There is an element of Sydney’s game that has some form analysts a little worried.
While the Swans might be sitting pretty in second spot on the ladder with a 6-1 record, their penchant to play an uncontested marking brand is a questionable sign.
On Sunday in their 76-point victory over Hawthorn, the Swans took a massive 136 marks, following a haul of 103 against Gold Coast in Round 6.
Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne says while things are fairly solid in a lot of areas for John Longmire right now, he wonders whether that uncontested mark and outside run game will stack up at the business end of the season.
He explained how the Swans play, compared to other top sides, on SEN’s Sportsday.
“In terms of the overall performance, there's no one that's more potent with ball in hand,” Hoyne said.
“Defensively without the footy, they’re seventh in the competition, so they can improve that a little bit. Their clearance work is the second best in the competition.
“What they're doing outside of clearance is 17th. That's the interesting part.
“Ball-movement-wise, offensively and defensively is superb.
“We mentioned Geelong and their ability just to play simple footy, long down the line and just go forward more than anyone else in the competition.
“The Swans do it differently. They play the changing-of-angles game, the uncontested marking game.
“When that works, it just looks absolutely crisp, slick, brilliant and everyone's in awe.
“So the last three years since they've made their run from that Grand Final year, when they take over that 80-mark figure they're winning seven out of 10 games. That's gonna get you close to a Preliminary Final berth.
“When they don't get there (to 80 marks), they're a 50/50 team.
“That's an interesting marker and that's always just a little bit of a watch for me when you're having to rely on that sort of number from a marking perspective.
“We’re not judging performance in terms of how you won a game in Round 7. For the Swans, we’re more looking to the end of the year. Is your game going to stack up come Preliminary Final weekend?
“I think back to Collingwood last year with the heat that they bring, the heat that GWS bring, the heat that Geelong bring, the heat that Carlton are bringing at the moment.
“So the best teams in the competition, like Collingwood last year, are bringing the heat. Collingwood's opponents in the final series last year took 81, 73 and 53 uncontested marks.
“It's hard to have that style of footy go for 360 minutes over a final series. So when that can't be the case, can you actually fall back to playing a less perfect, more chaotic game that we quite often see finals played at.
“The Geelong change a couple of years ago with Chris Scott having this sort of method, having this uncontested marking game, abandoning it to go forward, go long and then the first final that they play (in 2022) with this new system saw them only take 55 to 60 uncontested marks. Because they had changed, they were able to get through a final and win a final like they couldn't do previously.
“That's just going to be the interesting watch with the Swans, is if someone brings the heat and stops this uncontested marking game, can they actually adapt?”
When assessing recent premiers, it was clear to see that good sides with low uncontested mark rates have the most success.
“You look at Collingwood last year, 15th for uncontested marks,” Hoyne said.
“Geelong were 13th for uncontested marks (in 2022).
“Then you see Richmond, even West Coast. People thought that they were an uncontested marking team - 13th for uncontested marks that year (in 2018).”
The Swans next meet third-placed GWS in the Sydney Derby at the SCG on Friday night.