- Jude Bolton torched his former club’s efforts on Saturday
- Bolton said it was ’embarrassing’ to let the game go uncontested
- Swans were humiliated by the Lions in the AFL decider
Swans great Jude Bolton has torched Sydney’s performance in Saturday’s AFL decider after the team suffered a humiliating 60-point defeat to Brisbane.
After being on top since round nine and looking like they had their ducks in a row, the Swans were overrun in the second term at the MCG on Saturday and slumped to an absolute hammering by the Brisbane Lions.
It follows their 81-point humiliation against Geelong two years ago.
Bolton, 44, who won two flags with the Bloods in 2005 and 2012, threw himself into the action.
“Only 33 tackles from the Swans (until three-quarter time),” Bolton posted on X.
‘It’s shameful to let it become such an uncontested game and not have any control over the football.
‘Belted when stationary. Great performance by the Lions.’
Since John Longmire coached the Swans to an epic grand final victory over Hawthorn in 2012, Sydney have lost their last four deciders.
Swans legend Jude Bolton has negatively rated Sydney’s performance in Saturday’s AFL decider
Swans were swamped at the MCG in the second term on Saturday
The Hawks reversed the result in 2014 and two years after that the Western Bulldogs memorably broke their premiership drought two years later.
It’s not quite the Colliwobbles, but whoever lost on Saturday would face despair having seen Brisbane fall in the grand final last year.
The fact that these are two heavy losses in three years makes the pain even greater for Sydney.
“I don’t think we did our best, compared to what we did, and we didn’t do what we needed to do that day,” Longmire said after the game.
“I don’t think we made enough use of our run from the start. We threw away a little too much.
‘Then we got beaten on the ground and they were able to get it back, a little too easily back through us.
“We didn’t put enough pressure around the ball.”
The Swans had no answer to Brisbane’s attacking brilliance
The Lions defeated Sydney by 60 points to claim their first AFL premiership in more than twenty years
Sydney’s fate was sealed when Brisbane scored seven goals in the second term, giving them a decisive 46-point lead at the main break.
Nothing worked. Isaac Heeney, so influential in the two Sydney final victories, eventually succumbed to the stress fracture – Longmire called it a stress reaction – he had carried in a shin and had a bad day.
But Longmire has backed Sydney to rally, noting they have done it before after major heartbreak in the final and have the resilience to do it again.
“It’s hard to do – you’d much rather get in the ring and have a swing than stand outside and look in,” he said of making the grand final.
“Ultimately we managed to put ourselves in a position where we had a chance and we didn’t get that done today. We failed the test.
‘We have a group of people, right across the football club, who are capable of doing that. It’s very difficult to win that if you’re not in it.’
This is also the second time, after the Bulldogs in ’16, that a club has beaten Sydney for the flag after coming from outside the top four.
It will put a renewed focus on the pre-finals, introduced in 2016. While the Lions built a lead with three straight games ahead of the grand final, Sydney had a week off after winning their qualifying final.
“I’m not going to attribute it to that, but it’s not the advantage it once was,” Longmire said of earning the double chance by finishing in the top four.
