Chad Warner admits Sydney’s diabolical grand final performance has put a sour endnote on his breakout AFL campaign as the Swans’ leaders moved quickly to absolve their younger players of any blame for their embarrassing display against Geelong.
Warner was one of only a handful of Swans players who, individually, could hold their heads high after Saturday’s 81-point thrashing at the MCG. He was Sydney’s leading possession winner with 29 touches, a game-high 10 clearances and two goals.
A dejected Chad Warner after the final siren on Saturday.Credit:Getty
In the few periods during the second quarter where they were able to match the Cats in general play, the 21-year-old was leading the charge but had little in the way of support in the midfield, a department in which the Swans were blown away from the outset.
“I just felt like I tried as hard as I could, which I guess is annoying in itself as well – knowing that you’ve done everything, and they still pump you by 80 points,” Warner said.
“I can’t explain how you feel after that loss. It’s just disappointment, really. We probably could have done a lot more, and that’s probably the annoying part.
“Horse [coach John Longmire] was just saying we’ve had a great year, and he’s proud of us in that fact, but we left a lot out there, I reckon. As hard as it sounds, we probably let a few people down, let the club down and our supporters and at the end of the day, ourselves as well.”
When the time eventually comes that Sydney can look past the horror of Saturday’s game and reflect on their season, the emergence of Warner as one of the AFL’s premier on-ballers will be seen as a major highlight.
After injury restricted him to just 13 appearances last year, this season he played every game except for their opening round win over the Giants and was consistently one of their best players. He would be one of the leading contenders to take out the Bob Skilton medal as the Swans’ club champion on Thursday night.
“Obviously I’m happy with my year, but today put a bit of a dampener on it,” he said.
“But hopefully we can do the same next year and maybe be a bit better and obviously get the win on September 24. That’s all that matters to me at the moment. It was most of the boys’ first crack at it, mine as well. I’d like to say we can take experience out of it and make this not happen again.”
Lance Franklin consoles Chad Warner, the man who set up his famous 1000th goal, after Sydney’s grand final debacle.Credit:Getty
Co-captain Dane Rampe, meanwhile, pinpointed the start of the third quarter as the moment he thought Sydney’s hopes of winning were extinguished. While a six-goal-to-one first quarter had them chasing their tails from the outset, the key defender said they genuinely thought they could turn around their 36-point half-time margin – only for Geelong to pounce on a series of mistakes by Tom McCartin in the backline, shortly after they emerged from the long break, allowed them to run away with it.
“Tom McCartin, he’s one that’s put us in a position to get to where we are today … it’s absolutely not on his shoulders,” Rampe said.
“It’d be naive not to think that there weren’t a few heads that dropped, but it’s hard, momentum, when they get it, the crowd – grand finals are a lot about what goes on between the ears as well. Credit to them, they gave us a couple straight on the chin that we couldn’t deal with.”
When the Swans front up for pre-season training later this year, they will at least have something to look forward to. In December, the club will move into its new state-of-the-art $70 million facility at the Royal Hall of Industries, next to the SCG, which is nearing completion.
“I think we’ve got a really great period coming for the club,” said chairman Andrew Pridham.
“We’re all looking forward to getting into the new building. That will give the players a really, really strong positive vibe, and that’s what you need.
“You’ve got to put in perspective, always, when you lose a grand final like this, you’ve still finished ahead of 16 other clubs. We’re doing a lot right. Today, we didn’t do a lot right. But I’m still very proud of the team.”
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