AFL Grand Final 2022: All the latest Sydney Swans news and analysis after the 81-point loss to Geelong
Outspoken Geelong legend Sam Newman has blasted an ‘ordinary’ grand final, and laid all of the blame on one team.
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Geelong legend Sam Newman has panned Sydney ‘insulting’ footy fans with its insipid performance in the grand final.
Outspoken media personality Newman, who played 300 games for the Cats, said he enjoyed Geelong’s win but blasted the Swans with both barrels,
“It was a fantastic effort by Geelong and I stayed until the end and watched all the revelry and merriment,” Newman said on Weekend Sunrise on Sunday.
“Unfortunately, it was a pretty ordinary game. The Swans were disgraceful. Not because they lost, but because ostensibly the game was over at quarter-time and they played the most ridiculous football I’ve ever seen.
“It was almost insulting to the fans, the 100,000, they came down.
“But Geelong were absolutely supreme and fantastic. They treated it like a practice game and played accordingly.”
Newman was more impressed by Robbie Williams than the second-best team of the season.
“The entertainment at the start was fantastic.”
‘Absolutely cooked’: Swan’s big grand final admission
Sydney’s breakout star Chad Warner believes the Swans were “overwhelmed” in the grand final spotlight but remains excited about the future.
Warner and defender Robbie Fox were Sydney’s best players on a bitterly disappointing day that saw its nine-match winning streak come to a screeching halt in an 81-point thumping to Geelong.
The 21-year-old dasher finished with 29 disposals, two goals, 18 contested possessions, 10 clearances and six score involvements to cap his arrival as one of the AFL’s most promising talents.
He never stopped trying, even once the result was well beyond doubt, and his willingness to take risks helped create several of the Swans’ limited scoring chances.
But Sydney as a whole never recovered from the six-goal black eye the Cats landed in a devastating first quarter that as good as ended the match as a contest.
Warner was visibly emotional in the immediate aftermath, with Lance Franklin among those trying to comfort him, as he watched Geelong revelling in the moment he dreamt about.
“We were really confident and I don’t know whether it was the occasion or we just thought it would happen but something obviously went wrong out there,” he said.
“I think we got overwhelmed as well at one point and just couldn’t contain it.
“It’s hard after the game. I was just absolutely cooked. I feel like I tried as hard as I could, which is annoying in itself as well, knowing you’ve done everything and they still pump you by 80 points.”
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Warner, who was short-listed for All-Australian honours this year, is proud of what he and Sydney achieved, aside from Saturday’s horror show, but is already counting down the days for redemption.
“We could have done a lot more and I think that’s probably the annoying part, but we have to wait a whole ‘nother year to have another crack,” he said.
“It was most boys’ first crack at it – mine as well – and all we can do is take experience out of it and make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“Hopefully, we can do the same next year and maybe be a bit better and get the win on September 24.”
‘Embarrassed’ Swans admit to selection howler
- Chris Cavanagh
Sydney coach John Longmire has admitted he “made a mistake” by selecting injured forward Sam Reid as he apologised to fans for a game where “not much went right” for the Swans.
Longmire conceded his young side looked overwhelmed by the occasion as Sydney gave up 11 scoring shots to Geelong in the opening term on its way to an 81-point belting.
Reid left the field late in the second quarter and was substituted out of the game, having entered the match under a cloud with an adductor injury he suffered in the preliminary final.
The 30-year-old had not trained on Tuesday, but the Swans named him in their team on Thursday night and were confident he could get through.
SCROLL DOWN TO GO INSIDE THE SWANS ROOMS POST-MATCH
“Yeah, we made a mistake there,” Longmire said of the selection.
“We were obviously confident. That’s why we picked him. But we made a mistake.”
The grand final defeat was the Swans’ biggest loss since Round 16, 2015 and snapped a sizzling nine-game winning streak this season.
Sydney registered just 32 inside-50s for the game and logged 41 fewer contested possessions than the Cats.
It’s trademark pressure game also went missing.
“We really let ourselves down, our supporters down, no question,” Longmire said.
