SOME clubs do ‘big picture’ and choose to live in a world where the scoreboard doesn’t matter.
The Sydney Swans just do wins and losses.
Processes, journeys, rebuilds and moral victories for some, against a weekly accountability – now stretching 30 years – for match-day victory.
It would have been understandable, even acceptable, had the Swans lost their past two matches, to St Kilda in round 13 and Port Adelaide last Saturday night. Respectively, they trailed by six and four goals in those games, their opponents were dominating play, and they were without some of their most important players.
But this club just finds ways to win, by two and three points, and Sydney now can use this weekend’s bye to reflect on having already completed the heavy lifting on qualifying for a crucial top-two spot for the 2026 finals series.
Jai Serong (second from right) celebrates his matchwinning goal against St Kilda with teammates in round 13, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos
Errol Gulden, arguably Sydney’s most important player, hasn’t played since the second match of the 2026 season and is expected to return for the next match, against reigning premier Brisbane in round 16. Other injured Swans in Tom Papley, Tom McCartin, Dane Rampe and Braeden Campbell will also be able to return soon, and there is hope that Justin McInerney, who had placed himself in All-Australian discussions with a blistering start to the season, will be able to repair serious hamstring damage before the finals.
Win. It’s what Sydney either does or tries to do every single weekend of a football season. Since round 19, 2002, when Paul Roos officially mounted his campaign to go from interim to permanent Sydney coach, there have been 336 of those things, wins. Along with five draws and 215 losses.
Comparing the Swans with clubs embarking on multiple rebuilds, processes and sustained seasons where their supporters have been told that the weekly scoreboard doesn’t matter shows that Carlton has produced 199 wins (with five draws and 323 losses), North Melbourne 217 wins (five, 308) and Essendon 219 (six, 303).
For the Swans, there have been 19 finals series from the 23 completed seasons since Paul Roos took over, as well as seven Grand Finals for two premierships. Essendon hasn’t won a final since Roos’ second full season in charge.
Dean Cox, in his second season as Sydney coach, has clearly inherited the non-negotiable Swans way, and on the back of the “bonus” wins and the accompanying eight premiership points in the past two weeks, can now set himself for a Grand Final, which the past three coaches of the Swans have achieved – Rodney Eade in 1996, Roos in 2005 and 2006, and John Longmire in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2024.
The Swans never publicly admitted that long before Longmire stood down as coach, two months after the trauma of losing his fourth consecutive Grand Final, that they had identified Cox as his replacement.
But the club’s powerbrokers had long known he would be taking over, and even when he failed to make finals in his first year, when he didn’t get access to Gulden until round 15 – to use American sports vernacular – Cox had a winning season (12 wins, 11 losses). And he has clearly learnt how to win even more in his second season. Again without Gulden since he wrecked a shoulder in the club’s second game of the year, Cox has already reached the same win tally in 2026 from just 14 matches.
Dean Cox speaks with his players during Sydney’s win over St Kilda in round 13, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos
Sydney has demanded excellence, and wins, since the late 1994 day when Richard Colless became chairman. The previous season, 1993, saw the club win one match as it battled not just 14 opponents but was actually fighting to stay alive in a period where the AFL was looking for clubs to die or merge. In 1994, the club won two games, and in 1995 eight more. In 1996, Sydney finished top of the ladder after the home-and-away season and lost a Grand Final in which its greatest-ever recruit Tony Lockett kicked six goals.
The Lockett experience led to another, Colless-endorsed Swans non-negotiable. Recruit rockstar forwards. Barry Hall and Buddy Franklin followed Lockett, with equally monumental impact. Current full-forward Charlie Curnow does not yet have the clout as those before him in this space, but he’s played every game bar one in his first season as a Swan, is placed third in the Coleman Medal race and seems to be doing everything asked of him by Cox.
With nine matches remaining in the Swans’ home-and-away season, they are three wins and percentage clear of the nearest team challenging them for a crucial top-two ladder finish.
The only problem with wanting to be judged by wins and losses is that it cuts differently in September, and the losses the last four times they’ve reached the last Saturday of September have been harrowing.
But give me a team which regularly dares to get hurt in the pursuit of the ultimate victory over the ones which don’t pay enough respect to the weekly scoreboard.
