Hawthorn and Sydney haven't missed the AFL finals together since 2009 but barring a miracle, both proud clubs will be on the outside looking in this September.
Despite suffering a premiership hangover, the Hawks battled to ninth in 2009, while the Swans, having played in a semi-final the year before, languished in 12th at season's end.
Since then the club's have shared a remarkably successful period, with Hawthorn winning three flags and Sydney one.
The football world just assumed the two would continue on their merry way this season, but after six rounds Alastair Clarkson's side are 17th with one win and John Longmire's men are winless and dead last.
How has it come to this for these once-great teams?
And, more importantly for fans unused to their teams inhabiting footy's lower reaches, how long will this annoying downturn last?
In Hawthorn's case, the departures of Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis appeared to send the message that the party was over after fighting so bravely and successfully for so long.
Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton believes Clarkson kept enough veterans - like former skipper Luke Hodge, Shaun Burgoyne and Josh Gibson - to leave the door open for one last-ditch attempt at a fifth flag under his watch.
"I reckon (those veterans) turned out this year thinking 'If the kids give us a tiny bit of a bunk up, we could have another rip (at a flag)'," Brereton told SEN Radio.
"They've had that opportunity taken away already. They can see the flaws in the team and I wonder if they've gone 'It's just a bit too hard'.
"The body breaks down and sometimes the mind does too ... it's an arduous campaign.
"(The club) know what they're doing ... they're just in a really, really bad place."
If the public utterings of senior figures at the both clubs are any indication then it would seem the Swans don't plan to be down for long, but the Hawks might take a little longer to bounce back.
Clarkson spoke of the possibility of "catastrophic change" if things continue as they have for his side that has suffered two 86-point maulings and had a 19-game winning streak in Launceston broken to the tune of 75 points by St Kilda last week.
Hawthorn's rebuild, reset, re-start - whatever fan-friendly term they settle on - isn't helped by the fact St Kilda hold their 2017 first-round pick as part of their desperate manoeuvring to get hold of Jaeger O'Meara.
Sydney football chief Tom Harley was more optimistic after his club slipped to an 0-6 record.
"I wouldn't be forecasting any dramatic change," Harley told SEN Radio.
"We know we have got the talent. We had five All-Australians last year and technically that's only seven games ago.
"So we've got to find ways to maximise their output."
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