Sydney Swans co-captain Adam Goodes is well aware of what today’s match review of the Swans one-point loss to the Bombers on Saturday night will reveal.
Missed opportunities, skill errors and costly turnovers are set to be the theme, highlighted by a last quarter that yielded two goals, nine behinds.
“There were a lot of opportunities that we had, that could have been goals for us, and it would just go down the other end from a turnover and result in a goal,” Goodes said at yesterday’s Melbourne junior clinic that saw over 300 eager youngsters attend.
“That’s really crucial for us at the moment because that’s a 12 point turnaround.
"Anytime you kick two goals, nine in the last quarter, if you’re dominating the quarter, you just have to get better results for your work.
“That’s let us down a few times this year, that ability to kick crucial goals under pressure, and myself included, I kicked three points in the last quarter when we needed to put more scoreboard pressure on the opposition,” he said.
Until Saturday night, Goodes had never in his 14 years of AFL football had the chance to win a match with a shot on goal after the final siren.
While bitterly disappointed his set shot strayed to the left, Goodes is aware it is just one of many opportunities that eluded the Swans in the game.
“It was one kick in a game where there were over 700 possessions between the two teams,” he said.
“Being the captain of the team and leading the boys out there, it would have been nice to kick truly and be the hero, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
“I think being a captain, you do need to the show the boys with your body language and attitude after the game, that it is disappointing we didn’t win, but I’m not going to crucify myself for missing that goal at the end. We had a lot of opportunities in that last quarter where we could have snuffed the Bombers out, but we didn’t make use of them.”
The Swans finals chances now hinge on the final four matches of the season, starting with this Sunday’s clash against Richmond at the MCG.
It will be the Swans first match at the ground since the round one draw with Melbourne.
“Every game from now is huge for us. We’ve just got to start this week with the Tigers. We had a lot of guys who were down [against the Bombers] and we need those guys to bounce back, we need our skill execution to be much better than it was, and we need to work on kicking those clutch goals,” Goodes said.