A devastated Brett Ratten has blamed his team's failure to take their opportunities for Sunday's heart-breaking elimination final loss to Sydney at ANZ Stadium.

The Blues fought back from 24 points down at half-time to seize the lead late in the third quarter and kept the momentum going early in the final quarter.

But missed shots from Kade Simpson and Jarrad Waite and a dropped mark in the goalsquare from Lachlan Henderson left the door open for the Swans who regrouped to get up by five points.

"We had the ball in there for a big chunk of that first seven minutes and just couldn't convert, then the ball went down and they scored," Ratten said.

"It virtually changed the dynamics of the game, we had the ball penned in there for so long and then the ball went down and got hemmed in our back 50."

"They had the crowd and used the emotion of (Brett) Kirk and (Paul) Roos as a real plus for them, so we knew the wheel would turn and they would come at us but we didn't grab the opportunity."

"We've won the stoppages by around five or six and the inside-50s by 10 and not to get the points is a little bit disappointing."

"Now it's two finals by two goals combined, so it does hurt."

Ratten was glowing in his praise for skipper Chris Judd who single-handedly dragged the Blues back into the contest in the third quarter.

Five of Judd's 10 disposals for the term were contested and all six of his clearances included a burst from the stoppage followed by a dash, a bounce and a long bomb inside 50.

"His third-quarter performance was probably as good as anyone in the season, how he just changed the game ... and said, 'come on boys, follow me'," said Ratten of Judd.

"It was nearly good enough to get us across the line."

Ratten had no complaints about defender Denis Armfield's decision to run the ball from deep in defence late in the final term when the Blues were trailing by six points.

Armfield was run down from behind by Trent Dennis-Lane who converted from the free for what proved to be the match-winner.

"He got caught for holding the ball but in the next bit of play he came out and ran down and we scored a goal," said Ratten of Armfield.

"If we went through that again, you'd back yourself in and go again."

"There was other aspects of the game, allowing (Tadhg) Kennelly to get away (with) 12 (possessions) in the last quarter."

"That hurt us more than Denis trying to take the game on."

"I think his efforts are justified and that's what we love him to do."

Asked whether the Blues had met his expectations of them for 2010, Ratten said: "We didn't want to lose ground and I suppose we're in the same spot as we were last year."

"I think it's more disappointing about the opportunity we had and how hard we worked and by pure numbers and opportunity going at goal we should have got the points today."