'Can't win the flag': GWS savaged over historic horror show
Nick Riewoldt has declared GWS “can’t win the flag” after their embarrassing display against the Swans on Thursday night.
The Giants equalled their lowest ever score in the 10.6 (66) to 3.7 (25) defeat at Optus Stadium, and coach Leon Cameron warned his players will be left behind in the premiership race if they continue to serve up “tripe” performances.
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All three of their goals came from free kicks - two of which were dubious.
The result left the Giants (6-5) clinging to eighth spot ahead of next week’s clash with flag favourites West Coast.
“Right now they are a million miles away from playing in a Grand Final. They don’t look like it, they can’t win the flag,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy after the game.
“They can’t achieve anything playing that sort of footy.
“How can you possibly sit here and say they can achieve anything this year when they put on that sort of performance?
“They’ve extended the coach for another two years. This isn’t in isolation.
“I’m always reluctant to make big comments based on one game… we have been waiting for a game where you’ve started to see it click.
“They might’ve taken a couple of little steps the last few weeks. Tonight they generated a stack of inside 50s, but they had no system, they are done this year.”
Leon Cameron slams ‘tripe’ performance
Although GWS won the inside-50m count 52-32 against the Swans, their delivery into attack was so bad that their forwards barely had a sniff.
Cameron said he wouldn’t be sugar-coating anything in a review that will be full of home truths.
“Clearly you guys are not silly and either am I. We are off the mark,” Cameron said.
“We hover around that seven to 10 spot for a reason.
“If we serve up that tripe, then there's going to be inconsistent performances like we've had for the majority of the year.
“With performances like that, if you don’t improve you're just going to get left behind.
“We need to go back and have a good look at that tape because our system broke down. We've got a lot of work to do over the next six weeks if we're even considering playing finals footy.”
The youthful Swans were meant to be easybeats, but it ended up being GWS who barely fired a shot during the match.
“We lost a bit of respect as a footy club tonight,” Cameron said.
“We let our supporters down, and we're the only ones that can turn it around.
“We don't look back on this game fondly, but we're not going to shove it under the carpet, we're going to look at it head-on in the next 48 hours.”
with AAP
