SYDNEY captain Josh Kennedy admits he questioned his decision to accept the role of skipper after his side made a disastrous start to the season.
Kennedy took over from former co-captains Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack last December, but it looked like he had inherited a sinking ship when the Swans lost their first six games of 2017.
Sydney have since turned their year around by winning 10 of their past 11 games to storm into the top eight, but Kennedy hasn't forgotten his initial games as skipper.
The 29-year-old midfielder will play his 200th game when Sydney takes on Hawthorn on Friday night at the MCG, and the three-time club champion and All Australian was honest when talking about his mindset during the toughest time of his playing career.
"Absolutely I questioned myself, and I still am," he said on Wednesday.
"It's no different now to when we were 0-6, being a leader within the football club you're always questioning what you can do to help your teammates and what you can do to help the team.
"You question yourself and wonder if you're the right man for the job, and those questions were certainly asked, and were pretty pointed internally.
"But I'm quite fortunate to have a good support network around me outside the club, and from the board down, the coaching staff and my teammates made it pretty easy."
A tight quad that made him a late withdrawal from the Swans' round 16 win over Gold Coast at the SCG means Kennedy will face his former side in a milestone game that looked unlikely when he was traded to Sydney at the end of the 2009 season.
A fringe player in three years at the Hawks, Kennedy managed just 13 games, but is now one of the competition's most elite midfielders, and arguably the best contested ball winner in the game.
In his seven completed seasons at the Swans, Kennedy has never finished off the podium in the best and fairest, and has played 23-plus games every year since he arrived.
"Looking back, the decision to come up here was pretty easy given the opportunity (I was given)," he said.
"The mindset was just to come up and give it my best shot, the worst case scenario is I get three years experience living in another state, and I'll come back more well rounded.
"Now to be here after 200 games is something I'm really proud of."
Kennedy's exit from the club where his grandfather John senior was a triple premiership coach and four-time best and fairest, and his dad John junior won four flags with the brown and gold in the 1980s, initially came as a shock to his family.
His grandfather famously admitted to barracking for the Hawks against his grandson's Swans in the 2012 and 2014 Grand Finals, and that allegiance hasn't changed.
"John senior has always been a passionate Hawthorn man and always wants to see them win, so I'm not sure where his loyalties lie in terms of the win/loss (this week), but I know that they'll be rooting for me to do well," Kennedy said.
