Sam Newman savages Swans over 'insulting' act in AFL grand final
Geelong great Sam Newman has offered a brutal assessment of the Swans' performance in the AFL grand final, describing it as 'insulting' and 'disgraceful'.
The Swans were blown off the park in the decider against Geelong at the MCG on Saturday, losing 20.13 (133) to 8.4 (52).
NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Buddy Franklin cops brutal truth bombs
YIKES: Tom Stewart apologises to young girl after grand final gaffe
The Sydney side were never in the contest as the Cats kicked out to a huge lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
“It was a fantastic effort by Geelong and I stayed until the end and watched all the revelry and merriment,” Newman said on Channel 7 on Sunday.
“Unfortunately it was a pretty ordinary game. The Swans were disgraceful. Not because they lost, but because ostensibly the game was over at quarter time and they played the most ridiculous football I’ve ever seen.
“It was almost insulting to the fans, the 100,000, they came down.
“But Geelong were absolutely supreme and fantastic. They treated it like a practice game and played accordingly."
Newman, who played 300 games for Geelong, was highly critical of the Swans' game plan.
“The people who went there, most of them would be tremendously disappointed with the standard of our game that was played yesterday,” he said.
“The quality of football that Geelong played wasn’t fantastic, but they were fantastic because they did what they had to do. Honestly, they treated it like a training run.
“When you have a side that is eight goals or 12 goals down, chipping the ball around and hand passing down the back line for whatever reason, I don’t know - whoever designed the game plan and decided the Swans would come down and play like that, they should have and play like that, they should have a good, hard look at themselves because it was a disgrace.
“Good on Geelong, a fantastic club led by a great man and some fantastic players. It was really enjoyable to see them win. But as a spectacle of our great Australia game, it was pretty ordinary.”
John Longmire admits Swans got it completely wrong
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Swans coach John Longmire admitted his side got every aspect of the grand final wrong - from selection to mindset to performance.
Longmire admitted picking veteran forward Sam Reid was a mistake and said his players were mentally and physically overawed in a defeat that will be hard to digest.
Sydney punted - and lost - on Reid's fitness, with the 30-year-old battling a groin injury suffered in the preliminary final.
The key forward was substituted out of the grand final early in the third term after hobbling off late in the second quarter after having just four handballs.
"We were obviously confident, that is why we picked him," Longmire said.
"But we made a mistake."
On-field blunders followed, with Longmire lamenting Sydney's lame display from start to finish.
"From the first bounce, the game looked as foreign as what we have played it this year," he said.
"There was no element that we got right.
"No aspect of the game looked like the way we wanted to play it ... from the selection of Sam to the way the game looked, we just didn't get it right."
with AAP
Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.