On Saturday, the Sydney Swans will mark the 20-year anniversary of their drought-breaking, identity-forging 2005 AFL premiership – the moment that their ‘Bloods culture’ went from being an internal concept, barely spoken about outside the club, to a very public ethos, mythologised in footy folklore and proudly etched into the club’s DNA.
At half-time of Sydney’s clash with the Adelaide Crows, players from that famous grand final win will do a lap of honour at the SCG, and thousands of fans will show their appreciation for them and the achievement that set up the enviable era that followed.
Here it is: Paul Roos, Paul Kelly and the 2005 premiership.Credit: Sebastian Costanzo
At no point in the past two decades has that culture – built on discipline, selflessness, unity and commitment, revered and feared by their rivals – appeared more vulnerable than right now.
If nothing else, the Swans of 2025 are clearly undisciplined. Skipper Callum Mills will miss Saturday’s clash through suspension, and he’s far from the only culprit; no team this year has had more players rubbed out than the Swans. And those other qualities, for so long non-negotiables at this club, just aren’t sticking.
After last week’s hollow defeat to Melbourne – the Swans’ first match at the MCG since last year’s grand final, their second belting on the game’s biggest stage in the space of three years – former Western Bulldogs champion Bob Murphy diagnosed their issues in perhaps the most Bob Murphy way imaginable.
“Well, the thing about the Bloods,” he said on ABC Radio. “Blood needs to pump, and the thing that pumps your blood is your heart, and I feel like they’ve played with broken hearts for most of the year.”
Sydney Swans celebrate after winning the grand final.Credit: Wayne Taylor
All the players who built the Bloods culture are gone; in fact, so much has changed that the bloke who kicked the ball that Leo Barry marked is now the coach. Paul Roos is long gone, and so too is his successor John Longmire; though he’s still technically around, in his new upstairs role at the Swans, the football department is no longer his domain.
Like the Ship of Theseus, if all the parts have changed, and all the hands which put them there are different, is it still the same? Recent history would suggest that yes, that culture has been successfully preserved: only three times since 2005 have the Swans missed the finals, and most would agree that they probably should have won more than one of their four grand finals in that time. And the brand of footy they have played throughout is – or was – still based on the same fundamentals.
But nothing lasts forever.
“I was fortunate enough to play against that,” said coach Dean Cox. “[I know] what it did look like from an opposition player. Certainly, the players are aware of what the team stood for and how they played through that period of time. There’s a little subtle messaging that we’ll play throughout the week, about how we can try and emulate some of the things that they were doing.
Dean Cox after the 2005 grand final.Credit: Getty Images
“We’ll still focus on ourselves. But you need to certainly identify the amazing team that that was.”
Have the Swans of 2025 strayed too far from the ethos of 2005? The answer from Cox was no, but also yes. At times, they have, and at other times they haven’t – so it’s still there, somewhere.
“That’s probably the hardest part at the moment – for periods, it’s been OK,” he said.
“The discrepancies have been so great, and that’s what we need to line out, and we need to make as consistent as possible. We always want to be a hard team to play against. That hasn’t changed. We still want that. So we’ve got to get back to doing that.”
Now is the time. At 4-7, mathematically, obviously, anything is still possible for the Swans. But realistically, playing finals football becomes very tough if their colours are lowered again.
Though the Swans can look forward to the return of several key players from injury over the back end of the season – Errol Gulden and Tom Papley, most notably – they cannot take their focus away from the here and now.
“Injuries happen. You see every club go through injuries or suspensions or players in and out of form. So it’s about exactly that: seizing the moment when you are there,” Cox said. “We can’t wait. We’re not in a position to wait. As a football club, we never wait. So the players, they’re aware of that and everyone needs to address it.”
Cox’s repeated warnings have not been heeded, to the point where he has had to deploy the big stick at selection, dropping star winger Ollie Florent and ending his run of 130 consecutive games.
“Obviously he’s had a great career to date, and still will for the footy club, but I think one thing you want the players to do is to play their role consistently. And Ollie hasn’t been doing that,” Cox said. “So when you don’t do that, your position gets put in jeopardy.”
