Sydney coach John Longmire isn't sure when his much-missed defender Nick Smith will return from injury, as the Swans continue to be plagued by poor home form.
A 22-point loss to previously winless Melbourne on Thursday at the SCG left Sydney languishing in the lower reaches of the AFL ladder with 1-3 record.
Sydney's backline was missing their three most senior players and almost 800 games of experience with organiser Jarrad McVeigh key defender Heath Grundy and Smith all out.
McVeigh will miss up to two months with a quadriceps injury and Grundy at least another week or two with a back issue,.
Smith, who invariably takes the opposition's best small forward, hasn't played since round 21 last year.
"He's still got some issues with his hamstring, so we're unsure about that at the moment, we don't have a return date for Nick," said Longmire after his 200th game as coach.
"It's a different looking back six but that's part of the evolution of the footy club.'
The Swans inability to consistently win at home is becoming an increasingly vexatious issue.
They have lost six of their last seven at the SCG and won just five of 14 at home since the start of the 2018 season.
"We've got to do something about it, we've got to get better at that, there's no question about that and we've got to reverse that," Longmire said.
Having watched Sydney rally from an 0-6 start in 2017 to make the finals, Longmire remains adamant they can turn their fortunes around.
"We're confident but we've still got to get out there and do it. it's not a matter of just talking about it , it's a matter of actually going out and executing it," he said.
After surrendering a 22-point second quarter lead, Sydney were smashed by Melbourne in the contested ball battle in the second half and routed 73-13 in the hitouts.
Longmire lamented missed goalkicking opportunities in the second quarter and said their kicking into the forward line was too shallow, often not getting past centre half forward.
Some of the Swans youngsters shone in the first one and a half quarters but faded out of sight as the Demons kicked 11 of the last 15 goals.
"It's pretty hard to win a game of footy when you (only) play 65 minutes," Longmire said
