A woeful Sydney has been given a post-match press conference spray by assistant coach Brett Kirk, after losing to a severely understrength GWS by 94 points.

The Swans were held goalless through both the second and third quarters by a Giants side that was missing six of its biggest stars through State of Origin duties, and lost 2019 best and fairest winner Tim Taranto to a dislocated shoulder 10 minutes into the contest.

GWS kicked 15 consecutive goals through the middle of the match.

Watch every match of the Marsh Community Series AFL pre-season comp LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >



Round 18

But given it was a pre-season game, the result wasn’t what drew Kirk’s ire, but rather how little the Swans premiership player believed his side got out of the contest.

He declared there were “no signs” from the game and “nothing we thought was coming”.

“There’s not much to take out of it. It’s unacceptable and below the standard we set for our football club,” Kirk, who stood in for John Longmire on Saturday due to the senior coach’s Origin duties, said.

Kirk: There’s not much to take out of it. It’s unacceptable and below the standard we set for our football club. pic.twitter.com/fXcYq2AkYQ — Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) February 29, 2020

“We were beaten inside and outside.

“We have been working pretty hard since mid-November, we have some new kids and some other new players but there were no signs. There was nothing that we thought that was coming.

“We have to take responsibility. There’s no magic dust, we have to understand what we did and get back to work.”

In the absence of nine representatives away for Friday night’s State of Origin match in Melbourne, both clubs blooded plenty of fresh faces.

Stand-in Giants captain Matt de Boer felt the brunt of a brutal hit from first- year Swan Will Gould in a tight opening term.

But it was a clinic from there on as GWS kept the hapless Swans goalless in the second and third quarters.

It took a Will Hayward wonder snap from the boundary late in the last term to snap a streak of 15 unanswered goals as the Giants ran away with a 19.7 (121) to 3.9 (27) victory.

Zippy small forward Zac Langdon (five majors) was the Giants’ major goalkicker, with Jeremy Finlayson, Bobby Hill, Harry Himmelberg and Tom Green chipping in with two apiece.

Green (21 possessions) and Lachie Ash (19) gave glimpses of the talent which made them top-10 selections.

The Swans ran their top pick Dylan Stephens through the midfield, with the ball- winner gathering 13 disposals.

Sydney recruits Sam Gray (19 possessions) Lewis Taylor (12) and Kaiden Brand (10) also made their first official appearances for the club, as did former Adelaide and Carlton big man Sam Jacobs for the Giants.

With veteran Shane Mumford resting, Jacobs (23 hit-outs) shouldered No.1 ruck duties, aided by academy product Kieran Briggs.