No time to dwell for Swans
Ryan O'Keefe says there is no time to dwell on the Port loss during the six-day break between matches
The midfielder said the short turnaround between the club’s round 13 and 14 matches meant the team had no time to dwell on last weekend’s result against Port Adelaide, adding that the team was determined to produce a strong performance in front of a big home crowd.
“We were really disappointed in our performance and it came down to work rate and hardness and we’ve looked at it and assessed it, and now we’ve just got to do something about it,” O’Keefe said.
“We can’t really talk about it much more, we know what we’ve done wrong and now we’ve just got to go out and do it.
“The short week for a bit of retribution is pretty good. You just get on with it and the week is pretty condensed so there is not much time to sort of dwell.
“After a loss like that you just make sure you learn from it and make sure you do something about it and actions will speak louder than words this Friday night.”
It’s been more than two years since the Swans have hosted Carlton at the SCG, with the most recent meeting in round 6, 2011, resulting in a 16-point victory to the visitors in wet conditions.
Speaking ahead of training on Wednesday, O’Keefe said the Swans would need to be at their best against the Blues, who have won three of their last five matches and sit just one game outside the competition’s top eight.
“They are a very good side and in every game they’ve played they’ve been really competitive,” he said.
“They’re winning the contested ball, they’re hard at it, and they have some pretty classy players on the outside, so they’re a pretty good side.
“They’re a really good side and they have been really good all year and they are in good form and have good players, so its’ going to be a really big battle.”
The Swans will be without dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes for this match, while forwards Sam Reid and Lewis Jetta have also been ruled out.
Despite the Swans’ growing injury list, O’Keefe said the absence of key players should not be an excuse for a poor performance this Friday night.
“To have a full team to pick from and to have your best team out on the field would be great, but footy has injuries,” he said.
“Of course every coach would like to have his best team out on the field, but you have to deal with that because teams get injuries at certain times.
“What it does when guys do miss a game with injury is that it opens up an opportunity for someone else and the guys who have come in have generally done a pretty good job.”
With heavy rain forecast in Sydney for the remainder of the week, the midfielder said he didn’t believe the conditions would benefit either side at the SCG this Friday night.
“It’s going to be the same for both sides and we’re going to have to deal with it and whoever adjusts to the conditions the best is the team that usually comes out on top,” he said.