The Tackle: Jay Clark on Sydney’s embarrassing loss and all the round 12 likes and dislikes
As Saturday night proved, Sydney’s problems are very real – but it all started long before that. So, who’s to blame? And who needs to put their hand up? JAY CLARK has his say.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Eight months after it was humiliated on footy’s biggest stage, Sydney is a laughing stock again, following a 90-point capitulation against the Crows.
But, as Jay Clark finds out in this week’s likes and dislikes, the Swans are not the only team with problems.
DISLIKES
1. Swan dive
The Sydney Swans are still stuck in that cave John Longmire spoke about.
When the former Swans’ premiership coach reflected on another grand final blow-out last year, Longmire referred to the pain and emptiness which can consume the vanquished.
It was the dark and haunting feeling of being blown away, if not completely humiliated on the big stage.
And for the Swans, it happened twice in three years.
Eight months on from that 60-point hammering from the Lions last year, the Swans are not only still deep in the cave, the emergency flare has officially been shot up over their season.
And Cox, who led a painstaking seven-and-a-half-hour review of the Grand Final with his troops last year, looked a broken man only 12 games into his coaching career after the 90-point humiliation from Adelaide at the SCG on Saturday night.
On the field, the Swans are having all sorts of problems converting in the forward half.
The most efficient team in the competition in the forward half last year are ranked 17th for scores per inside 50m this season.
They are 14th for forward 50m contested possessions and 17th for forward 50m marks, according to Champion Data.
Some bold list moves await the Swans who are expected to go after a key forward such as Bulldogs’ Jamarra Ugle-Hagan or Carlton’s Harry McKay at season’s end to sharpen the team in attack.
But it is also an intriguing time for the Swans off the field with highly-rated CEO Tom Harley squarely in the mix for the league’s vacant chief operating officer role.
If Harley leaves, too, there will be enormous leadership change at the club considering the coaching change last year.
Of all the ready-made assistants last year, Cox was seen as ‘The One’ after an excellent apprenticeship under Longmire.
But the ruck great must take responsibility midway through a horrific first AFL season in charge, because the truth is the coaching handover from Longmire to the man who turned down the West Coast job late last year is going horribly.
Perhaps the marathon grand final review, which included a one-hour examination of the first minute of the game, wasn’t the right rein because the system, spirit, execution and effort hasn’t been there this year.
And there are red lights flashing on players’ individual declines right across the board.
Cox made a big move on Saturday night in the post-match gloom, wheeling out the big stick early in his senior coaching reign, saying the performance was “unacceptable and embarrassing” on the same night this proud club celebrated its 2005 premiership reunion in front of the club’s greats.
It certainly was one of the club’s worst losses in recent times.
But these are big words which the man in charge can only use sparingly before the connection between the coach and playing group can start to be undermined.
To be blunt, if Chad Warner or Isaac Heeney aren’t saving the Swans with their individual heroics as they sometimes have this season, the reality is the same side which has played off for two of the last three premiership cups have somehow and suddenly become an ordinary footy team.
Nick Blakey had only 11 touches against the Crows and has been well down on his best this season, veterans Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd aren’t having the same impact, Tom McCartin’s back-and-forth to the forward line was a disaster, slick ball user Ollie Florent was dropped to the VFL, and the club will have to use the second half of the season to examine its list.
Injured stars Errol Gulden, Logan McDonald and Tom Papley and suspended skipper Callum Mills weren’t there but Cox said himself last week injuries could not be blamed for their slide.
From last year’s runner-up to 14th in only 12 games in 2025 is an incredible drop-off considering at the start of the season the Swans were the most popular premiership tip in the 2025 Herald Sun preview.
Thirteen out of 15 tipsters said they would make the eight. Four said they would win the flag. We thought the squad was cherry ripe.
But their four-win season is already in ruins, and deep cuts will have to be made.
Inflicting more embarrassment, Adelaide’s Wayne Milera said the Swans were “a bit of a rabble, just hearing them on the ground” on Saturday night.
It suggests there was either arguing, confusion or a lack of confidence. And maybe some scars from last year.
As Longmire said, the pain never leaves you, after a record home -and-away season last year finishing a game clear on top of the ladder ended in turmoil.
“I don’t know whether you will ever cleanse yourself,” Longmire said on AFL 360.
