IF THE Swans are to be successful tomorrow night and keep their chase for the eight on track, expect to see almost as much tackling against St Kilda at Telstra Stadium as there will be in tonight's Roosters-Tigers NRL clash.
While it's no secret the Swans rely on a brand of high pressure football, Sydney midfielder Ben Mathews spoke yesterday about the importance of tackling.
When Sydney met St Kilda in May, tackling was a statistic the Saints hammered the Swans in and, as a result, won the game.
"A lot of it boiled down to our pressure," Mathews said of the round-seven clash. "I think we missed 25 tackles, and I think we only made 20 to 25, which across the team is unheard of for us - a 50 per cent tackling percentage - so if we don't get that right this time, we'll fall off the pace very quickly.
"It's the basis of our game, our pressure and our tackling and the pursuit of them when we haven't got the ball. If our tackling's not there like it has been the last two or three years, we struggle.
"We aim for an 80 per cent-plus tackling percentage. It's something we have to get right, and we think we've got that right over the second half of the season. The stats show we have something like 90 per cent success rate when it's [tackling percentage] over 80 per cent. We pride ourselves on that pressure and tackling and forcing them into errors."
Sydney made two changes to the team that comfortably defeated Melbourne last weekend, with co-captain Leo Barry returning after missing two weeks with a hamstring injury, and fellow defender Lewis Roberts-Thomson set to make his 2007 debut after a season dogged by injury.
Roberts-Thomson has not played senior football since last year's grand final. He battled a foot injury during the pre-season, and since returning in the seconds has struggled for form. But after eight games in the AFL Canberra competition, he finally got his call-up last night, with Luke Brennan and Heath Grundy the two selection casualties from last week's team.
"We just think with St Kilda's potent forward line we are going to need those guys down there to help us out," assistant coach John Blakey said last night. "[Roberts-Thomson played] probably his best game last week. He played a little bit down back and a little bit up forward and kicked a few goals and started to get a bit of touch back, and we were happy with the way he went last week.
"He struggled there for a few weeks, struggled to find the tempo and struggled to find the footy, but he looked like he was back to his old self and started to find the footy again, so they are always good signs.
"We think he's an important player for us, and we need him in the side. He just adds to our structure. They've got some real key forwards, and they can throw Kosi [Justin Koschitzke] up there as well, so we are going to need a bit of height to help us."
