Swans And Power AFL Players Put At Risk By SCG Surface

by ScottyX
April 22, 2025April 22, 2025
News, Review, Sports

The ground was shifting beneath their feet. At the SCG, in a disgraceful state of affairs the turf was loose under the football boots of the AFL players. These million-dollar elite sportsmen were being put at risk by the greed of a ground organisation wanting to profit at the expense of their existing contractual arrangements with the Sydney Swans. You cannot play high speed football when you cannot keep your feet because the ground is breaking up due to a concert held on the stadium surface a couple of weeks ago. Swans and Power AFL players put at risk by SCG surface. If you cannot trust the basics how you can be expected to play at your best? It was a shambles.

Sydney Swans Perform Poorly Yet Again At Home On The SCG

Coach Dean Cox is starting to look like a bloke running out of excuses. The Swans playing group are performing well below their best in season 2025. Port Adelaide made them look uncommitted and very ordinary. Sydney cannot handle pressure, and sides are working that out. If the Swans don’t bring the contest and pressure themselves, they play like losers. I mean, so far this year, they have thrashed North Melbourne who have hardly won a game for half a decade. Sydney scrapped home against Fremantle over there. Apart from these meagre results they have racked up 3 losses at home.

What Is Wrong With Sydney At The SCG?

Is it the mucking around with the pillar at full back by trying him at full forward? The outcome has been to create holes at both ends of the ground. Tom McCartin is not playing well at either end. Yes, lots of injuries to important players are not doing Dean Cox and the team any favours. You cannot bring in half a dozen youngsters and not expect inconsistent performances. What I find with the kids is that they cannot get an effective handball to a teammate when tackled. The kicking against Port was appalling with the ball going to the opposition again and again. Senior players were abysmal in this regard too. What is the matter with Chad Warner? Out of form and out of touch with the game. Is the team playing for Cox? Are they confused?

Is Dean Cox turning a Rolls Royce into a jalopy

Are The Swans Playing For Dean Cox?

Nick Blakey tried hard all day, but his kicking was way off too many times. Isaac Heeney was tagged out of the game for at least a half. In the final quarter, the Swans lifted and had chances to snatch the game but were let down by Hayden Mclean’s failure to convert in front of goals. He was not alone in this regard, but he was the main key forward. The Power were better and harder at it for most of the game.

AFL Players In Peter Pan World

I sometimes wonder about AFL players in this era. It is like they are big kids held in an artificial world. They are kept in this realm protected from the real world. I don’t blame the players, it is all about the clubs keeping their investment safe, but you wonder about it when they don’t switch on during the game. Modern footy is this game where they don’t play on any one but stand off 5 metres in the hope of being part of a chain of play. Then, all of a sudden, a brutal physical encounter will occur. Players are running at breakneck speed for the best part of 90 minutes. It is hugely demanding, and sublime ball skills are expected simultaneously. We, the fans, have huge expectations and our tribal passions often get the best of us. Great expectations rarely reward fans.

Fastest Game On Two Legs Played On Shifting Ground

Swans and Power AFL players put at risk by SCG surface. These topline athletes have enormous physical challenges and then, they are presented with shifting ground beneath their feet. You cannot kick the ball well if you are slipping and we saw examples of this repeatedly. It was amateur hour, and someone should be held accountable for it. I will not hold my breath, however, on this score. Million-dollar sportsmen risking their careers on this second-rate surface – it was a debacle. The question has to be asked are the many soft tissue injuries at the Swans anything to do with the SCG surface?

Season 2025 Starting To Get Away From Swans

Will season 2025 fade out in disappointing fashion for the Swans? It is starting to get away from them. Losing Errol Gulden before the start of the season was not a good augury. The failure of Captain Mills to play hardly at all since 2023 has been unhelpful. John Longmire passed on the coaching baton after the black swan GF event. Too few have been left to bring down the thunder from the sky of late. Thor has been noticeably missing from view. Aaron Francis made a good cameo appearance up forward against the Power. Could he start contributing? Tom Papley is out injured. The blooding of young players will pay dividends down the track. Pundits have complimented the Swan’s culture for many years, and it will need to stand up if the team keeps losing. Losing at home is bad for business.

Is Dean Cox Asking Enough Of The Playing Group?

There can be a tendency, when coming into a new position and taking over from a long-standing authority figure, to try and be everyone’s friend. Is Dean Cox asking enough of the Sydney Swans playing group? Out pressured and outclassed by Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Hawthorn, so far. Who is going to stand up? And when? Are they courting mediocrity? The SCG ground surface was appalling and did not help a team struggling to find their identity. Swans and Power AFL players put at risk by SCG surface.

“The Sydney Swans purred like a well tooled engine for much of last year. Yes, the team ran out of petrol tickets in the grand final but finished well clear at the top of the ladder after the home and away season. Longtime coach John Longmire gave the top job away and handed over to his apprentice. On the available evidence the Swans are definitely not firing on all cylinders in 2025. Is Dean Cox turning a Rolls Royce into a jalopy? The red and white bus is stalling at every intersection with normally reliable hands fumbling and players stumbling like never before. Cox’s changes to the side have created insecurity on every line. Tom McCartin is not a key forward right now and the Swans desperately need certainty at both ends of the ground.”