being honourable when you lose.”
He was pleased with their effort and tackling against Sydney.
The Blues face another stiff challenge next week against Hawthorn, Bolton’s former club who he will coach against in an AFL game for the first time.
“(Recently) we’ve played against some teams (West Coast and Sydney) that have been in grand finals in the last few years, next week we’re going to another team in Hawthorn, who have been in grand finals,” Bolton said.
“It’s great to benchmark our team against those and we keep embracing the challenges.
“We’ll have another one next week.”
He doesn’t expect to have Charlie Curnow available, with the player to undergo scans on a knee injury.
“He didn’t finish the game which is never a great sign, so he’ll miss some weeks, but how many I’m not sure,” Bolton said.
Penster
Guest
Thanks Walter, happy to stand corrected on that. I recall talk about whether Bolts would stay at Hawthorn as his signing at Carlton was on the cusp of the finals and thought he coached against us in his first game there.
Winston
Guest
I have to say, I'm feeling more comfortable about the Swans week by week. Those close losses I would put down to the inexperience on their list. But finally they won a close one. Obviously luck matters, but it would also have given immense confidence to the youngsters. Moving Heeney to the midfield showed us a glimpse of what's in store for years to come. Future is bright at the Swans with Heeney and Mills set to take over the midfield, and when Jack and Hannebery start to age and lose pace they can just do a straight swap with Heeney and Mills. Jack started off as a tagger, and can easily finish his career as our small defender. Hannebery is a great overhead mark and set shot, so how good will it be when he and Papley are our left and right foot combinations inside attacking 50. I've been very impressed with Naismith as well. His ruck work is excellent and his jump is often a foot higher than the opposing ruckman. He just has to gel a bit more with our midfield with so many of his clean taps going straight to the opposition. How many times did he tap it straight to Bryce Gibbs on the weekend? I'm not worried at all, that'll all improve with experience. I just want Dean Towers out of the team...
Walter
Guest
Penster: I think you'll find that John Barker coached that game. Agree with you about Ratten, certainly, and hope for the future. Regards, Walter.
Jones
Guest
Ha ha ha ha ha. Hawks Hawks Hawks
Lroy
Guest
Carlton and Melbourne are both playing well at the moment and have stayed with some good sides right until the end. Wouldnt suprise me if they roll a big name and have some effect on the top 4. If your team is due to play them be happy with the 4 points... no one is getting any percentage boosters against these two for the final 6 home and away games.
Brinnx
Guest
I thought the Blues really stood up in this game. A couple of inclusions over the last two weeks have refreshed the playing group. Thomas, Walker and Everitt are going to struggle to get games from now on, with more value getting games into Buckley, Silvangi and Charlie Curnow etc. Boy I hope Curnow has not done his knee, not had a lot of luck injury wise this year. Still short of a couple of quality midfielders, I wonder if Mitchell was having a sneaky peak at the blues and wondering if he could be a teammate with some of them next year. The battle between Crips and Kennedy was great to watch - talk about young bull vs older bull, with the little bit of extra class getting the swans home in the end.
Liam
Guest
I really hope you're right; it'd mean Hawthorn lost to one of either Sydney or Geelong, and Geelong's form, irrespective of their defeat of Adelaide at home (Adelaide were absolutely putrid) is poor, much worse than they were of the best. And Sydney, prior to this match, weren't smashing it, either. Both sides had best firm up their gameplans and their execution before finals, because doing so during is far too late.
Swannies
Guest
Just a little hiccup on our way to the Grand Final. You won't see the Swans really kick into gear until the finals at the SCG. Lock it in...will be a Swans Geelong grand final! Longmire doing a superb job of steering Swans to 3 GFs.
Penster
Guest
Small pick up - Bolts coached against Hawks in final round of H&A last year, next week will be the second time the master and apprentice meet. The Blues are a couple of games up on same time last year, and season launch video The Journey is an excellent watch to see the mindset he brought with him. Hope he's given time to make the plans work, Ratten and Malthouse were very unfairly dealt with by an impatient board.
Roger of Sydney
Guest
Swans disposal was terrible but it wasn't all about a poor playing Swan more about an intensive tackling Blue. Great to see Heeney get hold of the ball but our youth showed its inexperience yesterday. Without Kennedy the Swans would have no chance, his strength and persistence is outstanding. As usual a couple of passengers for the Swans, but well played the blue boys though.