Bevan admitted the Swans had been thrashed by Melbourne in round 17 when the ball was in dispute and the scoreboard had reflected their ineptitude.
“It’s pretty self-explanatory: it’s the hard ball. We were beaten in that contested style of football,” he said on Wednesday when asked why the Swans had fared so poorly just one week after defeating fellow finals contender Carlton.
“We pride ourselves on that area and we were beaten at it on the weekend, so that’s the area we’ve got to improve on.”
However, he said even the Swans’ struggles at the stoppages against Melbourne didn’t account for their wild turnaround in form after accounting for the Blues in what coach Paul Roos described as the club’s best win of 2010.
“Melbourne just came out firing and we weren’t expecting that. They came out and kicked eight goals straight [and] they put scoreboard pressure on us early,” he said.
“They’ve got a lot of players that ride on confidence and they had a lot of confidence out there on the weekend.”
The Swans’ camp has been adamant about moving on from the disappointment of the 73-point loss to the Demons and Bevan said there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic that it was just a temporary lapse in form.
“Obviously it was a big loss on the weekend but prior to that, we were playing some pretty good footy, so we’re not too down on ourselves,” he said.
“We’ve got a massive game this week and we know if we don’t go in fully focused, it’s going to be the same result. We’ve got to go out there and do what we did well, and we did that a few weeks ago.
“It goes back to that contested style of footy. They like to play on at all opportunities and take risks, so we’ve just got to nullify those sorts of things.”
Bevan, who prepared for 2010 as a defensive forward, has regained his place in the side as a small defender and he said he was relishing a return to the backline.
Having quelled dangerous Melbourne forward Brad Green for the best part of three quarters last weekend, Bevan faces another tough test against the likes of Cats star Steve Johnson or his forward-line colleagues Mathew Stokes and Shannon Byrnes.
“I set myself up for playing forward this year, but obviously I’ve been put down back and that’s where I’ve played my best footy,” he said.
“I feel a bit more comfortable down there and I like having challenges each week, playing on some good players.
“I haven’t really been told who I’ll be playing on this week but they’ve got a quality forward line, so I’m not too sure yet.”
