1996. 1997. 1999. 2006. 2014. 2017.
Not only did the Sydney Swans make the finals in those years, but the Harbour City club also kicked off their season zero-from-two. Sound familiar?
The struggling Swans have opened their 2019 campaign less than impressive, succumbing to consecutive defeats in the first two rounds.
Sydney's 26-point home defeat to Adelaide on Saturday night has sparked panic in the Harbour City, who were expecting John Longmire's side to bounce back after a heavy loss to the Western Bulldogs in round one.
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But the Swans again struggled to apply attacking pressure through the midfield and forward packs, while their defensive end failed to combat Adelaide's relentless kicking spree.
Despite the second straight defeat, experienced coach Longmire has no doubts that the Swans will whip back into shape for the third round.
"There's no tricks in this game, when you've been in it a while you know you just need to work through it," Longmire told reporters after the match.
"It's just shoulder to the grindstone (kind of stuff).
"We fixed up some of the areas we didn't get right last week with our midfield in particular but made too many fundamental skill errors.
"Missed handballs, dropped marks, basic spoiling, and they kicked four goals from centre bounces even though the ball was kicked in pretty high at times when our mids most of the time were able to put pressure on those entries.
"I thought we competed better which is what we wanted going into the game, and at different times we got right back into the game from just competing, but a lack of polish really hurt us.
"The effort was better, but the execution wasn't there."
Since 2010, only three of the 49 teams that have started an AFL season 0-2 have gone on to play the final series. But the odds are in Sydney's favour, having climbed the mountain to the grand final in 2014.
Collectively, the Swans will need more than star forward Lance Franklin to drive them over the finish line.
The 32-year-old stunned the local Sydney crowd with three spectacular goals - including two skillful bombs from the boundary line. But the damage had already been done as the Crows broke the match open in the third quarter, kicking 3.5 to 0.4 on their way to a 12.16 (88) to 8.14 (62) victory.
"He just competes so hard that bloke," Longmire said of Franklin.
"He was able to look free with his kicking and he hasn't been like that since he had the operation last year, so that’s as freely as he's moved and kicked (this year)."
BUDDY'S DONE IT AGAIN#AFLSwansCrows pic.twitter.com/lKPDCdmcLZ
— AFL (@AFL) March 29, 2019
The Sydney Swans will travel down to Marvel Stadium on Saturday, April 6 to take on Carlton at Marvel Stadium in round three.