“From the first bounce, the game looked as foreign as what we’ve played this year. There was no element that we got right. Full credit to Geelong, they played a fantastic game. But we just didn’t give ourselves any chance whatsoever.
“We obviously had a tough game last week, but we felt like we recovered okay.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost a game like that. Normally we give our supporters what I think is pretty good value for money. I just think we just physically and mentally didn’t give ourselves a chance today to do that.”
The Swans fielded just six players who had 150 games or more of experience, while the Cats had 13.
Longmire said the experience gap between the two teams was telling.
“They’re as an experienced, hardened team as you’ll come up against and they handled it that way,” he said.
“We just didn’t. We didn’t have our heads in the game from the very start of the game. When they were getting offensive stoppage goals like they got in the first quarter that we’d planned for and done well at before … we weren’t able to think clearly and perform at that level that we should have.”
Sam Reid is a liability. Into the rooms. Easy in hindsight but it will be a massive selection clanger if he gets subbed off by half time. #AFLGrandFinal
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) September 24, 2022
Sam Reid selection call one of the all-time stinkers by the looks... #AFLGF
— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) September 24, 2022
You’d be proper filthy being Logan McDonald. Sam Reid has provided nothing and looks ready to be subbed.
— James McKern (@jLmcKern) September 24, 2022
Nightmare gamble from the Swans. #AFLGF
Great admirer of the Swans but being forced to sub out Sam Reid is a shocker. Whole gamble that didn't pay off.
— adrian barich (@adrianbarich) September 24, 2022
Logan McDonald, fully fit and ready to play, good enough in 17 games. And they played McLean as a bit of insurance for Reid too, so double whammy 👎👎
Bronx cheers, tears: Sorry Swans ‘embarrassed’ by GF flop
- Sam Landsberger
Callum Mills drifted over to his mum and apologised for Sydney’s performance.
“We feel pretty embarrassed, to be honest,” Mills told reporters moments before he was consoled by his mother, Simone, in the MCG rooms.
“It’ll be hard not to think about this game (over summer) ... we let ourselves down and this will be in the back of our mind for a long time to come, that’s for sure.”
Errol Gulden was the first Swan to emerge from shattered coach John Longmire’s post-match address.
Gulden was an emotional wreck. Openly weeping, he tried to hug his father only to be tangled in the netting in between them.
The 20-year-old spent many minutes embracing his parents as teammates sifted out.
Justin McInerney’s dad, John told the wingman: “Second in a grand final — very proud of you” as he patted him on the back.
Hayden McLean buried his head in his father’s shoulders.
Sam Reid and Tom Hickey picked up their baby daughters, who have had ‘Daddy’ printed on the back of their mini Swans jumpers.
The emotions flowed for the losers. But the heartbreak was on another level for Tom and Paddy McCartin.
Jo McCartin, their mum, lost her mother this week.
She had a stroke on Tuesday and didn’t make it.
Grand final day started when Robbie Williams sang ‘Let Me Entertain You’ to 100,024 rocking football fans.
But it was almost as if the lyrics heard in Sydney’s rooms were ‘Let me Overwhelm You’.
Tom Hawkins was the lead vocalist with Isaac Smith on electric guitar and captain Joel Selwood beating the drums.
The Swans were so close to the speakers their ears must still be ringing.
Forget their goalless third quarter, which was just their fourth for the season. Forget the Bronx cheers for ‘Buddy’ Franklin in the last quarter.
Forget Tom McCartin’s kick across goal that was picked off by Bradley Close.
Forget Chad Warner forgetting to bounce the ball as he whooshed along the wing.
They were merely encore acts. The curtain had well and truly fallen on Sydney’s season long beforehand.
The game, and Sydney’s premiership hopes, were done at quarter-time.
Fifteen minutes of torture, starting at the 17-minute mark of the first term, sank the Swans.
In that stretch seven Swans did not touch the Sherrin — Lance Franklin, Oliver Florent, Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Tom McCartin, James Rowbottom and Hayden McLean.
And in that stretch the Cats outscored Sydney 4.4 (28) to 0.0 (0). Mic drop.
The Cats had 12 inside 50s to zero, won contested ball by 12 and uncontested ball by 22.
