HAVING watched a game he feels the Swans should have won slip away through inaccurate goalkicking and woefully wasteful ball usage, a frustrated Sydney coach Paul Roos admitted the Swans had to "weed out" players lacking the necessary skills.

For the second week in succession, inaccurate kicking in front of goal proved costly for the Swans. Last week, they salvaged a draw after kicking 8.16 against North Melbourne. Yesterday, at the SCG, they had two more scoring shots than the Western Bulldogs but still lost by 18 points. But just as worrying was the Swans' poor disposal into the forward line and their constant turnovers.

"I think at the end of the day that was the difference," Roos said. "If you keep missing goals, you end up losing games and that's what happened today. It's a problem and the players have got to address it and the players have got to fix it. Clearly today it cost us the game, no doubt.

"We won a lot of ball, tackled really well, played some really good footy. But at the end of the day they [the Dogs] were cleaner with their skills and more accurate with their goalkicking.

"It is a bit frustrating to be a forward when guys are streaming through the middle of the ground and kicking it to the opposition or kicking it along the ground or kicking into the man on the mark.

"Some of our better ball-users aren't playing [out injured], and unfortunately some of the guys who don't use the ball well are getting a game at the moment, which makes it frustrating for the coaches and for some of the players as well. And it's also some are our better players not using it as well.

"We've got some good young players playing and improving significantly, but where footy is going if you can't use the ball now … you saw out there today, they kicked their goals, they moved the ball by foot really well and we didn't.

"It's a concern short-term, but eventually the players will weed themselves out in order to get back to become a premiership team - that's the natural evolution of a footy team. So at the moment we've got to try and pick guys that can kick the footy."

Yesterday's defeat was Sydney's first at the SCG since round 10 last season, when they suffered a controversial one-point loss to Essendon, and only their second loss in their past 13 games at the venue.

But the good news is they head into next weekend's bye round still sitting in sixth spot, with three wins, three losses and a draw, which is actually a better start than their 3-4 beginning to the 2005 season when they won the flag.

Sydney got away to a smart start yesterday, holding the lead throughout the opening term and taking a 15-point advantage into the first break, 5.4 (34) to 3.1 (19).

But their lead evaporated within the first 10 minutes of the second stanza as the Bulldogs - despite missing key midfielder Scott West, who withdrew from the match due to a knee injury - booted three unanswered goals. It didn't stop there. It was as if the Swans had decided not to come back on for the second quarter and allowed the visitors to do whatever they liked.

With their forwards carving up Sydney, the Dogs kicked 7.1 to lead by 28 points before the Swans finally bothered the scoreboard at the 25-minute mark of the quarter through a goal to Kieren Jack.

The Dogs were belting Sydney in the area of contested possession, and at the major break their margin was 21 points. Sydney just didn't look likely or capable of getting back into the contest.

The Swans lifted their intensity and were much improved in the third term. But they failed to take advantage on the scoreboard, kicking 4.5 for the quarter, while the Dogs continued to make the most of their chances, kicking four straight goals to extend their lead to 16 points heading into the final quarter, 14.2 (86) to 10.10 (70).

And when Mitch Hahn marked and scored within 30 seconds of the resumption, and Brad Johnson kicked their 16th moments later, the signs were bleak for a lethargic-looking Sydney.

Sydney trailed by 30 points midway through the term before rallying to get back to within two kicks with two minutes to play. The Dogs then sealed the win with their 18th major of the match.