AN UNDERMANNED Sydney was simply no match for the might of Geelong on Saturday night, leaving coach John Longmire struggling to articulate what had happened in the 93-point demolition.
The Grand Final rematch was as much of a blow-out as the original, with Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron combining for 10 goals as the Swans were held to just three points in the second half.
"It's hard to put into words, really. We needed to push back and compete harder than that," Longmire said.
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"They were very good at it, they're a very good footy club and normally we show a bit more than that, so I'm disappointed.
"It just wasn't the standard we normally apply, or the standard that the game really requires. I think the inside 50 differential probably in the second half wasn't [too big], but the ability for them to score when they went inside 50 and the lack of ability for us at the other end was stark."
Given the lack of key defensive options at the Swans' disposal, Longmire was forced to play Callum Mills on Tom Hawkins, the former giving away a whopping 20kg to the Cats star forward.
"We needed to even a few more contests than what we did. When it gets to that stage, it's pretty simple, and you just need to get yourself in the game. There was probably a short burst there and the start of the last and probably one or two other instances where you looked at it and thought, 'OK, we're going here'," Longmire said.
"It was just what the game required, and then we just dropped away far too easily, which is a disappointing aspect.
"We just had to do that (Mills), it's what we're faced with. Our situation means we've got our All-Australian midfielder at full-back, that's what we had to do last week, but our ability to compete against the Tigers, even when challenged, was a lot better than what it was tonight."
Longmire said he believes winger Matt Roberts – who was subbed off in the second term – has hurt the medial ligament in his left knee.
He also isn't banking on any reinforcements to be back to face Greater Western Sydney next week.
Geelong coach Chris Scott was thrilled with his side's comprehensive win, and believes star Mitch Duncan won't have an MRO case to answer after his high bump on a low-sliding Robbie Fox.
Fox took his free kick and played out the game.
"I'm not (concerned). I looked at it really closely and it's almost impossible to do anything different than what he did, when a player's coming at you at that speed," Scott said.
"I'm not saying Fox deliberately ran past the ball, but he ended up past the ball, and Mitch has to protect himself somehow. It looks to me like the contact was to the shoulder and, fortunately, Robbie's OK."
Scott said his side had been building, and he was particularly pleased with the work of the midfield.
"I think the first three weeks (all losses), we identified some issues that were almost beyond our control a little bit, and we took some – I wouldn't even call them risks, but we knew that Hawkins, for example, was going to take time to build into the year (with a foot issue)," Scott said.
"We lost a lot of defenders all at once, which I think as we saw with Sydney tonight, it just cripples you, when you lose a lot of players in one particular area of the ground.
"But the part that was in our control that we were particularly disappointed with in the first three weeks was our work around the ball, and I think those guys have really lifted in the past three weeks.
"Irrespective of the challenges of the Swans, over a fair period of time, they've been pretty good around the midfield, so I wouldn't underrate that performance tonight."
Scott clarified the late change which saw Sam Simpson make a welcomed return to the top level after concussion issues (603 days after his last game), explaining Jon Ceglar's wife has recently given birth, which saw the ruckman pulled from the selected 22.
Midfield stalwart Cam Guthrie was subbed off halfway through the fourth quarter for load management, rather than any injuries.
