The Swans belted the Saints 19.12 (126) to 7.13 (55) at Etihad Stadium. The damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been for the struggling Victorian club after the Bloods kicked nine goals to one in a blistering first quarter.

At one point late in the opening term the Swans were on the right side of a 14-2 clearance count, prompting former Richmond forward turned Channel 7 commentator Matthew Richardson to say: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it at 14-2 in a game.”

Geary said the first quarter stats were “mind-blowing” and issued his colleagues a call to arms.

“There comes a time in the year when you’ve got to draw a line in the sand and say, ‘Come on boys, you’ve got to pull your finger out, get to work and start doing something about it,’” Geary told AFL Nation before Monday’s Queen’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood.

“There’s 10 rounds to go, and these 10 rounds can shape the way the club goes forward, whether or not you’re going to be part of that or not is up to you.

“Use the next 10 rounds to either get on board and take this club in the direction we want to take it, or fall behind and not be part of it.”

Geary is out injured and didn’t take part in the Saints’ horror loss, which leaves them 16th on the ladder with just one win from 12 outings. His teammates on the ground suffered but it wasn’t much easier watching on from afar.

“It’s one we will look back on and be pretty embarrassed about, it was a pretty average effort from our playing group in that first quarter,” Geary said.

“When teams go in (to forward 50) 17 times and have 10 scoring shots — that’s pretty ordinary.

“The stats were pretty mind-blowing in terms of what we dished up in the first quarter. Obviously we weren’t able to score either, I think we had similar entries.

“We were getting our hands on the ball but in the important areas of the ground we just got smashed.”

CROWS IN TROUBLE AFTER ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ LOSS

Adelaide has been ravaged by injuries but that’s no excuse for a worrying slide that’s put the Crows in real danger of missing the top eight, according to sports broadcaster Gerard Whateley.

Don Pyke’s men slumped to a three-point defeat to a Fremantle side missing its best player in Nat Fyfe on Sunday. That loss came after a surprise defeat to GWS at home the week before and saw last year’s runners-up slip to 10th on the ladder with a 6-6 record.

Captain Taylor Walker was brought back from an injury lay-off earlier than expected but that wasn’t enough to inspire the Crows to victory.

“We’re looking at one of the most vaunted teams in the competition very much at risk of missing the eight,” Whateley told AFL Nation.

“The runner-up from last year is now 6-6, they do feel like they’re in freefall in recent weeks.

“I’m a believer that once you get into that cycle it is very hard to snap it — injury, begets, injury, begets, injury and then you do things that are desperate as Tex (Walker) wasn’t supposed to come back until after the bye.

“They bring him back, they still lose, but I just think in the head-to-head race yesterday against a Fremantle side that hadn’t done much in recent times and is missing Aaron Sandilands and missing Nat Fyfe, is that it is an unacceptable loss.

“They’ve got all of their own issues and yet they went to play a Fremantle team without Sandilands and without Fyfe.

“Spare me the excuses on injuries at that stage when you’re playing an opposition like that. They’re in strife.”

FURY AFTER SIGNAGE SKINS STARS

The AFL Players Association has called for a review of LED signage at all league venues after cuts forced Jack Ziebell from the field.

The North Melbourne captain had to go to the changerooms during the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to the Cats in Geelong for treatment. He cut his knees on the boundary line signage.

Geelong pair Mark Blicavs and Zach Tuohy also suffered cuts on the electronic signage earlier this season at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

“This is clearly an unacceptable outcome, particularly given the incidents at Optus Stadium from earlier in the season,” Players Association official James Gallagher said in a statement.

“We’ve spoken to the AFL this morning and urged it to conduct a review of all LED fencing at AFL venues as a matter of priority.

“A safe working environment for all players is an absolute non-negotiable for our members and we trust the AFL and venues will take the necessary measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

North coach Brad Scott was fuming post-match over the incident and Kangaroos star Shaun Higgins noted it forced Ziebell out of the game for an extended period.

“The inconvenience for us is that he missed a large portion of the game, because he had to go down into the room,” he told Channel 7’s Game Day. “It wasn’t a major cut, but he missed eight or nine minutes.”

— AAP