SYDNEY'S Callum Mills should be stripped of his captaincy to make way for a star midfielder to take the helm, says Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes. 

On AFL.com.au's First Up with Kane Cornes on Sunday, Cornes questioned Mills' ability to captain the club while he regularly frequents the sidelines, and says Isaac Heeney is ready to take his place. 

"It's Isaac Heeney's team, just look at the way Isaac Heeney plays," Cornes said. 

"Absolutely at the end of the year [I'd take the captaincy off Mills].

"Since he's been named captain, the story of events has been he's got injured on 'Mad Monday', he's played seven games, and last year I thought he probably, at times, didn't look like he was in the best 22 and then he hasn't played again this year."

Mills hasn't played a game in 2025, after suffering a foot injury in pre-season that's expected to keep him on the injury list for at least another week. 

The tear to his plantar fasciitis is the most recent blow, in an already long list of injuries for the skipper. 

Mills suffered a shoulder injury at the club's post-season drinks at the end of 2023, before experiencing a setback prior to his return, with a calf injury in April last year. 

The 28-year-old managed only seven games during 2024 before suffering a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the Swans' Grand Final loss to Brisbane.

"[Naming Mills captain] was a huge error," Cornes said. 

"Now, they couldn't have foreseen some of the injury stuff, but he's got a pretty long history with injury. So that's really hurt them."

Without Mills, and additional injuries to stars Errol Gulden (ankle) and Tom Papley (foot), Cornes says the Swans are now floundering without key leaders. 

"Gulden is a young leader, but he almost looks like a next captain as well, and then Papley is the energy and the fire starter," Cornes said.

"You take those three key leadership pieces out then most teams are going to struggle, but I didn't predict this from Sydney."

After a Grand Final appearance in 2024, the Swans have made a disappointing start to this season, sitting at 2-5 after a loss to Gold Coast on Sunday.

Cornes believes their season may be unsalvageable.

"Maybe [this year is] just one of those years where you write it off, you go to the bottom, like they have done in the past, [and] you get your draft picks," Cornes said.

"You get your list sort of more stable, you get some injured players back and then you shoot back up, which I think they're capable of doing."