BRETT Kirk and his friends at the school at Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick came up with some interesting ways to fix the Swans' on-field problems.
"I went and saw my friends at the hospital school this morning," said Kirk, before the Swans trained on Tuesday afternoon.
"I went in there and the kids gave me a hard time, that we sucked on the weekend, which was fair enough, so I copped the criticism.
"I said 'OK, kids, look, we can't get away from the weekend, but we really need to work on how we're going to get better'.
"So we brainstormed, and these are some of the things the kids came up with:
- We need to improve our marks.
- More tackling
- Need to train more
- Need to do more exercise
- Need to eat more spinach
- Do more push-ups
- Eat our vegetables
- Don't show off
- Play as a team."
Kirk became more serious as he discussed the last point the children had made.
"I guess the last one, play as a team, really struck me. These kids are aged from five to 12 and they've picked up from the weekend that we're not playing as a team.
"We just need to get back to thinking about why we play football and why we played football at the start, and that's to play with your mates and to enjoy being out there.
"There's not a lot of enjoyment and not a lot of enthusiasm at the moment. There might be some changes this week, bring some new blood into the team."
After several days of intense criticism, Kirk acknowledged the pressure could be weighing on the team.
"There's a weight of expectation," the co-captain said. "And that's to be expected when you have been in the last two grand finals.
"You have an expectation of yourself individually and you have expectations externally, of your peers.
"I guess maybe that does weigh down on us…but that comes with the territory I think, and that comes with being successful. There's no way around it."
Kirk said he is looking forward to the task of reversing the team's recent form when they take on the red-hot Cats at Skilled Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
"I can't wait to play Geelong down at their home ground, they're on top of the ladder, they're playing some great footy.
"There's no other place I'd rather go this week and just have a crack and get out there and, like the kids said, to play as a team.
"I give us every chance to beat any side if we play as a team."
