SWAN Districts might have been missing a host of key players in Saturday's loss to Perth, but that didn’t excuse the effort for coach Brian Dawson and he will put it on his second-placed team to bounce back strongly this Sunday against Peel.
Swans' best of run of victories since 1983, nine, came to an end on Saturday at EFTel Oval with the 10-point loss to the Demons and while it might put it down to the absence of a host of star players, that was no consolation to Dawson.
Llane Spaanderman, Justin Simpson, Ben Colreavy, Luke Pratt, Clint Garlett, Clancee Pearce, Ashley Hansen, Brett Wolfenden and Brett Robinson were all missing from the likely 22 that will play finals for Swans.
There were positives, though, with Travis Casserly (24 possessions), Wayde Twomey (22) and Graham Jetta (20) providing good run from defence, Paul Richardson making a strong return, Roderick Manton and Matthew Outridge not looking out of place on debut and Tim Geappen kicking four goals to take his season tally to 39.
The loss will make it hard for Swans to snatch top spot off of Claremont now with the Tigers holding a two-game plus percentage advantage. However, the black-and-whites look safe in second spot two games and percentage in front of Subiaco with six games of the 2010 home and away season to go.
While Dawson certainly didn’t expect his team to go through the rest of the season undefeated, although it would have been nice, he was disappointed with the way his side allowed Perth to play the way it wanted far too much.
"The more you win the closer you are to a loss as the old saying goes and we can understand it to some degree I suppose, but it was disappointing that we didn’t adjust within the game," Dawson said.
"We expected Perth to give us a tough game and make no excuses because they were better than us. We gave them far too much latitude and space, which allowed them to chip the ball around behind play far too easily."
Perth might have just had one win for the season coming into Saturday's clash, but always had more talent than a wooden spoon side and after coming close to beating Subiaco and West Perth the previous fortnight, put together its best performance of the season to down Swans.
Dawson knows the black-and-whites were well down on both their best personnel and best performance from those that did take the field though.
"Perth is a much better side than one win and being on the bottom suggested and for whatever reason we were a bit down on our indicators certainly, especially our tackle count. That was nowhere near where we need it to be and where it has been," he said.
"I don’t think we applied anywhere near enough pressure on the opposition and allowed them to play the game that they wanted to play which was to chip it around and get someone into space to run.
"We weren't smart or fully switched on, maybe that's how it goes when you've been up for a long time as the boys have been. We aren’t devastated by it, but are disappointed certainly and it's about how we respond to it."
Swans head down to Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium this Sunday to play Peel Thunder, the team now on the bottom of the ladder after Perth's win, and Dawson will make sure his side is fully switched on.
Simpson, Spaanderman, Garlett and Pratt should all return, with Colreavy more likely the following week against Claremont. Hansen's prognosis is unknown but Dawson does expect him back this year, while Wolfenden and Robinson should both play before the finals also.
"We'll speak about being switched on during the week and we take nothing for granted. We need to respond with interest next week to what happened against Perth and we expect our guys to do that," Dawson said.
"Simpson and Spaanderman are available next week and they've been very good players for us throughout the year. There's a fair chance they will come in. Luke Pratt was missing and might be back, Colreavy is only an outside chance and from there we'll wait and see. We can play a hell of a lot better and we expect to do that."
By Chris Pike
