SYDNEY coach Paul Roos has long held the philosophy, which he repeated again both before and in the aftermath of Saturday night's clash with Collingwood, that the Swans simply can't afford to "bottom out".
The market is fickle and unforgiving. Roos believes, and he's hardly alone, that even one poor return in the chase for longer-term success could be very costly in terms of support, membership and the corporate dollar.
Sydneysiders would be an ungrateful bunch indeed if that were to prove the case. Another guaranteed spot in the eight this season will make it 11 finals series over the past 13 seasons for the Swans, delivering three grand final appearances and a first premiership in 72 years.
But Saturday night's dismal 45-point loss to Collingwood underlined just how many steps backwards Sydney might have to take in the short term in order to have a realistic chance of reaching the top again.
We said it last year after the Swans were blown away by the same opponents in an elimination final, and for a while this season, during a six-game winning streak, it looked like we'd jumped far too soon.
Sydney were nine wins and a draw after 13 rounds, having got to that stage largely without the services of the suspended Barry Hall, and with a tweak here and there to the game style and the contributions of youngsters such as Kieren Jack, Craig Bird and Jarred Moore appearing to have made a significant difference.
It wasn't a mirage. But the six losses from eight outings since then have proved that the adjustments were mere Band-Aids rather than the major surgery this team needs. The Swans simply are too old, too slow, not nearly skilled enough and without sufficient fresh blood in their current form to ever prove anything but honest toilers in a competition where the bar has been raised significantly.
Geelong are the obvious example, having more than matched Sydney's famed level of physical intensity while setting new standards of skill and quick ball movement. Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs have done it, too. And Collingwood made a big statement about where their opponents were at on Saturday night, too intense for the Swans, but far too adept with the ball as well, even without Alan Didak, Heath Shaw and Dale Thomas.
The Magpies did a real job on Sydney, with exactly half the team aged 21 or younger. Nine of the 22 had played 30 games or fewer. The contrast with the Swans could scarcely have been more stark.
There are seven Swans players aged 30 or older next season: Peter Everitt, Brett Kirk, Barry Hall, Leo Barry, Mick O'Loughlin, Jared Crouch and Ben Mathews. Another eight will turn 28 or 29 next year: Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton, Craig Bolton, Nic Fosdike, Nick Davis, Darren Jolly, Tadhg Kennelly and Ryan O'Keefe. That's 15 with perhaps no more than a couple of seasons left in them.
It's starting to really tell with a few. Mathews can no longer get a game. Barry, Everitt and Crouch are patently struggling. Hall has had a nightmare of a season. O'Loughlin and Goodes have had more injury problems. More alarmingly, the next tier down don't appear to be anywhere near capable of filling the breach. Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Paul Bevan, Amon Buchanan, Ted Richards and Heath Grundy are honest enough, but each has limitations.
Perhaps the only bright note from Saturday night for Sydney came from forward Patrick Veszpremi, who looked capable and lively - one of a handful who don't appear to have been worn down by seasons of grind.
Roos knows better than anyone there's going to have to be some serious pruning done to the Sydney list in a few weeks. Let's just hope the city his team represents has enough patience and long-term vision to understand just how much.