‘Insipid, embarrassing’: AFL world rips Swans after historic disaster

There has been a fiery response from the football world after the Sydney Swans were left humiliated in the grand final re-match.

Ouch. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

No injury list can excuse an “insipid” performance like the one the Swans dished up in their embarrassing grand final re-match loss to Geelong.

Geelong on Saturday night continued their bounce back after starting the season 0-3 by proving their Grand Final demolition job wasn’t a fluke.

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The Swans entered the contest with a decimated backline with Dane Rampe, Paddy McCartin and Tom McCartin sidelined — and the Cats took advantage.

Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins combined for 10 goals as the Cats ran away to record a 93-point victory.

The loss becomes the biggest defeat for the Swans under coach John Longmire and is the club’s heaviest loss since 1998 when they were beaten by 101 points by St Kilda.

Things turned so ugly in the second half as the Cats held the Swans to a dismal three behinds as they got on top all over GMHBA Stadium.

The second half output is the lowest score since they relocated to Sydney and their lowest since Round 12, 1971.

Swans champion and premiership hero Jude Bolton was among the footy commentators to rip into the team for the display.

The Swans’ dressing room was not a place you wanted to be. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

“Plenty of Swans supporters bitterly disappointed by their insipid performance. Rightly so,” Bolton posted on Twitter.

“The ease with which Geelong were able to take the footy from inside the contest to the outside & then sweep it away. A belting in every sense highlighted by an undersized defence dominated.”

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd was also scathing in his review.

“They were embarrassing,” he said on The Footy Show as a montage of Swans clangers was played.

“It is not just what’s going on. This is also how bad their foot skills are. Their back line —that’s as bad a back line as you’re ever going to get. There are some players playing in some roles that should never ever have to play there.”

He went on to say: “They were embarrassing. You can’t trust them in the big games against the big sides”.

Swans coach John Longmire didn’t hide away from the criticism in his post-match press conference.

“It’s hard to put into words, really,” he said.

“We needed to push back and compete harder than that. They were very good. They are a very good footy club. But normally we show a bit more than that, so it was disappointing.

“It wasn’t at the standard that we normally play or the standard the game requires.

“We needed to even a few more contests than what we did. When it gets to that stage, it is pretty simple. You need to get yourself in the game by evening a few more contests.

“We just dropped away far too easily, which was a disappointing aspect.”

Geelong’s midfielders did as they please as they continually hunted the Swans and fed their forward line over and over again.

Too easy. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

After dropping the first three matches of their premiership defence, Geelong is in the eight for the first time this season, while the Swans have slipped to 10th after the demoralising loss.

The Swans had won three of their previous four outings in Geelong but never looked likely without superstar forward Lance Franklin and Joel Amartey.

In a prime example of a mismatch caused by the injury crisis at the Swans, Sydney’s co-captain Callum Mills found himself manning Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins.

Not only was the Swans skipper conceding the Geelong champion at least 11cm height and 15kg weight, the dearth of defensive options robbed Sydney of the chance to use Mills creatively.

That doesn’t excuse the performance.

Originally published as ‘Insipid, embarrassing’: AFL world rips Swans after historic disaster