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With the latest grand final capitulation at the hands of the Lions, Sydney has officially gone from a club infused with the famous ‘Bloods’ culture to one quickly building a reputation of being unable to deliver – or even compete, on the AFL’s biggest stage.
That may sound melodramatic, but they haven’t had a record to write home about lately in deciders.
Since playing in back-to-back grand finals in 2005 and 2006 – winning the first by four points and losing the second by one – and beating Hawthorn in the 2012 decider by 10 points in a performance for the ages, the Swans have qualified for four grand finals in 11 years – losing all four by a combined sum of 226 points.
That’s an average losing margin of just under 10 goals per game. In three of those seasons (2014, 2016 and 2024), the Swans were minor premiers.
Only two teams have won the premiership from outside the top four since the AFL changed its finals format in 2000; the Western Bulldogs in 2016 and the Brisbane Lions last weekend – with both victories coming against the Swans.
Last Saturday, the luxury of categorising the club’s embarrassing 81-point loss to Geelong in the 2022 grand final as a one-off aberration disappeared into the Melbourne skyline just as quickly as Katy Perry’s pre-game fireworks.
The club’s showing – probably worse than in 2022, notwithstanding the slightly smaller deficit – now raises real questions about whether the famous ‘Bloods’ culture and the club’s links to its storied past have all but been lost.
The club will now need to do some serious soul-searching to determine the best way forward – a process which may, somewhat unthinkably, given his record at the club, end with the departure of coach John Longmire.
It may even require trading or delisting several key players who, despite becoming synonymous with the club itself in recent times, appear to have been firmly embraced by Father Time.
Other strategic issues will need to be addressed too.
Chad Warner. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The decision to leave out Callum Mills, on the purported basis of a lesson learnt from the now infamous selection of Sam Reid for the 2022 decider, is likely to linger all summer.
So too is the selection of Logan McDonald, who left the preliminary final early with an injured ankle yet was selected for the grand final, only for the injury to flare up, rendering him virtually ineffective before he was replaced early in the third term.
Decisions such as these should rightfully haunt the Swans all offseason, but what should infuriate the club even more is the eyrie similarities between the loss to Geelong in 2022 and the demolition inflicted by Lions on Saturday.
In both showings, the famous ‘Bloods’ culture, typified by hardness on and around the ball, was hopelessly lacking.
The iconic image of Jude Bolton sporting a blood-soaked bandage around his head after the 2005 grand final, or the legend of Adam Goodes leading the Swans to victory on one leg in the 2012 decider, all seemed so far away against both Geelong and the Lions – almost as if they never existed at all.
Not to mention the players from the infamous ‘Bloodbath’ grand final against Carlton in 1945 – the physical manifestation of the legend of the bloodstain angels – who must surely have been rolling in their graves.
It was a tragically disappointing end to a season that promised so much, particularly after winning an impressive 10 from 11 games to start, before finishing as minor premiers on a three-game-winning streak and eventually going on to win two home finals.
In what was the proud club’s 150th season, the stage was set for one of its most memorable and fantastic achievements.
Instead, just as they were against Geelong two seasons before, the Swans were utterly humiliated and worst still, were made to appear unrecognisable.
Everyone associated with the club, especially its 75,000+ loyal members and fans, really deserved so much better.
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