AFTER a strong season in 2023, Sydney has struggled to reach similar heights this year.
On the surface the absence of co-captain Chloe Molloy might seem like the major reason, but the problems run deeper than just one player missing.
Friday night's loss to the Western Bulldogs was a warning sign for the Swans, who opted to rest trio Montana Ham, Brenna Tarrant, and Giselle Davies for the clash, while also losing ruck Ally Morphett in the third quarter to a foot injury.
"I think the thing that was most frustrating about it was Sydney was in a winning position for most of the game," Lucy Watkin said on the Credit to the Girls podcast.
"Then just these silly decisions in the back half of the field, just handing the ball over and then ending up in a losing position. It was really frustrating to watch."
Frustration was a descriptor used by head coach Scott Gowans after the game, too, with concerns over his side's decision-making front of mind.
"We just made some silly decisions, and we got the ball into the front half early on, and then we turned the ball over," Gowans said.
"It was frustrating because there's a clear way to play the Bulldogs and we thought we executed that for most of the game, but when we lost that, the Bulldogs for momentum. We didn't have the footy IQ across the field to be able to make the decisions to possess the ball and take our time. We just always wanted to go quick, which was a big problem for us."
That lack of composure coming out of defence was particularly damning, especially in Tarrant's absence, who has been the club's best defender this year. Repeated attempts to switch the ball deep in defence were pressured or picked off by the Dogs, ultimately hurting the Swans on the scoreboard.
"The message (to stop switching) went out there, but the players just didn't execute well enough," Gowans said.
"That is a little bit personnel based, as well with the combination. That's the hard part, when you change the combinations down back, and you lose a Brenna Tarrant, it just makes it really tough to execute the way you want to do all the time, and unfortunately the Bulldogs scored off two of those.
"So yeah, that was probably the game."
It was a vulnerability upon which the Bulldogs feasted on Friday, and ultimately won the game off the back of.
"The decisions they were making in defence with the ball, with the switching, always trying to go to the corridor, it became predictable," Watkin said.
"It became so predictable for those Bulldogs forwards as well, who were already putting on heaps of pressure. So, those kicks are already under pressure, and then you become predictable, so those Bulldogs players around there know where the ball is going to go.
"There were so many kicks into the middle of the 50, Bulldogs players just chipping it off and having a kick on goal."
This year Sydney is conceding inside 50s at the same rate as last year, but allowing more marks in the arc. With the defence shaky on the rebound, the Swans' own problems ahead of the ball come into sharper focus.
Games were won last year by way of really neat attacking footy in the front half, in which Sydney goaled from more than 20 per cent of its own forward entries. This year that number has dropped to just 16.1 per cent.
Balancing that want to attack with more method and composure coming out of defence is crucial for Sydney going forward, particularly into its mid-week footy stretch.
With the most difficult part of their fixture yet to come, where they will play five of last year's finalists across six games, the Swans will need to clean up their defensive exits quickly if they're any chance to gather momentum through the back half of the season.
