SYDNEY coach John Longmire wants his players to "get back into the ring", and the SCG would normally be the best place to re-enter the fight for a finals position.
However, their recent record suggests a clash with the Swans inside the ropes of their home ground is no longer the challenge it once was for opposition sides.
After losing four of their 12 games at the SCG last season, they head into Saturday night's crucial encounter with Collingwood having dropped five from nine this year.
That's their poorest return since Longmire's debut season in the job, when the Swans won just four of the eight games they played in 2011. They did make the finals that year, finishing sixth.
To put the numbers in context, Sydney lost just eight times at the venue from 2012-2016, losing just 18 per cent of their home games at the SCG.
Sydney's lack of home ground advantage over the past two seasons is almost a throwback to the turn of the century, when under Rodney Eade – and Paul Roos once Eade was sacked – they lost 19 of 36 SCG games from 2000-2002.
With the Pies clash and another against Hawthorn to finish off the regular season still to come, the Swans can no longer mark home games down as a lock.
That makes their attempted climb back into the top eight extremely difficult, with Melbourne (MCG) and Greater Western Sydney (Spotless Stadium) their other two remaining matches this year.
Longmire could take some comfort from the 2006 line-up under Roos that lost four from nine at the SCG but managed to make the Grand Final for the second year running before losing their return bout with West Coast.
Sydney's losses to Port Adelaide (round two), Adelaide (round five), North Melbourne (round seven), Geelong (round 16) and Gold Coast (round 18) have all been by 24 points or less, and the home side was a real chance to win at least four of those, so it's not all doom and gloom.
The coach said there were a number of contributing factors to his side's form at home, particularly this year.
"There's a little bit to do with the technical part of our game that we need to get right, particularly with a young forward group and having to work through that," he said on Monday.
"We need to get our pressure on the opposition up to the level that's required, and not try to fix everything (at once).
"As soon as you try and fix everything, the chances are you don't fix what you need to."
Time is running out for the Swans and with just two home games left for the season, if there's a fix for this proud club, it has to be a quick one.
If not, Sydney will be onlookers once the finals series kicks off for the first time under Longmire's watch.
