The real reason the Swans are losing (it's not the youngsters)

A lot of the commentary surrounding the Swans this week has revolved around the younger players being an excuse for the performances, but this doesn’t seem right.

Sydney’s skill levels, fitness and ball movement are all astronomically low.

The poor ball movement has been obvious when coming out of the back half. Of course, there is the obvious excuse of Jarred McVeigh and Dane Rampe (only for the Collingwood game) being injured, as both are very good players off half back.

Isaac Heeney, Tom Papley and Gary Rohan’s inclusions would allow some of the mobile midfielders to drop across half back and cover in defence and help the ball move forward. Nic Newman has been the most impressive of the young players and has done enough to earn a full-time spot in the team once those players come back.

The lack of skill and fitness shown by the senior player is concerning. Dan Hannebery and Josh Kennedy have been okay, while Sam Reid and Lance Franklin have been outstanding, especially given the terrible delivery moving inside forward 50. But even those players have seemed exhausted at times. That shouldn’t be case this early on in the season, unless it is part of a tapering program that will have the squad peaking into the finals.

Will they make the finals though? At this point, it looks unlikely.

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The ability to move the ball freely around the park is the poorest part of their performance. There is no clear path to goal, no strategy, nothing innovative. It is clear that John Longmire has been trying to copy the Hawthorn style of play for the last three years, but the Swans are not Hawthorn.

There is another way to win with Sydney: defensive pressure. It has been the one formula to all of Sydney’s success. They need a defensive mindset and effort that is close to insanity, followed by a half back who can cleanly transition the ball into attack. The former has been there in patches since 2012, but the latter hasn’t since Nick Malceski left.

Clean, fast counter-attacking football from extreme defensive pressure is how Sydney can win. If you lose to Collingwood at the moment there can be no doubt that the defence is a shambles.

The biggest question facing the Swans is who can replace what Malceski did so well? Despite Longmire’s desires to move Callum Mills into the midfield, he is the most likely to take over this mantle. Zak Jones is also rising to this role (where is Michael Talia?).

There are also a few specific players who need to be mentioned.

Kieran Jack
Jack has been appalling this season. He missed a crucial goal last week when the Swans were finally kicking into gear, thanks to some brilliance from Franklin, but Buddy should not be used as a crutch.

Jack had to kick the goal; it was a simple chance with more time than he gave himself. Jack seems to be under pressure whenever he gets the ball, even when he is not. His disposals and work around the ruck are rushed, and he always seems panicked when figuring out his positioning.

There is a very simple explanation for this: Jack has struggled immensely since the 2014 grand final thumping against Hawthorn.

He assumed the captaincy role during that week. He attended press conferences, faced the media, and led the team into the game. He failed miserably on all counts.

It is amazing that Jack and McVeigh remained in the captaincy for so long since that game. There is no question that Jack has passion, but heaping all that responsibility onto a person who is incapable of handling that pressure has had demonstrative consequences for his career. His performances have steadily declined for the past few years and so far this season he has performed at an abysmally low level.

Jack needs to be helped back into a relaxed, calm state of mind. Take him out of the leadership group, take him out of the team and let the man work his way back in. Once Jack gets into the team he should have one clear goal: tackle every single player. He should be running around like a mad dog hunting its prey, every opposition team should be scared of him.

Luke Parker
Parker has been just as rushed and useless as Jack, and should probably be spending time in the twos. His inability to find a target and direct the side isn’t there, at a time when the Swans needs Parker more than anyone to stand up and be their elite playmaker.

Of the midfielders, Kennedy is the stoppage king (the best in the competition by a long way), Jack is the tagger, Lloyd is a stabiliser and it is up to Hannebery and Parker to direct the midfield movement off the half back line into attack. They need to be the generals who use the pieces they have to get the scoreboard ticking up.

Hannebery has been admirable in a poor side this season, but Parker has been second rate, barely visible and mostly pointless. He looks shell-shocked most of the time – out of breath and out of ideas.

Josh Kennedy
In three games that have had crunch moments, the team hasn’t lifted for any of them, which comes down to poor leadership.

This became most evident on Friday night’s game against Collingwood. Kennedy kicked a goal along the comeback trail and his celebration was mediocre, he lifted no one.

The captaincy seems to be sending Kennedy into a slide, rather than lift him, which is unfortunate, because he is such an incredible player.

It is always hard to know who should be captain of a sporting team when you are looking in from outside. It is also a point of view that the people from inside the club should be aware of; we have the perspective of viewing these players based solely on what they are producing on the pitch, which is the most important place to perform.

The captains that work at the Swans make one of their qualities stand above all others: determination. I’m not saying that Josh Kennedy doesn’t have that, he has it in abundance, but it is not his most obvious quality.

Dan Hannebery should be captain of this side. Under all circumstances, his undying determination to win shines through. Buddy should be the VC because of his ability to inspire his players by exploding a game open.

These two very different forms of leadership would complement each other and the Swans can finally attain the leadership they need to put in more consistent performances.

Lance Franklin
It is hard to fault Buddy on his personal performances or his effort in the first two weeks, they were both exceptional, but against Collingwood he was shut down and Longmire showed no tactical nous to remedy the situation.

In the Swans’ current predicament, it is crucial to give Franklin the instruction to drop deep but thus far he hasn’t been used as a half back. His presence and defensive pressure, along with his quick hands and accurate kick, could add much-needed mobility to a team struggling to move freely.

Given that Sam Reid is back in the team and playing so well, Buddy can afford to drop back. The inability to bring his talents into the game when he is clearly out of it has been Longmire’s folly for the three seasons Buddy has been at the club.

After losing to a side as bad as Collingwood, it is hard to see Sydney making the top four, or even the top eight from here.

There should be no illusion that the Swans are in trouble – their season is on the line tonight.