Superstar forward Lance Franklin produced an eight-goal exhibition and the Swans leaders regained their hard edge as they broke their AFL duck in convincing fashion on Sunday.
Sydney piled on the first 20 points on their way to a 20.15 (135) to 12.9 (81) win at the SCG.
It lifted them off the foot of the ladder and above the Lions, who have now lost their past 10 clashes with the Swans.
Franklin kicked the highest individual score of the AFL season and set the tone from a set shot inside the first minute.
While not back to their relentless best, it was clearly the best performance of the season by the Swans, though they were never tested by Brisbane.
Sydney coach John Longmire says his players were fantastic and celebrated the return of their ferocity for the contest, which was rarely seen through their six losses.
It was Franklin's first haul of more than four goals this season and his biggest bag since he kicked nine against St Kilda in his 200th game in 2014.
"He played a fantastic game, he was really good." Longmire said of Franklin.
"A number of our leaders and senior players that have copped some criticism were good.
"They are a pretty proud bunch and they set themselves to play really good and they haven't been able to deliver that to this point, and we did it today."
The best of Franklin's bag was a remarkable kick on the run from close to 80 metres just before quarter time.
"I knew he was going to kick it," Lions coach Chris Fagan, who spent several seasons at Hawthorn with Franklin, said.
Franklin had five goals on the board by halftime, by which time he had scored only six points less than the entire Brisbane team.
Franklin apart, speedy youngster Zak Jones was another standout Swans contributor, tallying a career-best 27 touches and kicking a goal after a blistering run through traffic.
Sydney midfielder Luke Parker had his most productive game of the season, accumulating a team-high 30 disposals.
Fagan lamented several costly first-half turnovers but took solace from the way Brisbane battled after a disastrous start.
"Franklin was on fire, they were obviously really fired up for the game," Fagan said.
"There was a lot of press on the Swans this week and they responded like an experienced team would.
"I was proud of our team after quarter time, we could have got blown out of the water."
Acting Lions captain Tom Rockliff headed Brisbane's effort with a match-high 32 touches and 11 tackles.
Recalled Marco Paparone notched 28 possessions, just one below his career high, in his 50th game and his first match of the season..
Sydney key defender Aliir Aliir was dropped from the team for failing to make the club's eve-of-match training run on Saturday, just days since being recalled after two weeks on the outer.
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