SEPTEMBER champions, February duds. Sydney have five weeks until the start of their premiership defence and they will need every second available to get themselves into shape for round one.
In contrast, the start of the season proper cannot come soon enough for Greater Western Sydney, who quite conceivably should have won both their NAB Cup matches on Sunday.
The Swans have traditionally paid only lip service to the NAB Cup and, on the evidence provided at Blacktown - combined losses of 46 points - this year will be no different.
More important is the need to pour as much work as possible into their senior players before their season opener on March 30, particularly after their late start to the pre-season after their grand-final success.
By the time Sydney's full list were back in training in early December, the Giants and the Blues were already several weeks into their campaign. In racing parlance, their opposition were ready to produce strong first-up runs while the Swans were clearly lacking a gallop.
Among those missing on Sunday were reigning club champion Josh Kennedy, Adam Goodes, Shane Mumford, Nick Smith and Lewis Jetta, who played in the Indigenous All-Stars game.
''The only real positive was to get some game time into some players, but that was about it,'' Swans coach John Longmire said. ''There weren't a lot of players who were in good form and we lost a lot of key areas across both games that we wanted to put a better effort in.''
Winning, they say, is a habit but it will not be one the Swans, who fielded 10 of their premiership 22 against Carlton and only eight against GWS, pick up in the next few weeks until they get closer to full strength.
From a Swans point of view, the only relevance Sunday's matches have for the season proper will be if Sydney endure a wretched run with injury this year.
The Swans are not in the business of handing out cheap games to their youngsters just for the sake of it and, as a result, they rarely get a taste of senior football.
Tony Armstrong was the player on the fringe who furthered his cause the most for a round-one call-up.
Armstrong was stiff to miss out on last year's finals but it's a matter of when, rather than if, he will become a regular for the Swans. Playing mainly across half-back, he followed his eight possessions against Carlton with another strong game against the Giants.
Midfield trio Jarrad McVeigh, Ryan O'Keefe and Kieren Jack were clearly the Swans' best, which bodes well considering they will again be the keys in Sydney's engine room this year.
''There weren't a lot of them - that's the thing that stands out right now,'' Longmire said. ''We are a month off the other teams but we needed to make sure we're a bit more ahead of what we were tonight.
''We've still got five weeks to get ourselves in the right condition and get our senior players playing.''
The Giants' performances showed why there has been so much optimism emanating from out west this summer, and they made good their promise to give the NAB Cup a shake.
Privately, the wooden-spooners believe they can win five matches this season, up from two in their debut year, and that may not be a pipedream, particularly if Jonathon Patton stays injury-free.
The first pick from the 2011 draft is leaner and fitter this season after a full pre-season.
Patton finished the night with four goals - two each against Sydney and Carlton - and provided the long target that was missing last year.
He was also nimble at ground level, which was best demonstrated with his second goal against the Blues when he dodged two Carlton defenders to snap truly.
''He looked fairly exciting tonight, I thought,'' coach Kevin Sheedy said. ''He's pretty quick and slick for a big fella. Most tall players this time of year really haven't hit their straps yet.''
No comments:
Post a Comment