SWANS’ defender Ted Richards believesindiscipline was a crucial factor in Sydney’s25-point defeat to the Pies at the ‘G on Saturday night. The Swans conceded 28frees compared to Collingwood’s 11.

“We gave them quite a few easy free kicksand if you give a good team like Collingwood that opportunity, they’ll turnthem into goals,” Richards says.

Richards rued a lacklustre performance from the side, which trailed by 28 points going into the final term. In front of avocal Pies crowd, they never really looked like sparking a revival.

“We were beaten at the basics, in a tight,hard footy game… Sometimes it came down to being lazy and not using the righttechnique. In football, you can’t do that and try and win games because it willcost you.”

The 24-year-old admits that the absence ofTadhg Kennelly and Leo Barry has left a gaping hole in the Swans’ defence.Kennelly may not return to the action until the finals, if the Swansmake it that far, whereas Barry could be back from a hamstring injury nextweek.

“I don’t want to use injuries as an excusebecause it’s an issue that every club faces. Whether you’re at the top of theladder or not, you’ve got to be prepared to deal with that.

"But at times when key players havegone out, we haven’t been able to replace them as well as we needed to. Whetherit’s Tadhg Kennelly’s run or Leo Barry’s discipline - he’s rock solid down indefence.”

The Swans may be missing even morepersonnel next week with injury clouds hanging over Luke Brennan, MichaelO’Loughlin, Jared Crouch and Peter Everitt, who all finished the match on thebench. Adam Schneider is also doubtful after he was forced to have a pain-killing injection to his ankle during the game. However, despite the team’sinjury concerns, Richards says he can’t even contemplate the thought of notbeing involved in Septemberfootball .

“For a while now, we’ve been treating everygame like a finals game. This week was really important. We were treating thisgame like a really big game. We didn’t win but we’re treating next week as justas big, if not bigger," he said.

"It’s all about next week. If we wantto make the finals, it’s all down to next week. Any aspirations of top fourhave gone. It’s all about just getting in there.”