The Swans’ faith sets them apart from the paper Lions. NATHAN BURKE explains why.

ROUND 22 usually throws up some interesting results and while the outcome of the Brisbane-Sydney clash may not seem interesting on the surface it did highlight the gulf between two seemingly even teams.
On paper these sides appear close, but in reality they are poles apart.
At the start of the season I was not on my own in predicting the Lions to be contenders.
I think most supposedly learned football people tipped them to factor into the September action.
And you can’t blame them as there was some solid supporting evidence.
The Lions made the finals last season, they recruited readymade AFL players, they seemingly addressed deficiencies and they apparently loved the game plan and their coach.
But alas, a final tally of seven wins and 15 losses has them much closer to a wooden spoon than a premiership cup.
To make my pre-season predictions zero from two, I tipped the Swans to drop out of the finals race and again I was not on my own.
Unlike Brisbane the Swans didn’t appear to have addressed deficiencies. They did recruit a goalkicker, but not much else and their stars seemed to be getting a little bit long in the tooth.
But here we are in September and the Lions are recovering from mad Monday while the Swans are hosting a home final against Carlton.
So what went right for one team and so wrong for the other?
Let’s look at the Lions. Basically they gambled and it didn’t come off.
The gamble was to top up the list in an effort to take advantage of what they must have seen as a premiership window.

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A dodgy game plan was one thing, but Essendon’s lack of unity was another according to ROBERT SHAW.

THE Essendon Board has been very proactive in initiating a swift and emphatic dismissal of coach Matthew Knights.
As a life member and reserved seat purchaser, I view all Essendon games I can possibly get to given my media commitments.
I have found the past three years exceptionally difficult, balancing the emotions of being privileged to be an Essendon person and attempting to provide objective analysis from the press box.
Essendon’s past three years has seen the club spiral to equal 15th on the AFL ladder and with a game plan that lacks fibre.
The greatest consistency has been the inconsistency, not to mention the lack of physicality and poor defensive organisation.
Matthew Knights needed to acknowledge this and provide an alternative game plan that may not have won week by week but at least sent the members home knowing that their team was prepared to tough it out.
His game-day coaching was picked apart by all other coaches.
As Essendon under Knights has gone about its business, Melbourne and Richmond have flown by in terms of organisation, player development, fitness and tactical acumen.
As a coach myself, I feel for Knights the person, family man and father.
He joins a long list of senior coaches, including me, who have gone through the same thing. He is not Robinson Crusoe.
I cannot have the same sympathy for him as coach and leader of Essendon, though.
Criticism goes with the job, particularly when you’re at the helm of a great club and Knights should consider it the highlight of his football career that he was chosen to have his name on the same honour board as Reynolds, Hutchison, Clarke, Coleman and Sheedy.

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