After a year marked by big moments, huge individual performances and a late-season surge to the grand final that few had foreseen, Sydney face-planted at the final hurdle. | Pierik_AgeSport
The Bloods have run ice-cold. After a year marked by big moments, huge individual performances and a late-season surge to the grand final that few had foreseen, Sydney face-planted at the final hurdle.
The final margin of 81 points represented the Swans’ largest defeat of 2022; the heaviest loss they’d sustained before this was roughly four goals. After 2014 and 2016, they have now lost their last three grand finals. This was the MCG’s first grand final since 2019, when another Sydney-based team - the Giants - were mauled by Richmond. In the end, the Swans suffered an eerily similar fate, falling 20.12 to 8.4 . It sets up a long, hard summer of introspection for coach John Longmire and his players, who will be wondering where on earth this catastrophe came from.
Isaac Heeney didn’t touch the ball until 18 minutes and 29 seconds into the second quarter, although nobody looked good on the stat sheet, aside maybe from the fearless Chad Warner and relentless Robbie Fox.The early signs weren’t great. Sydney’s trademark pressure was there, but the execution was not, and a series of miscued kicks suggested nerves among players who had previously shown none. The Cats and their hardened stars, in contrast, looked not just ready, but robotic.
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