Sam Newman unleashed a withering spray on the Sydney Swans after Brisbane beat them by 60 points on the last Saturday in September.
Brisbane bounced back from the heartbreak of last year’s grand final in surprising fashion to claim his first AFL premiership in more than two decades.
The Swans’ woeful performance infuriated Newman and he did not hold back.
“If someone ever says: ‘You feel the pain of losing, whether in life or in sport, and that will be very useful to you,’ that is the most overrated and ridiculous comment,” the football great said in a video posted in INCOGNITA.
‘I have watched the swans. I tipped the Swans today. I watched the Swans win the Geelong belt in 2022. They didn’t try. And today they went down to the MCG. It took the oxygen out of the city.
‘Both sides, because no Melbourne team was playing. And we thought wow, here we go. And once again they refused to try.
‘They are a shame. “The AFL should censure them for making a mockery of this competition.”
After being the best team since round nine and appearing to have their ducks in a row, the Swans were overwhelmed in the second period on Saturday at the MCG.
Sam Newman criticized the Swans for their performance on Saturday
The Swans had no answers to Brisbane’s attacking brilliance (pictured left, Charlie Cameron and Josh Dunkley with the Premiership Cup)
This follows their 81-point humiliation against Geelong two years ago.
Since John Longmire led them to an epic grand final victory over Hawthorn in 2012, Sydney have lost their last four deciders.
The Hawks reversed the result in 2014 and two years later the Western Bulldogs memorably broke their premiership drought two years later.
They’re not quite the Colliwobbles, but whoever lost on Saturday would face despair given Brisbane had fallen in last year’s grand final.
The fact that these are two big losses in three years compounds Sydney’s pain.
“I don’t think we did our best, compared to what we’ve been doing, and we didn’t do what was required that day,” Longmire said after the game.
“I don’t think we took enough advantage of our run from the beginning. We shot too much.
“Then they hit us at ground level and they were able to recover it, go through us too easily.
“We didn’t put enough pressure around the ball.”
Sydney’s fate was sealed when Brisbane went on a seven-goal rout in the second period, giving them a decisive 46-point lead at the main break.
The Brisbane Lions have bounced back from the heartbreak of last year’s grand final in stunning fashion, beating Sydney by 60 points to claim their first AFL premiership in more than two decades.
Nothing worked. Isaac Heeney, so influential in Sydney’s two final victories, finally succumbed to the stress fracture (Longmire called it a stress reaction), had been suffering from a shin splint and had had a bad day.
But Longmire has backed Sydney to bounce back, pointing out that they have done it before after a major final heartbreak and have the stamina to do it again.
“It’s a hard thing to do; you’d rather get in the ring and swing than stand on the outside looking in,” he said of reaching the grand finals.
‘In the end, we were able to put ourselves in a position where we had an opportunity and we didn’t take advantage of it today. We didn’t pass the test.
‘We have a group of people, on the other side of the football club, who are capable of doing that. “It’s very difficult to win it if you’re not in it.”
This is also the second time, after the Bulldogs in 2016, that a club has beaten Sydney to the flag after emerging from outside the top four.
It will put a new focus on the pre-finals break, introduced in 2016. While the Lions gained strength with three consecutive games before the grand final, Sydney had the week off after winning their qualifying final.
“I’m not going to attribute it to that, but it’s not the advantage it once was,” Longmire said of earning the double shot by finishing in the top four.