THE ability of the Swans to dominate an undermanned Hawthorn around the stoppages was crucial in the Sydney side’s 38-point victory on Saturday night, according to Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson.
The home team’s ruckmen Darren Jolly and Jesse White set an AFL record for hit-outs in Hawthorn’s round-two defeat at ANZ stadium, and the Swans’ midfield used that possession wisely in the second half, kicking away to record a first win for 2009.
The reigning premiers are now 0-2 going in to the Easter Sunday clash with North Melbourne, but will crucially have ruckman Simon Taylor back from suspension for the round three-clash at Docklands after they missed him dearly on the trip north
“That’s Sydney’s game,” Clarkson said after the match.
“They love that (the stoppages) and we were unable to reduce the amount of stoppages. Teams that play Sydney, if you have 120 stoppages, you’re not going to win many games of footy.”
After Robert Campbell was a late withdrawal on Saturday night, Brent Renouf battled the Swans’ ruck division manfully, with key forwards Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin also helping out.
But with Jolly (42 hit-outs) and White (28) tapping to the advantage of the midfielders in red and white, it was a tough night for those in the Hawks’ engine room.
“I think they scored six or seven goals from centre bounces alone, which hasn’t happened against our side in a long time,” Clarkson said.
“We’d rather be two-zip or one-one but we’ve played two pretty good sides... and Sydney is a very, very strong as a competitive unit.
“Perhaps not as good a side as they’ve been over the last four or five years but still a very good side, and particularly up here, they’re tough to beat.
“We gave it a good crack, but in the end they were just a little bit harder and a little more polished than we were, especially in the clinches, and I think that decided the result of the game.”
The premiership coach took positives out of the loss saying his younger players, such as Garry Moss and Jarryd Morton, acquitted themselves well and had learnt from playing against an experienced outfit.
He also paid tribute to a robust performance from the home team which came after a round-one loss to St Kilda in Melbourne.
“It was just the stronger, tougher Sydney bodies. And they’ve got some experienced campaigners who’ve been doing it for a long time,” he said.
“Resilience is something you have to have to win games of footy on a regular basis.
“They’re a good side [Sydney] and it’s hard to keep them down for a long period of time.
“We’d still expect a better effort than what we put in, in different stages tonight. But hopefully we’ll get a bit better over the next few weeks.
“We haven’t been playing disgraceful footy. We’ve had some high scores and some pretty competitive games in both games but we’re just not getting the results right now.”
