“Genuine worry”: The concerns Jenkins has for the Sydney Swans in 2025

JOSH Jenkins has highlighted multiple concerns he has with Sydney after the reigning minor premier fell to 0-2 with its defeat to Brisbane.

In the grand final rematch, the Swans began the contest positively, getting out to a commanding 15-point lead at the first break and holding the Lions to a dismal one goal.

But from then on, the Lions slowly but surely got themselves back in the game and ultimately edged out Dean Cox’s men by four points at the SCG.

This loss, plus their opening round defeat to Hawthorn a week earlier, has highlighted to Jenkins the issues he had with the Swans coming into the season – which in his eyes haven’t been fixed and are evidently hurting them already as they begin their 2025 campaign.

“For me, Sydney are a genuine worry. I said so before the season off the back of how do you psychologically get over two terrible defeats in grand finals,” Jenkins said on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“I’ve watched them closely in both their games so far and heard what Dean Cox has said all summer. Improvement in loose ball gets, contested possessions, team defence. And I haven’t seen it to be honest.

“Around the contest? No, they’ve been beaten both weeks around the footy.

“Team defence? Look, they took some marks away from Brisbane so they conceded 158 in the grand final, Brisbane only took about 66 yesterday. But they still weren’t able to get the game on their terms at all.”

Jenkins also highlighted the tough circumstance the Lions were facing coming into this all-important contest, which only further highlighted why his concerns with the Swans have grown since the off-season.

“And look, they were beaten yesterday by a team who I think almost had no right to win the game,” Jenkins said.

“They hadn’t trained for a week.

“You cannot overstate what that means to a football club at the start of a football season.

“So they’re still wanting to get maybe one to two really heavy training sessions in from Brisbane’s perspective.

“Unable to do so, plus what they’re dealing with at home with their families and what’s gone on up there.

“They lose their gun All-Australian small forward before the game, they lose their grand final hero in Kai Lohmann in the first quarter, they lose (Brandon) Starcevich and sure the Sydney Swans kept it close, but I had my concerns coming in and my concerns are only heightened now.”

Sydney will look to capture its first win of the season when it travels to Perth to take on Fremantle on Sunday night.

After a bye the following week, the Swans won’t return home until April 20 when they face Port Adelaide, with North Melbourne and Collingwood the two sides they’ll face before then.

BY SEN/ZAC SHARPE