The Sydney Swans were left lamenting a error-riddled game, failing to capitalise on their first-half dominance before going down by 23-points at the SCG on Sunday night.
Swans coach John Longmire fronted the press after the match and was frank about the teams' performance and where things went wrong.
“We didn't use the ball well when we had possession of it,” Longmire said.
“We thought we set up pretty strongly and structurally from our first-half, but we just didn't use the ball well, or dropped easy marks, or missed targets and played untidy football with the ball.
“We didn't use our opportunities we had 33 inside 50s to 14 and we didn't take our chances in the first half.”
The turning point of the match was when Charlie Dixon was moved into the ruck.
Port Adelaide got on top in the game and held sway with momentum, forcing the Swans into hurried and pressured disposals.
Longmire lamented the fact that the Swans hadn't converted their first-half dominance and given themselves a buffer at half-time for Port's comeback.
“Dixon was pretty good in the ruck when he went on ball and got hands on it first, and ran around stoppages and got the ball inside their forward 50 and the game turned then,” Longmire said.
“When you are on top, when you do have some momentum, you've got to make sure you convert that a bit more.
“Teams are going to have momentum in certain parts of the game, and even when they had the momentum in the third quarter, you don't want them to kick 7 goals - clearly, sometimes that happens.
“You need to be a bit more in front, like we should have been at half-time, but in that last quarter we got within 4 points. We got back but just didn't continue on.”
Despite the pressure the Port players applied the Swans continued to turn the ball over.
Critical defensive mistakes gifted Port Adelaide goals at crucial times in the match, especially in the third quarter with Rampe and Melican both conceding goals from turnovers.
“They pressured pretty well, we made some basic errors and they put pressure on - 10 tackles inside our forward 50, they did pretty well in that area but we made some errors,” Longmire said.
While Zak Jones was a late withdrawal from the side with calf tightness, Longmire said that they'll need to assess him tomorrow before making a call during the week.
“We don't know, we'll see during the week, he pulled out yesterday with a sore calf so, we're not sure yet we'll have to see as the week progresses,” Longmire said.
Sam Reid looks to be a certain inclusion having been close to proving his fitness this week, barring any injuries at training.
“Sam Reid was a chance this week but he wasn't quite ready to go, so hoping he's ready to go next week,” Longmire said.
You can view the full press conference here on AFL.
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