“I think it will always be there with you in some way.”
2. Dees’ old habits
It was the kind of U-Turn that sums up Melbourne’s problems.
With four minutes left in the Saints’ win over the Demons, Clayton Oliver gathered a ball on the wing and ignored a free-running Xavier Lindsay zooming past him.
Instead of off-loading the easy handball to the youngster, Oliver turned inside and dumped kick long to Brad Hill who was standing in 20m of free space in defence.
It was another chance gone begging for a Melbourne team which fritted away its chances after half time kicking one goal 12 behinds in the 28-point loss to St Kilda.
Goodwin is a certainty to show it in the review under the heading ‘old habits’.
Goodwin is trying to lead the Demons into a new era but the dump kicks and lack of tackle pressure which was evident in Alice Springs as their recent good form hit a screaming halt.
Defensively, this was a poor game from the Demons, but they hit the human road block in St Kilda star defender Callum Wilkie.
The veteran intercept master was phenomenal dominating the aerial battle across half back to help the Saints draw level with the Demons on 20 premiership points.
It was one of the best efforts from a defender this season.
The Saints took a whopping 140 marks controlling the possession and tempo of play.
But the most exciting flashes came from Isaac Keeler, the tall indigenous forward who played his best game for the Saints as an athletic marking target.
Keeler might be incredibly raw and still working on his fitness, but his reach and agility deep forward will add an exciting edge to the attacking stocks if he continues to develop
3. No tackle zone
Sam Mitchell will have his grumpy face on this week.
The most hyped-up team in the pre-season were belted by Collingwood on Friday night and will zero their focus back to the basics this week.
The Hawks’ clash against the Dogs – who are fresh off the break – will be a rematch of last year’s elimination final when the Hawks smashed the Bulldogs in another cut-throat final loss, so there will be feeling in it.
But Luke Beveridge will know more than anything the Hawthorn heat will come. It has to.
Over the past fortnight, the Hawks have taken a bruise-free and complacent attitude to their tackling.
The Hawks’ pressure against Brisbane was a horrendously low 159, and against the Magpies Mitchell’s men went backwards with a 155 pressure rating.
So out comes the mouth guards and the emphasis on having a crack again against perhaps the best onball unit in the caper.
The contest and clearance work has been OK, but there’s been an aversion to tackling.
It time to hunt the man, as well as the ball.
The cameras will zero in on Hawthorn captain James Sicily who is third for intercept possessions for all general defenders but is 69th for ball use.
One of the best kicks in the competition has been way off with his foot skills so far this season.
And that counter attack rebound is what ignites their scoring chains, as we saw and loved in the back half of last year.
LIKES
1. Tiger turnaround
Richmond went chips in on another flag when they coughed up four early picks for Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
And for their first two seasons in yellow and black it has been a tough watch.
The coach, Damien Hardwick bailed, four stars departed, Taranto’s personal form was heavily scrutinised along with his field kicking, and last year the Tigers won only two games.
Trade regret would had to have sunk in at some point for the two onballers after coming across in 2022 trying to keep the premiership window open.
But over the first half of this season, Richmond’s ship has begun to turn around albeit after letting slip what looked like a certain win over GWS Giants on the road on Saturday night.
Taranto had 23 and two goals, Hopper racked up 29 and one major and Dion Prestia came back from the brink with 31 touches in his first game back from another soft tissue injury.
Prestia has basically been an extra assistant coach over the first part of the season due to his continued injury issues in what appears to be his last AFL season.
But together, the trio ensured Richmond dominated the centre clearance battle 16-5 and inside 50m count 61-50 without young star Sam Lalor against GWS.
And up until the last five minutes, Taranto and Hopper looked like registering a significant victory against their former side, which would have been among the biggest and sweetest wins of their time at Tigerland before the young Tigers tired, and Tom Green took over.
On any measure, the Tigers have exceeded all expectations under coach Adam Yze this year and they still have North Melbourne’s first pick up their sleeve to pair with their own first choice to have a crack at West Coast powerhouse playmaker Harley Reid in the trade period.
The Taranto and Hopper trades have been derided as dud moves over the past two-and-a-bit years and there will have been tough times for the duo.
Taranto came for picks 12 (West Coast’s Elijah Hewett) and 19 (GWS’s Gruzewski) while Hopper cost pick 31 (GWS’s Toby McMullin) and a future first-rounder (Adelaide’s Daniel Curtin).
