THE MESSAGE from the Sydney Swans’ Ryan O’Keefe after the game against Adelaide was simple: “Tonight we really blew it.”
And that they did: the Swans went down to the Crows by 18 points at AAMI Stadium largely because of their errant goalkicking.
“We had enough of the ball and we had enough shots but we absolutely slaughtered the ball and you just can’t do that against good teams. I think we lost that game, they didn’t win it,” O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe was the shining light for the Swans, finishing up with 24 possessions and 12 marks in an arguably best on ground display in a losing side.
Runner-up in the Swans’ best and fairest last season, O’Keefe appeared to be everywhere, streaming from defence and also setting up goals for the struggling forwards. O’Keefe said his personal form was insignificant in the context of the game.
“It (my good game) doesn’t mean much. Our ball use was absolutely terrible. You look at the scoreboard and we kicked 5.14, which is unheard of and it was beautiful conditions so if we’re going to play at the top level we have to do better than that,” O’Keefe said.
“I think we had the run of the game in the first quarter and we could’ve, say, kicked four goals straight and really put some scoreboard pressure on, which really makes other areas of the game flow your way. Unfortunately we just couldn’t do it tonight.”
The Swans were wasteful in front of goal kicking, five behinds before finally registering a major in the second quarter through Barry Hall. The Swans finished with more shots at goal than Adelaide, a statistic that would have haunted the team on the flight home, but O’Keefe said the Swans’ execution all around the ground was ‘sub-par’.
“Adelaide is a top side and has been one of the best teams for the last two or so years so the Crows are always tough. They thrived on our turnovers and we turned the ball over so many times and gave them opportunities.”
“I don’t know what it is about inaccurate goal kicking. Once you miss a couple early it can be a bit contagious and it can go through the whole team. I guess if I knew the real answer I’d be a popular guy with the coaches,” O’Keefe said.
The Swans continued their unfavourable record against Adelaide, which has won every game played between the two sides since round 15, 2004. O’Keefe said it was not a statistic that troubled the Swans players.
“That stuff is history. If you keep looking back on that, you’ll never be able to create your own. We came here full of confidence, our last two games have been pretty solid and we’ve competed well,” he said.
As all good teams do, the Swans will look to bounce back against the struggling Demons at the SCG next week. O’Keefe said the Swans had learned the hard way not to underestimate a seemingly out-of-form Melbourne line-up.
“Last year Melbourne hadn’t won a game and then came up to Sydney and beat us, we were their first victory and they got on a bit of a roll from there so it’s a dangerous game too,” O’Keefe said.
“They are a good side so we’ll go back to the drawing board as they say this week, train hard and really make sure we have a good hit-out against Melbourne.”
