The Swans’ NEAFL side has lost its opening two games of the season but defender Colin O’Riordan believes a tough start will steel the team in the long run.
The NEAFL team fell to a four-point loss to GWS in their season-opener and suffered a 50-point loss to Brisbane in Queensland on Saturday.
The Lions took out the NEAFL flag in 2017 and the Giants were buoyed by 242-game AFL veteran Ryan Griffen as well as a raft of up-and-coming stars.
But Swans O’Riordan said the challenging early stages of the season would hold the reserves in good stead.
“Last week against the Giants was probably a game we should have won and then against Brisbane was a rematch of the grand final from last year so it was another tough encounter,” O’Riordan said.
“But it will do nothing but build character and build resilience. It doesn’t get much tougher than those two in the NEAFL so hopefully we can push on now and get a few results.”
The Swans are now set for a bye in Round 3 and will play the Gold Coast Suns at Fankhauser Reserve the following week.
“It’s not ideal being zero and two after a couple of games,” O’Riordan said.
“But obviously the bye gives us a chance to sit down, evaluate and then hopefully get back on the horse and get cracking again and hopefully pick up a few wins.”
The Swans took a seven-point lead into half-time in their clash with the Lions after booting 10 goals in the first half.
They were particularly strong early in the second term in enjoying a wealth of possession in their forward half of the ground and competing hard at the contest.
But O’Riordan said the Lions were too good in the third and fourth quarters.
“Our first half was very good and we were very competitive and we cracked in hard but in the second half they got a few quick goals after three-quarter time,” O’Riordan said
“It all went down hill from there. That was probably the big factor and we just couldn’t get back to grips with them. It wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t our standard and we expect a lot more at this club. We’ll have to sit down and review it and take the positives from the first half but review the second half thoroughly.
“The focus point at training at the moment is the simple things and doing the basic things right. Footy’s a game of basic skills and the teams that keep on top of the basic skills more often than the teams that don’t will probably win the game eventually. So we’re just focusing on doing the basics right and hopefully the bigger picture then comes good.”
