Sydney must put star players on the trade table in brutal bid to change club narrative as grand finals fail after big names like Isaac Heeney fail on game’s biggest stage, says former Swans head coach , Paul Roos.
Roos says coach John Longmire and his support staff must make ruthless calls to some players – and change their game plan – for the club to recover from two grand final thrashings in three seasons.
“The reality is if you can’t get over the negativity of the big final day… you have to leave,” Roos said on an ABC podcast Monday.
“You have to get rid of those players.
“And as brutal as it may seem… if John and the coaching staff firmly believe that there are players who can’t perform on the biggest stage, they need to get rid of them.”
“It’s a brutal industry, but that’s the reality… if it’s real, which it potentially is, something needs to be done about it.”
The Swans lost last Saturday’s grand final to the Brisbane Lions by 60 points, after losing the 2022 final to Geelong by 81 points.
Kane Cornes hit out at Isaac Heeney earlier in the week for again failing to deliver for the Swans, despite his excuse of a stress fracture.
Sydney legend Paul Roos says the Swans need to get rid of players who can’t perform after the club suffered another embarrassing grand final defeat (pictured)
Roos (pictured) says there are big areas of concern for the Sydney Swans
Cornes dismissed the injury claim and pointed to Heeney’s 11-touch performance in their 2022 loss to Geelong to suggest the midfielder is not preparing well enough for big games.
Roos, who coached Sydney to the flag in 2005 before handing it over to Longmire at the end of 2010, did not name any players to offer in exchange.
But during his tenure, he had similar conversations with Sydney’s leadership group after a failure in the finals.
“I don’t remember what year it was… we met with the leadership group after the final series and said, ‘Guys, we’re going to have to make some changes. And so we can get back to where we want. To get there, we need to trade, we need to put people on the market,” Roos said.
‘And the leadership group was fantastic and they knew there would be someone inside that room and they all agreed unanimously.
‘It turned out to be Jude (Bolton) who had the most interest, but we couldn’t get enough to justify him trading.
‘That has to happen, that conversation has to happen now. They have to put good players on the market to change the narrative.
Isaac Heeney (pictured with partner Steffie Waters) has received criticism for his tame performance in the AFL grand final against Brisbane.
Heeney (pictured), who had been a Brownlow Medal candidate before his suspension ruled him out of the competition, failed to deliver for the Swans on the game’s biggest stage.
He was lost midway through the final quarter and Sydney coach John Longmire revealed after the game that his biggest star has been battling a stress fracture in his ankle.
“There is no doubt that the talent in terms of management, structure and football club is there. But there are two (grand final defeats) in three years with practically the same group.
“And there are some holes in the organization in terms of game plan and now potentially personnel.”
Roos said there were “absolutely concerns” about the Swans’ style of play.
“We are talking about a team that finished first, we are talking about a team that played in the grand final, so we are not talking about a bad football team,” he said.
“But… some of the patterns we saw this year, I think they lost 16 first quarters, it was very easy to score on them in games, they would win games at the end of the season because of a good quarter of football.
‘So they are trends. That’s the concern.
“They couldn’t turn the game around because Brisbane kept playing hard, tough, physical, well-structured football and Sydney just couldn’t respond.”
‘There is great concern for the Swans. They have drastically changed their game plan this year.
“They are no longer a tough, tough defensive team that is difficult to score against.
“They are a difficult team to beat because they have a lot of talent, but it is not difficult to face them.”