Sydney coach John Longmire believes the Swans have sufficient depth to handle potentially significant injuries to impact players Kurt Tippett and Gary Rohan after admitting they were beaten everywhere by local rivals GWS Giants on Sunday.
The Swans trailed for virtually the entire game and lost each quarter on their way to a 15.15 (105) to 9.9 (63) defeat, their first in four games.
GWS recovered from their first set of back-to back losses this season to celebrate their 100th AFL game in perfect fashion.
A win at Spotless Stadium would have put Sydney top, but they were second best for most of the game.
Toby Greene kicked four goals for GWS in front of a 21,541 crowd, the largest attendance for any sport at the venue since its redevelopment.
It was by far the biggest of Sydney's three losses this season and dropped them from second to third.
"They were better everywhere than us. At the contests, away from the contests," Longmire said.
Perhaps equally worrying for Longmire was the problems for in-form stars Tippett (hamstring/knee) and Rohan (hamstring), with scans to determine the severity of the respective injuries.
Longmire described the injury to ruckman/forward Tippett as significant.
He was adamant Sydney had the depth to cover the potential losses though.
"The same was said about us at the start of the year when we lost (almost) a 1000 games of experience," Longmire said.
"We were able to handle that pretty well. We believe we've got some players in the reserves who can come in who have been in good form for quite a while, they just need an opportunity."
The only injury issue for GWS was a lingering foot problem for veteran forward Steve Johnson who kicked 2.3 and accumulated 27 touches.
GWS remained sixth after just their second win in ten Sydney derbies, but have a favourable draw in the second half of the season.
Coach Leon Cameron, who rated the win as one of the best three or four in the club's brief history, revealed he was considering resting Johnson for nest week's game against Essendon.
"We've been really competitive for 12 rounds, but the challenge is to keep going," Cameron said.
He was proud of his defenders, who snuffed out most of Sydney's primary forward threat.
Lance Franklin with two goals was Sydney's multiple goalkicker.
The Giants won the midfield battle with Ryan Griffen outstanding and got more drive out of defence through Brett Kirk medallist Heath Shaw, Zac Williams and Nathan Wilson.
Longmire said he couldn't recall for a while his normally high quality midfield group being so flat.
From a 23-23 tie early in the second quarter the Giants kicked seven of the next eight goals to lead by 40.
Sydney notched the last three goals and 20 points of the third quarter to cut the deficit by 20 at the last change.
However Sydney couldn't get the deficit below 20 in a final term in which the Giants' Sam Reid marked his first game in over 1000 days with a goal.
GWS finished 20 up in contested possessions, 49 more in disposals and with nine more inside 50s.
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