SYDNEY is confident it has exorcised its Grand Final demons after undergoing a "tough" review of their MCG flop in September.
Some two months on from their 60-point hammering by Brisbane, new Swans coach Dean Cox officially began his tenure with a day-long review of the nightmare showing.
Sydney, after dominating the 2024 season to win the minor premiership, were bullied into submission by a forceful Brisbane outfit that went on a seven-goal romp to build a 46-point lead at half-time.
While some clubs have shunned or struggled to re-watch a heartbreaking Grand Final loss, Cox postponed the Swans' first official pre-season training to dedicate a meticulous pulling apart of their performance.
"It was something we had to do," Cox said.
"We spent all day doing it. We moved our training session to today, actually ... because we needed to address it.
"The way to go forward is to look at it and the players were fantastic through that. To be open and honest and review it like we normally would was really important for this football club going forward.
"Hopefully we can learn from that. It's behind us now, but you've got to take plenty of lessons from it.
"Two things we value - the way we defend and our contest - was really poor. We want to be a team that when the stakes get higher, that's what we turn to, that's what we go to and we deliver on that. And we weren't able to do that.
"Brisbane were phenomenal, they played a really good brand of football and extremely well, but we let ourselves down in those areas."
Cox said while the session was "tough", the playing group was open to it.
"The ability of our leaders ... to get out of every player how they're feeling, what they felt in that time and how they want to move forward (is important in every review session)," Cox said.
"It was brave for them. It was tough to go back and watch, but they were open to it. They wanted to do it, so did myself and us as a football club.
"That was our last performance as a football club. To be able to ... stare it in the face, to learn from it - that's the only way you can go forward. That's why we had to do it.
"No doubt this football club will play in some big matches to come and when we get there, we'll be ready for it."
Swans skipper Callum Mills is also keen on letting go of his own heartache, having moved on from missing out on the Grand Final due to a hamstring injury.
Mills only played seven games in an injury-marred 2024 campaign. He was ruled out of the first half of the season after tearing the rotator cuff in his left shoulder, a calf injury delayed his return further before he suffered the hamstring issue in September.
"It was a tough week (before the Grand Final) but I think that's kind of what makes you as a person," Mills said.
"Whether it's a Grand Final (loss) or missing out most of the year that drives you, you've got to be careful holding on to that for too long.
"You've got to be able to separate yourself from it and move forward ... because I don't think that lasts."