After a stellar season that saw the Dogs return to finals footy for the first time since 2022, the season has ended on a disappointing note.
However, looking at the team’s overall ability to grow and develop over the year, Head Coach Tam Hyett shared some optimism following the game.
Here’s what she had to say:
On the overall feeling amongst the group:
“Pretty disappointing.
“We’re pretty gutted.
“I thought we prepared pretty well, and they got a jump on us in the first quarter with the wind.
“We had our chances in the second quarter with inside 50s, and we just couldn’t capitalise on those entries.”
On the not making the most of conditions in the second quarter:
“As we said to the players, you’ve got to still work for it.
“I think they probably outworked us a little bit.
“Just pretty disappointed.”
On where the Dogs could have been better:
“To the Swans’ credit, they were cleaner.
“They embraced the conditions better than what we did.
“We were a little bit fumbly, which didn’t help, which then gave them some clear ball inside 50s.”
On the pressure within the game:
“They’ve shown throughout all the season that they’re a high-pressure side.
“We probably didn’t handle it well enough.”
On decisions around playing on Chloe Malloy:
“Some of the decisions we were making with ball in hand were poor.
“She’s a good player, so she’s going to attract the ball, but we needed to take it off the line a little bit more and use a bit more shape to use that open side.
“We probably didn’t help our causes by some of the decisions we made.
“We still thought the look around the arc was what we wanted, and, ideally, if you’re clean and possess the ball really well, the plus one behind the ball shouldn’t be an issue.
“But we weren’t able to do that.”
On the Swans’ ability to impact Pritchard’s game:
“Pritch is a competitor.
“She just wanted to try and assist the team. Tanya (Kennedy) was really good today, but so were their other midfielders.
“Pritch has had an amazing year.
“As I said to the players post-game, it was a really disappointing way to finish the season, but we can’t let what happened today take away from the progress and the season we had.
“We earned the right to be here, and we just couldn’t capitalise on that.
“Pretty disappointed dressing room, but I have no doubt that this is a pretty ambitious group, so they’ll use that to good measure in the off-season and come back bigger and better in 2027.”
On the conditions throughout the game:
“Finals football, you’d love to be able to see a beautiful day, clear skies, no wind, and then it’s about two teams who can play to their best.
“Now, one team probably took more opportunities and took care of moments.
“Finals is about contest, pressure, and moments, and they had more of those.”
On the final message to the team:
“Let this feeling that we’re feeling at the moment drive you in the off-season and the pre-season.
“But don’t let it also take away from the fact of the progress that we’ve made.
“We’ve got some things that we want to be better at, but we played the ten top sides this year, finished seventh, and I thought that we were really competitive.
“Disappointing to finish probably today, and then probably the last couple of weeks the way we did.
“We’ve got a young, really ambitious group, and I’m sure they’ll put this to good use.”
