Swans hope to break Magpie hoodoo
SWANS star Adam Goodes is hopeful that Collingwood’s bye last week might slow its momentum for their round 14 clash between the teams at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
The Magpies have lost just one game this season, which came against Geelong after their first bye in round seven, and have the wood over the Swans in recent years, winning their past nine encounters.
Goodes says he is hoping Collingwood continues the trend of teams losing after the bye in 2011.
Only Geelong, Hawthorn, St Kilda and West Coast have won the week after a rest, but St Kilda and West Coast’s victories came against teams that were also backing up from a bye.
“Hopefully we can get a bit of advantage out of that. I don’t know how big that might be but we’re really looking forward to that challenge,” Goodes said.
Goodes said the momentum of playing in consecutive weeks was the best way to maintain form.
“I know personally I just love playing week in, week out. That’s the routine. I remember one year we beat Port Adelaide in the qualifying final and had the week off going into the prelim. I just didn’t like it. I like to keep playing footy week in, week out,” he said.
“As I get a bit older the bye’s come in really handy but from a team point of view that momentum that you can gain or lose from playing week in, week out is definitely there.”
The Swans sit in sixth position on the ladder, having lost to the three top four teams it has played so far.
Goodes said the team learned from last week’s defeat to Carlton that it couldn’t afford to lapse against the cream of the crop.
“I think what we learn is under extreme pressure we buckled. We turned the ball over too easily and when the ball goes the other way we weren’t able to get it off them quick enough,” he said.
“When you turn it over, good teams score goals, they don’t give you a second chance. For us, what we learnt was those top four teams are going to put pressure on from minute one to minute 120. If we are going to improve as a side we’ve got to be able to absorb that pressure and put it back on the opposition.”
Sydney Swans v Collingwood
Saturday, June 25, 7.10pm, ANZ Stadium
Tickets
