SYDNEY SWANS coach Paul Roos has dismissed ongoing criticism of spearhead Barry Hall after last weekend’s 51-point loss to Geelong.

In his second game back after a groin injury, Hall was held to just five touches and one behind by Cats defender Matthew Scarlett.

But Roos said he wasn’t concerned by Hall’s output at Skilled Stadium.

“I haven’t analysed Barry’s game because I don’t think I need to analyse Barry’s game,” he said on Monday.

“We had a lot more problems up the field than we did in our forward 50. Mick [O’Loughlin] had five possessions; he just happened to kick three goals, but no-one’s talking about Mick.

“[Hall’s] an easy media target. I think we just understand that. Last week he had four shots at goal and everyone was raving about how well Barry Hall was going.

“If it becomes a weekly obsession, it can be a weekly obsession outside the club but internally, it’s really not an issue for us at all.”

Roos said the Swans’ inability to nullify the likes of Tom Hawkins, Cameron Mooney and Steve Johnson – who booted four first-half goals – was a more pressing concern than the form of his forwards.

“Our defenders really struggled. Our defence has been really strong and we just got beaten with weight of numbers through the middle of the ground,” he said.

“We just played a much better team at the moment,” he said.

“There are things we can do better and things we can improve on, but at the moment, they’re probably in the vicinity of a six to eight-goal better team than we are.”