Co-captain Kieren Jack has pointed to Sydney’s troubled run into their triumphant 2012 AFL finals campaign as evidence they can emerge from their early season slump.
The Swans slipped to 1-3 with a 43-point home loss to North Melbourne on Sunday and host a resurgent Fremantle in another SCG game on Saturday.
Even in their finest seasons of the past decade, Sydney have shown the propensity to rebound from form slumps.
They started 2-4 and 1-3 in their premiership and losing grand final campaigns of 2005-06 respectively and stumbled again in 2012 before winning the flag.
“We lost three (out of four) going into a finals series in 2012 and we found a way back and we can do it again,” Jack told the media on Monday.
“We’ve got a group that we’re confident will get us to where we need to get to.
“But at the moment we’re in a bit of a slump and we need to work together extremely hard to get out of it.”
Jack attributed Sydney’s poor start to mental lapses rather than physical conditioning, though he was concerned they had been heavily outscored in the final quarter of all three of their losses.
Averaging eight fewer possessions per game than last year, 2013 All Australian representative Jack said he was one of several Swans who needed to lift.
In a case of the biter being bit, Jack is now having to deal with being tagged.
“I need to stand up, I need to put pressure on myself, but I haven’t been performing as well as I would have liked,” Jack said.
“I am getting more attention. I’ve probably got myself to a level now where teams are starting to look at me, which is different to the past when I’ve been the tagger.
“That’s something I have to learn to work through.”
Jack said all the Swans were under pressure including high-priced recruit Lance Franklin, who has had a difficult start at the club.
“He’s a focal point up forward, he’s a big signing, I’m sure he is (feeling pressure), he’s only human,” Jack said.
He noted Franklin wasn’t getting a lot of help from his fellow forwards and the low quality of delivery.
