• Grand Final scorecard: Every Swans player rated
• Ten things we learned from the Grand Final
• How the Hawks won it: Peter Ryan's analysis
SHATTERED Sydney Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh said his team "didn't give a yelp" in its 63-point Grand Final loss to Hawthorn on Saturday.
Asked to describe his feelings in the rooms after the match, McVeigh said he was "disgusted".
He added: "Leaders didn't stand up, myself included. We didn't give a yelp.
"It's as bad a performance as we've had all year, and on the biggest stage it's really, really disappointing.
"Not many guys won their position, I wouldn't have thought, and (the Hawks) were just too good.
"They showed us how to be hard on the big stage and we didn't cope with it.
"It's a Grand Final, so to lose by 10 goals or whatever it was is embarrassing for us.
"It's hard to put into words what transpired."
The Swans were outmuscled and outrun by the Hawks, with the tone of the game set during the opening quarter.
"We weren't hard enough early," McVeigh said. "That was probably the main thing.
"We overused the ball – little handballs were getting intercepted and stuff like that.
"We didn't play to what we wanted to do.
"But the main thing was that our pressure, our contested stuff, wasn't up to the standard which we expect."
The Swans, who often tally 100 tackles in a game, laid just 24 tackles in the first half against Hawthorn.
"We normally get that for a quarter, so the basis of our game that we work on really hard, we didn't bring," McVeigh said.
"It's going to eat at us for a while. To let your mates down is not something that you want."
But McVeigh was adamant that the Swans have the capacity to bounce back next season.
"We'll come back and get better," he said. "The young guys will get better and the older players will get better, too.
"We have to get better in the pre-season and we're willing to do that."
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
Grand thrashings: Biggest margins in VFL/AFL Grand Finals
| Margin | Score | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 119 | Geelong 24.19 (163) d Port Adelaide 8.6 (44) | 2007 |
| 96 | Hawthorn 22.20 (152) d Melbourne 6.20 (56) | 1988 |
| 83 | Hawthorn 20.20 (140) d Essendon 8.9 (57) | 1983 |
| 81 | Richmond 23.21 (159) d Collingwood 9.24 (78) | 1980 |
| 80 | West Coast 20.23 (143) d Geelong 8.15 (63) | 1994 |
| 78 | Essendon 26.14 (170) d Hawthorn 14.8 (92) | 1985 |
| 73 | Essendon 18.17 (125) d Carlton 6.16 (52) | 1949 |
| 73 | Melbourne 17.19 (121) d Collingwood 6.12 (48) | 1956 |
| 63 | Essendon 22.18 (150) d Melbourne 13.9 (87) | 1946 |
| 63 | Hawthorn 21.11 (137) d Sydney Swans 11.8 (74) | 2014 |
