The alarming numbers that the Swans must correct ahead of finals

There is a vital area of Sydney’s game that is well below par right now.

The Swans arrested a three-game losing streak with a dramatic three-point win over Collingwood at the SCG in Round 22 to maintain their position at the top of the ladder.

It was a win they desperately needed just a few weeks out from the finals series. Now, however, they must get their turnover game up and running if they are to do any damage in September.

That is the opinion of Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne who has outlined the shortcomings of the Swans in recent times.

Their recent differential with scores from turnovers has been -11 against the Magpies (35-46), -63 against Port Adelaide (27-90), -33 against Western Bulldogs (24-57), -28 against Brisbane (25-53), +15 against North Melbourne (61-46), and -1 against St Kilda (50-51).

That adds up to -121 across six weeks.

It is something that John Longmire needs to fix starting with Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.

“I think this is a massive Friday night for Sydney,” Hoyne said on SEN’s Sportsday.

“They’re going to finish top or top two, but at some stage things have got to get going.

“They actually need to get things going. They don’t need to just get a win, they’ve need to get things going from a system perspective.

“We talk about the turnover being the absolute primary indicator for success. Over the last six weeks only Richmond has a worse turnover game than what Sydney does heading into a finals series.

“We’ve spoken a lot about how teams are denying them corridor and forcing them to go long down the line. Collingwood again did that, took away corridor and forced them long down the line.

“The Swans had to pull off aggressive kicks, they turned the footy over 25 times in their back half. Collingwood kicked 3.8 off it and could have put them absolutely to the sword and they do not win that game of footy.

“That’s why it’s a massive Friday night for Sydney against Essendon. Can that win, albeit fortunate, be the kickstarter to actually get things going?

“Because if we’re sitting here next week and it hasn’t, we’ll be pretty surprised if any success comes this late in the season with this sort of profile.”

Following the Bombers clash comes a home meeting with Adelaide in Round 24 before the real stuff kicks off in the second week of September.

The Swans are still four points and percentage clear on top the ladder meaning they’ll likely finish top if they can win at least one of their remaining two fixtures.

Watch Full On Footy analysis with Hoyne below: