Sydney Swans VFL coach Jeremy Laidler says consistency week-to-week is imperative moving forward as his side suffered a 85-45 defeat at the hands of the undefeated Casey Demons on Sunday afternoon.
Highlighted by a three-goal performance from Logan McDonald, the Swans were unable to sustain a strong second term that saw them hold a slender one-point lead at the main break.
While Laidler admits he was impressed with the team's attitude throughout the opening half, he says better composure in-front of goal ultimately proved costly.
"It was a game of two halves really, I couldn't be more pleased with the way we went about it in the first-half as they're a quality side," Laidler said.
"They have real AFL-quality players playing with them and they have players who are seasoned veterans of the AFL, so to be able to withstand their pressure and put on the pressure we wanted to in the first-half was pleasing.
"We should have capitalised better in-front of goal, we could have been up by more than one-point in the first-half.
"Our second-half we just fell away in the main aways in our hardness around the ball and our contested footy, we just were a little bit disorganized throughout all areas in the second-half."
Laidler says the challenge now for the squad is to bring the same level of intensity that saw them record a fighting win over Collingwood in Round 5, and urges his players to play a consistent brand of football.
"That's the challenge I gave to the boys - we don't want to be with our performances and be on a roller coaster. We want to be consistent and back it up each week," he said.
"To go away from what we did against Collingwood, where we were so consistent, was disappointing. There's a lot to work on from that second-half so we will review it quite heavily and look to improve this week against Carlton."
The Swans VFL Round 7 fixture was scheduled against Carlton on Sunday afternoon in a curtain raiser to our annnual Marn Grook at the SCG fixture, however the clash was postponed due to Victoria's lockdown period.
Laidler hoped to see Logan McDonald continue to thrive in the VFL after the young gun produced an impressive three-goal performance against the Demons.
"He's been in the VFL for a couple of weeks now, and it's about building his confidence now in what he's good at and building belief as to why he should be playing AFL," he said.
"His work-rate is his strength and it's just trying to add a few little tweaks so he can add a few more things to his game."
Meanwhile, fellow draftees Marc Sheather and Malachy Carruthers are also proving their worth and continuing to build on their strong pre-seasons respectively.
"Malachy has been quite pleasing in the last few weeks. He's really improved on his contest work and his aerial work and winning some really crucial one-on-one contests," he said.
"His defensive efforts set up his offensive game and he has been really proactive with his position which ables him to react first and get in strong positions to use the ball.
"Marc has put together some really solid games as-well in the last few weeks and a lot of his game is based on his work-rate and pressure and if he continues to do that he will get rewarded on the offensive of things.
"Those are some young guys who are improving week-in, week-out, and the challenge for them now is to do it each week."
2. Kaiden Brand
15 disposals
6. Logan McDonald
10 disposals, three goals
10. Sam Naismith
Nine disposals, 27 hit-outs
15. Sam Gray
31 disposals, one goal, five tackles
17. Will Gould
11 disposals
18. Callum Sinclair
16 disposals, two tackles, 18 hit-outs
19. Matt Ling
16 disposals, three tackles
28. Lewis Taylor
28 disposals, five tackles
32. James Bell
28 disposals, three inside 50s, seven tackles
33. Marc Sheather
10 disposals, two tackles
35. Barry O'Connor
12 disposals
38. Colin O'Riordan
29 disposals, four inside 50s, one tackle
40. Malachy Carruthers
26 disposals, three inside 50s
50. Adam Gulden (C)
Seven disposals
52. Ryan Hebron
17 disposals
53. Jake Bartholomaeus
15 disposals, three tackles
55. Harry Morrison
10 disposals, one goal
56. Darcy Cordell
Six disposals, four tackles
58. Harry Maguire
Nine disposals
59. Sam Thorne
Six disposals, five tackles
61. Max Geddes
Four disposals
64. Will Collis
19 disposals, five inside 50s, two tackles