Former St Kilda midfielder Nick Dal Santo is worried Sydney mightn’t have a plan B if things go wrong for them.
The Swans were pushed to the final siren by the Western Bulldogs and walked away with a seven-point win, but Dal Santo sees something that might concern coach John Longmire.
“The only thing that worries me about the Swans is when you play them you know exactly what you’re going to get,” Dal Santo told SEN Breakfast.
“It’s vanilla, but it’s a damn good vanilla.”
“If you’re playing in the midfield, you know exactly who you’re playing against, you know exactly where they’re going to stand and you know their running patterns.
“When it works, it looks brilliant and I like that, but when it doesn’t and when things are going hard, there’s not a lot of variety out of it.
“It doesn’t happen often, but we were critical of them in the finals last year and there wasn’t a lot of changing when things aren’t going their way.”
Despite that, Dal Santo still thinks Sydney will be right at the pointy end this season.
“The Swans had to turn up on the weekend and they have a lot of players that know how to execute game scenarios at critical periods of time,” Dal Santo said.
“They’re going to be right up the top, up to their eyeballs.”
Former Richmond coach Danny Frawley agreed, saying the Bulldogs gave Sydney a chance and they took it.
“I just love (Sydney). The Bulldogs in that game, they dominated that first half, they left the door ajar,” Frawley said.
“Scoreboard pressure is the best form of pressure and the Bulldogs didn’t put enough on.
“The Swans came out after half time and dominated the game for 11 minutes, kicked four goals straight and that’s why they won the game.
“You lay off for 10 minutes against Sydney, which the Bulldogs did after half-time, they relaxed in intensity and they kicked four goals in a row and it was game over. You’ve got to be harder for longer against Sydney.”
The Swans will take on Adelaide at the SCG on Friday night.