Sydney must put star players on the trading table in a ruthless bid to change the club’s narrative as the grand final flops after big names like Isaac Heeney failed on the game’s biggest stage, says former Swans premiership coach Paul Roos.
Roos says coach John Longmire and his support staff must make ruthless calls on some players – and change their game plan – for the club to recover from two grand finals in three seasons.
“The reality is that if you can’t overcome the negativity of grand final day, you have to leave,” Roos told an ABC podcast on Monday.
‘You have to get rid of those players.
‘And as cruel as that sounds… if John and the coaching staff are convinced that there are players who can’t perform on the biggest stage, you have to get rid of them.
“It’s a cutthroat industry, but that’s just the reality… if it’s real, and the potential is, then you have to do something about it.”
The Swans lost last Saturday’s grand final to the Brisbane Lions by 60 points, after losing the 2022 premiership decider by 81 points to Geelong.
Kane Cornes slammed Isaac Heeney earlier this week for once again failing to perform for the Swans despite his excuse of a stress fracture.
Sydney legend Paul Roos says 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 some major areas of concern for the Sydney Swans
Cornes dismissed the injury claim and pointed to Heeney’s 11-touch performance in their defeat to Geelong in 2022 to suggest the midfielder is not preparing well enough for the big games.
Roos, who coached Sydney to the 2005 flag before moving to Longmire at the end of 2010, had not named any players he wanted to trade.
But during his tenure he had similar conversations with Sydney’s leadership group after a failure in the finals.
“I can’t remember what year it was… we met with the leadership group after the finals series and said, ‘Guys, we’re going to have to make some changes. And to get back to where we want to get there, we have to trade, we have to put people on the market,” said Roos.
“And the leadership group was fantastic and they knew it was going to be someone in that room and they all agreed unanimously.
‘It turned out to be Judas [Bolton] who had the most interest, but we couldn’t get enough for him to trade him.
‘That has to happen, that conversation has to take place now. They need to put good players on the market to change the narrative.
Isaac Heeney (pictured with partner Steffie Waters) has been criticized for his tame performance in the AFL grand final against Brisbane
Heeney (pictured), who had been tipped for the Brownlow Medal before his suspension ruled him out of contention, failed to deliver for the Swans on the biggest stage of the game.
He came off midway through the final quarter and Sydney coach John Longmire revealed after the match that his biggest star was struggling with a stress fracture to his ankle.
“There is no doubt about the talent in terms of management, their structure and the football club. But it’s two (major final losses) in three years with largely the same group.
“And there are some holes in the organization in terms of game plan and now possibly personnel.”
Roos said there were ‘definitely concerns’ about the Swans’ style of play.
“We are talking about a team that finished top, we are talking about a team that has 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, they were very easy to score against in games, they won 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 and well-structured football and Sydney just couldn’t respond.
“There are definitely concerns for the Swans. They have changed their game plan dramatically this year.
‘They are no longer a tough, strong, defensive team that is difficult to score against.
“They’re a hard team to beat because they’re so talented, but they’re not hard to play against.”