Following the Swans’ 10-point loss to the Hawks at the MCG, which ended a 12-game winning streak, the team will this week face off against an in-form Bombers side, who have won their last three matches.
Speaking to SwansTV this week, Rampe said while the loss to the Hawks wasn’t the ideal result, it did reinforce the areas the Swans needed to improve on heading into the business end of the season.
“We’ve just come out of our review and we probably now see a real opportunity to get back to our structures and our processes and the things that make us a good team this week against Essendon,” Rampe said.
“You can’t afford to drop five or ten per cent otherwise you will be punished, and that’s just the way the competition is these days.
“Obviously we were a bit down on the weekend, but I think we can take some encouragement from the fact that we were only ten points down and that we have a bit to improve on.”
While Saturday night’s performance was a disappointing team effort, Rampe was one of just two Swans players, along with Ben McGlynn, to receive votes in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year award for his effort against Hawks forward Jack Gunston.
In addition to keeping Gunston to just one goal for the night, Rampe also collected 24 possessions, nine marks, six rebound 50s and five one-percenters throughout the match.
Rampe said while his individual effort always comes second to the team performance, he was pleased to have played well on one of the competition’s leading forwards.
“I was watching the game against Adelaide where he kicked four goals the week before and I was really, really looking forward to the opportunity to play on Jack,” he said.
“He’s obviously one of the better forwards in the competition at the moment, and if I want to become a better player, he’s the type of player I have to start doing jobs on.
“I was really looking forward to the opportunity and I was really happy with how I went, and obviously I received plenty of help from the other defenders as well.”
Rampe and the Swans defence will face another big challenge on Friday night when they take on the Bombers’ attack, led by Jake Carlisle, who has been in red-hot form over the last month.
Rampe said a strong team defence would be required to shut down Essendon’s potent forward line at the SCG.
“Our focus is completely on Essendon now, who have had three solid wins in a row,” he said.
“Jake Carlisle has been in ripping form and it’s going to take the whole backline, and the midfield as well, to help push back and stop not only Jake but a lot of their crumbing smalls as well.”
While the Swans defensive match ups have yet to be finalised for this week’s match, Rampe said he expected he would line up on one of the Bombers’ mid-sized forwards.
“I’m not too sure who I’ll play on yet,” he said.
“Obviously they’ve got a lot of really good, small crumbing forwards who can read really well off the packs and then they’ve got Carlisle crashing those packs as well.
“I’m probably more likely to be on a smaller player or medium forward like Paul Chapman, or (Jason) Winderlich, who are really good at reading the crumbs off the packs.”
After playing in front of the biggest home and away crowd in the club’s history at the MCG last Saturday night, Rampe stressed the importance of a big home support turning out for this week’s match.
With tickets selling fast, Rampe encouraged all members and fans to fill the SCG stands this Friday night.
“It’s very important,” he said.
“I can say that I definitely felt it down there in Melbourne and the crowd definitely does have a big impact.
“We’re really hoping that we can get a really strong crowd at the SCG this week.
“There are not too many home games left, so I think we should all be jumping at the opportunity to get out there and really put on a show for hopefully a really big crowd.”
