Roos blames loss on defensive lapses
Paul Roos says his side’s inability to prevent St Kilda from scoring easy goals at crucial moments ultimately cost it the game
The Saints scored goals with each of their first nine scoring shots, with several majors coming after a long ball cleared the pack in St Kilda’s forward 50.
St Kilda eventually triumphed by eight points in a hard-fought clash at ANZ Stadium.
Roos’ frustration spilled over at three-quarter time when he gave his defenders a spray and he conceded the problem needed immediate attention before Sunday’s clash against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
“It’s probably a world record - I think they kicked 10 straight and those 10 goals were a combined total of 36 yards [out]… I did let them know that it probably wasn’t that flash.” he said.
“Some of the easy goals our defenders let through at times, they’d be really disappointed in themselves as well.”
The Swans fielded six new faces against the Saints, with ruckman Mark Seaby having the greatest impact on the game.
After a bright start, the Swans committed a string of errors that Roos attributed to a new group taking time to gel.
“Some of the turnovers in the back half really hurt us a bit and that’s going to happen when guys are getting used to playing with each other,” he said.
“As long as we’ve got effort and as long as we’re working as hard as we possibly can, hopefully we wipe out some of those errors.
“You’re going to get away with that against some of the lesser teams, perhaps, but not against the best teams in the competition.”
Roos praised the efforts of Bradshaw - “really dangerous… he really troubled them” - and returning defender Tadhg Kennelly, who ended the game in a daze after being concussed in a late collision with Saint Zac Dawson.
“You could see he looks a lot fresher and a lot fitter than what he looked when he left,” he said.
“Normally he’s one of our best ball users out of defence but he turned the ball over a couple of times. I’m not really concerned about that, because that will come.
“He certainly looked sharp, he looks fit, he looks quick again so he should be in for a really good season.”