AFL glory days are over for Swans, Hawks

How the mighty have plummeted off the cliff.

Saturday’s upset losses showed emphatically that the AFL glory days are over for Hawthorn and Sydney.

St Kilda mauled the Hawks by 75 points at Launceston, while rebuilding Carlton stunned Sydney with an outstanding 19-point win at the MCG.

It means Sydney, last season’s losing grand finalists, and Hawthorn, who bowed out of the finals in straight sets, have won just one game between them after six rounds.

Since 2012, every grand final has featured Hawthorn or Sydney – and twice they played each other.

Since 2005, the Swans have won two premierships and the Hawks four.

By contrast, Carlton have struggled and St Kilda also have not made the finals since 2011.

But the Swans are now winless and remain at the bottom of the ladder in a season in which they were tipped widely to be premiership contenders again.

Hawthorn’s return to form last week with the win over West Coast has proved short-lived.

The Hawks’ second home has been a fortress, but the Saints ended their 19-game Launceston winning streak with the 19.16 (130) to 8.7 (55) drubbing.

At the MCG, the Blues broke clear in the second half to beat Sydney 15.7 (97) to 11.12 (78).

Adding to Sydney’s woes, injury-plagued forward Gary Rohan was taken to hospital for tests after he landed heavily on his head in a marking contest.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson did not mince his words post-match.

Clarkson noted the Hawks are the worst-performed team this season in the third quarter “by an absolute mile”.

He added: “that, for me, reflects a side that will put up a fight when the game’s there early on but if the opposition continue to fight then we just fall away, and fall away in a big way.

“We need to correct that, because if we continue to have performances like that then there’ll need to be catastrophic change, and that’s not usually the way that we go about doing things.”

Sydney counterpart John Longmire was also fuming.

“It’s unacceptable – I mean, we’re playing an unacceptable brand of football,” Longmire said.

“It’s nowhere near the brand we’d like to play.

“It takes a long time to develop a brand and a reputation as a team and it doesn’t take long to lose that.

“At the moment, we’re not playing anywhere near the football that we can and should play.”

Longmire said they were lacking in all three phases of the game – when they have possession, when the opposition have possession and when the ball is in dispute.

“There’s no easy way out of it, you just have to compete a bit harder,” he said.

“You can say the confidence levels are down and this and that, but ultimately you only get that back when you’re absolutely working your backside off during the week and you’re competing on the weekend.

“We’re just not doing that on anywhere near a consistent basis.”

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