The Sydney Swans’ famous ‘Bloods’ brand is nowhere to be seen in 2025 and the team now has an unwanted “reputation” for being fake tough.

After another horrible capitulation last weekend against GWS, the Swans have again been thrust into the spotlight with their faint hopes of making finals officially snuffed out by their cross-town rival.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Swans under fire after showing against GWS.

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The entire year has been a disaster for first-year coach Dean Cox who has not been able to field his strongest line-up from the get-go due to a horror run with injuries.

The Giants game mirrored Sydney’s Round 7 clash with Gold Coast this year, where they were punished in the second half after leading by 17 points at the main break.

Expert commentator Kane Cornes has questioned the Swans for acting tough but failing to back it up when it mattered.

“Well, I reckon the Swans are starting to get a reputation, and not a good one, for throwing their weight around when it doesn’t really matter,” Cornes said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

“So I’m seeing it at the start of games. They’re getting in the face of the opposition. We’re seeing it here after goals with Papley and (Toby) Greene.

“We’re seeing it at half-time and in breaks. And this is all well and good, this is fine, if you can back it up with your on-field actions.

“But what I saw on the weekend was a team that was prepared to do this off the ball, at half-time, the verbal stuff, when you’ve got a nice little lead, but then when the second half starts, this is what they produced ...”

Sydney was 28 points up against the Giants at half-time but the the Giants kicked 12 goals to one in the second half to comfortably win by 44 points.

“It’s starting to become an issue for them,” Cornes said.

“So outscored by 51 for the (third) quarter. It was absolutely brilliant from the Giants, but pathetic from the Swans.

“You can see there all the numbers, their kicking efficiency, their stoppage scores, and this is what it looked like.”

The third quarter was Sydney’s second worst quarter since 2009 (in terms of being outscored).

The Swans also conceded 26 points from clearance (their fourth worst quarter since 2020).

The differential in kicking efficiency for the quarter was -17 per cent, their fourth worst quarter for the year.

Cornes then ran vision of the start of the third quarter, which showed GWS star Fin Callaghan running through the middle of the ground and then kicking a classy long-range goal from inside the centre square.

“So this is the first minute of the third quarter after they’ve done the push and shove at half-time. And this was a walk in the park (for GWS),” Cornes said.

“It was an absolute training drill for the Giants. And it’s not the first time (we’ve seen it) with Sydney.

“We’ve seen it on grand final day where this side talks the talk, but capitulates when this happens.

“So 10 goals in this quarter, we saw them lose the grand final by a big margin. The walk-in (goals), letting players run around the back and get a handball receive.

“So I reckon if you’re gonna do the push and shove, you’ve got to back it up with your actions. And it has started to become a bit of an issue for the Swans.

AFL great Luke Hodge agreed.

“The pushing stuff, that stuff should happen midway through the third quarter when your backs are against the wall and the momentum is going with opposition team,” Hodge said.

“That’s when you should do it to try and unsettle them get your teammates into the game.

“So if you’re doing when you’re up, it’s more important to do it when you’re down to try and change the momentum.”

Outside of the emergence of youngsters Riley Bice and Angus Sheldrick, Sydney has little to take away from Cox’s first year.

The Sam Wicks move to defence is arguably another tick for the coach, but the Tom McCartin experiment in the forward line was an abysmal fail, and stars such Chad Warner and Nick Blakey (All-Australians last year) have seemingly gone backwards.

Stalwart and former No.11 draft pick Ollie Florent is now playing in the VFL, former No.5 draft pick Braeden Campbell has again failed to show progression, and Sydney’s key forwards have been injured and not shown improvement.

Since 1996, Sydney have missed the finals just five times. This year will be the sixth.

The last time they missed finals was in 2020 (they finished 16th) but they rebounded the following year to finish sixth and in 2022 made the grand final.