- Sydney defender Nick Smith concedes the Swans have struggled to adjust to the dimensions of the MCG, as they prepare to return there for Friday's big AFL clash with Hawthorn.
The Swans have had a chequered relationship with the code's most iconic venue in recent times.
They went nine matches without a win there over a three-year period, a streak ended by their 2012 grand final win.
That was the first of five MCG victories from seven matches, but they have lost three of their last five, going down by one point in an upset to Richmond last weekend.
"I think our record is pretty poor there. It's obviously a different-shaped ground to the SCG," said Smith, who will play his 150th game on Friday.
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"You probably do have to adapt to the bigger-sized ground, something we probably haven't done as well as we would have liked in the past.
"But it's good to have two games in a row (at the MCG) and hopefully we can change some things that we did from last week.
"We just got a lot of little things wrong and probably didn't work together as much as we would have liked."
As Sydney's senior small defender, Smith has plenty of respect for Hawthorn's bevy of potent small to medium forwards, a group he ranks among the league's best.
"(Luke) Breust, (Cyril) Rioli, (Paul) Puopolo is playing some really good footy, (Jack) Gunston and then they've got their talls as well," Smith said.
Picked up in the 2007 rookie draft, 27-year-old Smith has won All Australian and International Rules series recognition, after a difficult start to his career.
"The first couple of years I didn't get much footy and playing the first game down at Geelong, we got beaten by seven goals," said Smith, who played just two senior games in his first season.
"It was a pretty interesting introduction to AFL.
"I though I was a long way off at that stage, so to get to 150, I didn't think it would happen."
It wasn't till his 12th game against Collingwood when he played on Magpies danger man Alan Didak that Smith felt he had made the grade.
"I hadn't done much till then, it was kind of a light switch moment and I played ok and (I thought) `maybe I am good enough to be out here," Smith said.
He credited senior players Brett Kirk, Craig Bolton, Tadhg Kennelly and Michael O'Loughlin with helping him develop.