It was a wipe-out and you had to rewind all the way to 1996 for the last time a club kicked six goals in the first quarter of a grand final.
Sydney’s biggest loss in seven years included its lowest score for the year and its third-fewest inside 50s in a match in history.
Excluding 2020’s shortened games, you have to go back to Round 10, 2005, for the last time the Swans had fewer than 32 inside 50s.
No wonder Franklin fizzed.
The Swans got some match-ups right. Dane Rampe blanketed Gary Rohan while Robbie Fox outfoxed Jeremy Cameron in a bit of a shock.
But you wonder what Hickey was thinking at those two defensive stoppages to start the match.
Robbie Williams has been in Australia for about five minutes and even he probably knew hulking Hawkins loves to grab the ball out of the ruck and snap goals.
Yet there was Tomahawk twisting past Hickey to tumble through the game’s first two majors, contributing to Sydney conceding 65 points from stoppages.
Another season-worst result saved for the biggest day of the season.
The Swans got beaten by what they know in those magical Hawkins moments.
They also knew Sam Reid was barely able to move all week.
So when Reid was substituted out without having a kick they must’ve been kicking themselves for playing him.
Sydney rolled the dice and it bounced off the table. What must Logan McDonald have been thinking as he watched from the stands fully fit?
What must Collingwood have been thinking after pushing the Cats and Swans to the brink?
Would the Magpies have made the Cats sweat more than this?
The Swans conceded 10 out of 11 consecutive goals across the last quarter of the preliminary final and the first quarter and a bit of the grand final.
Did they play their grand final last week?
Mills denied fitness was an issue.
“Smacked in contested ball, didn’t play the way that we needed to win and the hard part was there wasn’t that much fight back,” the co-captain said.
“Definitely not the young players (to blame). Us as leaders take ownership of that performance.”
“I hope we use this as fuel and use it to move forward together.”
It would be hard to apportion too much to co-captain Luke Parker. His 14 tackles was the third-most ever recorded in a grand final.
Franklin bookended his nine-year Sydney contract with nightmare grand finals.
In 2014 it was Hawthorn 21.11 (137) who defeated Sydney 11.8 (74). In 2022 it was Geelong 20.13 (133) who defeated Sydney 8.5 (52).
The games were similar in that Swans were never in either. Sydney’s surrender was also similar to cross-town rival Greater Western Sydney in 2019.
Like the Giants, the Swans pipped Collingwood in the preliminary final and were then pummelled in the big one.
The Giants were blown away by Richmond (89 points) and the Swans were blown away by Geelong (81 points).
The Swans do so much right. In the past 18 years they have played six grand finals, when the law of averages says they belonged in just two.
Playing a grand final every three years is simply remarkable. In an era of equalisation they are unequally strong.
They’ve played finals in 17 out of the past 20 seasons in a stretch beginning just after Longmire joined as an assistant coach.
Two of these exceptions came in 2019-2020.
Franklin didn’t play a game in 2020 and the Swans used that time down the bottom to pump plenty of games into their budding stars.
Nick Blakey played 37 matches in 2019-20, Oliver Florent 38, Will Hayward 29, Tom McCartin 33, James Rowbottom 28 and Justin McInerney 10.
That turbocharged their two-year ‘rebuild’ while that list doesn’t include powerful weapon Chad Warner, who was the No.1 rated player on the ground.
Longmire started his Saturday morning wandering down Chapel St for a coffee and an acai bowl.
There was no premiership cup.
But with a re-signed Franklin, two precious first-round picks in this year’s draft and the revered ‘Bloods’ culture it’s hard not to see the Swans surging back to grand final day.
And it might not even take them another three years.
Can someone throw the towel in #AFLGF
— Dean (@DEANPEAI) September 24, 2022
Men vs Boys. Shame for the neutrals. #AFLGF
— 🦅 Josh del Pino (@Josh_delPino) September 24, 2022
#AFLGF#Afl#AflGrandFinalpic.twitter.com/XqZIa7cO5c
— Ronan The Accuser 🦇🤓🇦🇺 (@ComicsNerd2) September 24, 2022
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