Certainly, right now, The Tigers are benefiting from the strength and craft of their experienced onball pair as they prepare for a winnable game against Sydney Swans at the MCG.
2 Box Office Crows
Adelaide has been rewarded for holding its nerve.
As far back as 2022 in his third season in charge, there were suggestions Nicks would not survive the club’s rebuild due to the state of the list.
And despite missing finals in each of his first five seasons, including the goal line score review controversy in the final regular season game against Sydney Swans in 2023, the club could now win the ultimate prize this season.
In a make-or-break year for the coach, the Crows are not only one of the most ruthless, driven and potent sides in the AFL, they are also one of the most exhilarating to watch.
If it’s not Izak Rankine shooting through a forward stoppage at top speed, it’s Josh Rachelle delivering one of the highlights of the season with his Messi-style outside-of-the-boot through-ball to Ben Keays.
Geelong champion Matthew Scarlett might lay claim to the best toe poke in football in the grand final win over St Kilda in 2009, but Rachelle’s little flick to Keays on a screaming run down the ground on Saturday night was one of the most brilliant and skilful plays of the season.
Rankine and Rachelle are one of the game’s most exciting and clean forward half combinations and together they pounded the Swans at the SCG.
And as much as we have lauded Riley Thilthorpe’s form this season as one of the best key forwards in the game, it’s the small men who have been having the big impact in finals in recent years.
After going down to Collingwood at the MCG, this is the biggest test of their season on Friday night against the reigning premier Brisbane Lions.
They have so far made the most of a softer draw, racking up five of their wins by more than 10 goals.
At the back end Mark Keane has anchored the defence and was outstanding again in the 91-point victory over the Swans, gathering 23 touches and 15 intercept possessions.
3. Vintage Pie
Jamie Elliott has a down payment on an All-Australian berth.
The brilliant small forward has been one of the hottest players in the league with his combination of blinding aerial work and ground level smarts.
Collingwood’s clutch king was the fifth highest rated player in the game over the past six rounds after another bag of five goals.
It put Elliott on top in the Coleman Medal race.
But a remarkable slice of history is now also his after the big night out against the Hawks.
Elliott’s five goals and 10 score involvements made him the first 30-year-old Magpie in 18 years to reach those highs since Anthony Rocca in 2007.
4. Action Jackson
Luke Jackson has been called a unicorn for years for his versatility.
And the Dockers’ ruck race became even more interesting in Fremantle’s upset win over Gold Coast on Saturday.
For the first time Jackson played a big chunk as an onballer next to Sean Darcy and gathered 10 ground balls after 10 ground balls against Port Adelaide the week before.
Jackson and Swans’ Brodie Grundy are the only two ruckmen in the game this season to have that level of impact below their knees, underlining their ability to follow up at ground level.
The question is whether Geelong makes the big move on Darcy after watching him closely in recent years.
Darcy has held on to the number one ruck role but had three touches and 29 hit outs to Jackson’s 27 disposals and 21 hit outs.
5. Right call on ruck
The AFL’s match review system had copped it more than anything in football in recent years.
It is easy to whack the matrix which will certainly be revamped at season’s end for its lack of flexibility and middle ground.
But it was spot on when Michael Christian explained how Hawthorn ruckman Lloyd Meek escaped suspension for his heavy collision with Collingwood’s Patrick Lipinski on Friday night.
Lloyd was only slightly late in his genuine attempt to spoil the ball and made heavy contact to the Magpie’s back, knocking him to the ground.
Lipinski was concussed when his head hit the ground hard but considering Meek had only eyes for the ball and did not make direct contact to his head, it was just unfortunate.
Originally published as The Tackle: Jay Clark on Sydney’s embarrassing loss and all the round 12 likes and dislikes
APS Insider: Lloyd’s win over Blues-tied X-factor, father-son Dog
With Matthew Lloyd making the calls and AFL club officials in attendance, a number of future draft prospects put on a show as Haileybury took on Scotch. Get the latest from the APS Insider.
Name and shame or hide and help — the AFL’s public drugs war
The public battle over the AFL’s Illicit Drugs Policy continues — with hard line commentators wanting a major shake-up. We look at the ins and outs of the debate.