I think that the players and coaching staff deserve great credit for putting Swans in the position that they are in now. Absolutely noone picked them to finish in the top 5 at the start of the year and now here they are on the verge of qualifying for the finals. They have not been beaten since May and they have made a lot of progress in the last 12 months.
However in watching the team over the last 2 weeks I am getting this nagging feeling that Swans are starting to lose a bit of momentum. Their team footy which was so good about a month ago is showing signs of buckling even though it was good enough to hold off Subiaco yesterday.
I think the day of reckoning is going to be against EF next week. If they play the same quality of footy against the Sharks they will be beaten by 10 goals no doubt. Looking at the situation objectively, Swans have done so well to make it this far but I am wondering whether we are a still few players short of being a genuine contender for the flag. We have discussed the big man deficit a lot this year, where we have been totally reliant on Doc who has done a magnificent job against much bigger blokes. The other finalists have at least one big guy capable of dominating a game. The reality is that our mids are often behind the 8 ball when trying to get clearances and that puts extra pressure on our defence which they have handled very well so far. However, I fear that the dam wall might burst against the two teams we are playing next.
One thing I have noticed about Swans this year is their tendency to start games very slowly. In fact they have only led at quarter time in 2 of their 15 games so ( both v West Coast). Again yesterday, Subiaco were 2 to 0 up then 4 to 2 before Swans squared it at quarter time. If they start slowly in big games they may not find it so easy to play catch up like they have on so many occasions this year.
I hope I am wrong and even if we put up a competitive performance against EF without winning, I might be a bit more optimistic this time next week
Your laughing Mike, being an away game for Swans at Joondalup will put you in good stead, the home team hasn't won a game for 3 months
