'I've never seen that': James Hird takes blowtorch to Swans after shambolic scenes

Yahoo

02-06-2025

Essendon great James Hird has taken a blowtorch to the Swans and says one shambolic play in Saturday night's huge loss to Adelaide sums up Sydney's struggles in the AFL this season. Crows star Wayne Milera probably echoed the thoughts of many fans when he described the Swans as a "rabble" after his side's thumping 90-point victory at the SCG.
And Hird pointed to Sydney's lack of class up forward, their lacklustre ball movement and inadequate distribution of the footy as major issues for first-year head coach Dean Cox to try and fix. "I think their biggest issue is they haven't got a forward line," Hird said on Nine's Footy Furnace.
"They haven't got a forward line that can take a contested mark and their ball movement has gone off which was their one-wood last year. Their congested side of things is not where it needs to be, they rely on too few around the middle of the ground."
The Swans have been one of the most consistent sides in the AFL over the last decade and went down to Brisbane in last year's grand final after finishing the regular season on top of the ladder. But Sydney's lofty standards have slipped in 2025 as the injuries have racked up, with Cox admitting Saturday night's performance against Adelaide was "unacceptable and embarrassing".
Hird agrees and says the Swans' effort areas and failure to execute the fundamentals is a major concern. "And I think the one thing I've loved about the Swans over the last 10 years is their standards. Everything was done - not perfectly - there were some mistakes but not too many," he added.
The Essendon great singled out a second quarter goal for the Crows where two Sydney players just needed to scramble the ball through the posts and concede a behind. Instead, they were caught dawdling and allowed Adelaide forward Riley Thilthorpe to toe the ball through the sticks for a goal, in a moment Hird said was indicative of the Swans' struggles this year.
"I've never seen a Swans backline let a goal like that go through and it might be unlucky... but I just can't believe that ball went through and I just think it's just symbolic of where the Swans are at," Hird added. "Yes, it's not a massive thing, it's not a game plan thing but I've never seen a Swans group of players in the last 10 years let that happen."
Hird and three-time premiership winning Geelong great Jimmy Bartel were also shocked to hear that Milera and the Crows apologised for referring to the Swans as a "rabble". The AFL greats insisted that such criticism was fully warranted after the 90-point hiding.
"So what's the cut-off point, 100? You got belted by 90 points," Bartel said. "You were a rabble. We've been a rabble before when we've been belted. Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers reportedly called Swans counterpart Tom Harley to apologise for Milera's comments and Crows teammates insist he meant no harm.
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But Hird agreed with Bartel that the criticism was warranted after Saturday night's game and took no issues with the situation. "It seems to me as if they were a rabble and you know when players are back-chatting each other and talking on the ground, you really love it when the opposition is doing it," Hird added. "But at the end of the day they were a mess, they really were a mess on Saturday night."