As Sydney sifts through the wreckage of another Grand Final thrashing, no one should be spared in the post-season review, writes Damian Barrett
“YOU’VE got to risk this feeling to take the chance to do something great.”
Though Chris Scott may have said them, all coaches who lose games in September should heed those comments.
September defeats can cause excruciating pain. Scott experienced it after losing to eventual champion Brisbane by 10 points after having a 25-point advantage in the preliminary final.
The feelings expressed would resonate with Adam Kingsley. For the GWS coach, the disappointment might be even more intense. His Giants lost two finals this year after being in seemingly unbeatable positions. Blowing a 28-point lead against Sydney in a double-chance final was hard to swallow, but squandering a 44-point lead to Brisbane the following week was humiliating. Adding to that, the one-point loss in a 2023 preliminary final makes it even more devastating.
Both a club and its coach only get so many opportunities to take the risks needed for greatness. John Longmire took such a risk in his second year coaching the Sydney Swans and won the 2012 premiership. He risked it all again to reach the Grand Finals in 2014, 2016, 2022, and one more time last Saturday, against Brisbane.
Unfortunately, nothing remarkable has come from three of the Swans’ last four Grand Finals. Looking back, they lost those games by margins of 60, 81, 22, and 63 points.
Now, Longmire and the Swans are entrenched in a complicated emotional struggle. Nearly every success leading up to the 2024 Grand Final feels meaningless. The psychological impact on both the coach and the team is significant, and the combined failures of the 2022 and 2024 Grand Finals must be thoroughly analyzed before decisions are made regarding roles for 2025.
Swans chairman Andrew Pridham and CEO Tom Harley must commission a big-business-style review into all operations. Brutal questions must be asked about, and by, each person in a position of power in the football department. The senior players need to be part of this, too, for there is irrefutable proof now that something is very wrong with this club’s ability to deal with the physical and mental stresses which will always be at play on the last Saturdays of September.
Isaac Heeney has now had three poor Grand Finals, and Tom Papley, Nick Blakey and Errol Gulden two. That Robbie Fox was the only Swan to show genuine resistance in both the 2022 and 2024 deciders would be a good starting point for that review.
Tom Papley after Sydney’s loss to Brisbane in the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Nothing should be spared in the Swans’ analysis, including the messaging of internationally renowned mindfulness expert Emma Murray.
At risk of sounding too old-school, I would encourage Pridham and Harley to adopt a modernised version of the old-fashioned 360 feedback sessions.
Let’s not forget that some of the problems which were clearly evidenced last Saturday were due to a lack of leadership. It certainly didn’t help that the captain Callum Mills somehow badly damaged a shoulder in a Mad Monday-style moment about this time last year, and then could never get a proper crack at full match fitness. Mills missed the GF with a hamstring problem.
Only after the Swans have completed their forensic probe into operations can they commit to a leadership structure for 2025 and beyond.
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John Longmire and Leon Cameron after Sydney’s loss to Brisbane in the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Longmire may be under contract for next year, and Dean Cox might be seen as the senior coach-in-waiting, but neither outcome should be assumed.
The heartbreak of losing the 1989, 1992, and 1994 Grand Finals was too much for Malcolm Blight at Geelong, leading him to resign before winning the 1997 and 1998 premierships with Adelaide.
Similarly, Longmire might need to consider stepping away from the Swans. He would almost certainly secure another head coaching role by the 2026 season.
Both individuals and clubs have a limited number of chances to take the risks required for greatness. While Longmire and the Swans have achieved brilliance many times over the past 14 years, the collective trauma of their 2022 and 2024 Grand Final losses may be too much for their partnership to overcome.