Although the Sydney Swans suffered their second loss in the last three weeks at the hands of league leaders Fremantle, livewire forward Tom Papley is confident the red and white have taken their lessons and head into Friday night’s match with a spring in their step.
Papley, who featured for the first time in six weeks on Thursday night, provided insight into the Game Review that allowed the players to reflect and reassess where it went wrong.
“[During] the meeting, it was pointed out, but it wasn't like, 'this is a crisis' sort of thing,” Papley said on the More than Footy Podcast.
"But [more about] how we can get better, what's the opportunity for this week, and implement it”, Papley said on the More than Footy podcast."
Papley acknowledged where the Swans went wrong, especially in the final quarter, citing that both teams played a similar brand of footy, and in the end, Fremantle remained more disciplined, resulting in the 38-point loss.
“They were very, very good, Freo,” Papley said.
"I think over the course of the game they sort of stuck to their roles better than us, and we sort of went away from them,” Papley said.
“The territory battle was huge, and in the second half, they smacked us in territory, and [that is] obviously a big part of the game. [We] couldn't get it out of our defensive 50, couldn't lock it into our forward 50. Especially in the last quarter, they were going in and scoring.”
“It was hard to stop, especially away from home.”
Quickly back into training on Sunday, the Swans have had to have some direct and open conversations about what needs to improve and the lessons that can be learnt from the trip out west.
The small forward commented on the usefulness and the clear message he and the squad left those meetings with, and how to best attack Friday night's clash against Adelaide.
The match is blooming as a huge fixture in the context of the Swans season.
“We learned a lot from it (The Fremantle game),” he said.
“It became so clear out of the meeting. The coaches were really good in the meeting, and so clear what we got out of it.”
“It wasn't very finger-pointing.
“We're going pretty well. They're a very good team. But it was clear what we did wrong and what we needed to get better at.”
“We'll [aim to] do that against the Crows,” Papley said.
Papley also highlighted the resemblance he can see between Charlie Curnow and a former Sydney Swans legend, Buddy Franklin, in the way Curnow was able to carry the red and white through tough portions of the third quarter.
“It was really good to watch. When you have a big key forward doing that, it sort of reminds you of what Bud (Buddy Franklin) used to do.”
“When the game's in the balance and the team's fighting back and he just throws you on the shoulders and says, ‘Come with me, boys’, and he did that on the weekend and couldn't quite get us over the line.”
