The Sydney Swans Academy, consisting of the club's best junior development signings, contests Division 2 of the men's and women's underage national championships and the Talent League.

Seeking more regular senior competition in 1876 South Melbourne also went on one of its first regional tours playing against newly formed clubs at Beechworth, Blackwood, Taradale and Ballarat.

[38][39] On grand final eve, 1935, as the Swans prepared to take on Collingwood, star full-forward Bob Pratt was clipped by a truck moments after stepping off a tram and subsequently missed the match for South.

[44] Following the end of the second world war, South Melbourne consistently struggled, as their traditional inner-city recruiting district largely emptied as a result of demographic shifts.

By the 1960s it was clear that South Melbourne's financial resources would not be capable of allowing them to compete in the growing market for country and interstate players, and their own local zone was never strong enough to compensate for this.

The idea began to gain traction and in 1977, Ron Barassi proposed the VFL setting up a club in Sydney, which he offered to coach believing that it would help spread the code in the state.

With corporate backing[58] and strong public support including local legend Alex Jesaulenko,[59] the Canberra bid was confident it would be a successful expansion club.

[65] The board ended up undermining its own position when it accepted a $400,000 loan from the VFL in late November in order to stay solvent, under the condition that it commit to Sydney for at least two years.

[69] At a major launch in Sydney, Aylett vindicated the league's decision, announcing it had signed a new sponsor, Ward Transport, and that on-field success for the Swans would soon follow.

[70] The Swans experienced success in the 1982 Escort Championships with 1,000 supporters packing out the Chevron Hotel ballroom in King Cross in response to the win, however Channel Seven did not broadcast the match in Sydney.

[83] The likes of Gerard Healy, Merv Neagle and Paul Morwood were also poached from other clubs, and failed approaches were made to Simon Madden, Terry Daniher, Andrew Bews and Maurice Rioli.

[99][100] At the end of 1988 the VFL re-tendered the Swans license and a group of financial backers including Mike Willesee, Basil Sellers, Peter Weinert and Craig Kimberley, purchased the licence and bankrolled the club.

At roughly the same time, Dermott Brereton was also recruited from Hawthorn on a three-year contract becoming one of the swans highest paid players,[116] and was considered to replace Paul Kelly as club captain.

It was during this era that the Swans picked up the likes of Paul Williams, Barry Hall, Craig Bolton, Darren Jolly, Ted Richards, Peter Everitt, Martin Mattner, Rhyce Shaw, Shane Mumford, Ben McGlynn and Mitch Morton, amongst others, and giving up higher order draft picks meant the Swans missed out on the likes of Daniel Motlop, Nick Dal Santo, James Kelly, Courtenay Dempsey and Sam Lonergan who went to Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Geelong and the latter two to Essendon respectively.

Swans coach Paul Roos maintained that playing contested football was the style used by all recent Premiership-winning teams, and felt that it was ironic that the much criticised strategy proved ultimately successful.

In the first preliminary final at the MCG on 16 September against St Kilda, the Swans used a seven-goal blitz in 11 minutes of the fourth quarter to overturn an 8-point deficit and overrun the Saints by 15.6 (96) to 9.11 (65).

In the last few minutes, the Sydney defence held strong, with Leo Barry marking the ball just before the siren to stop the Eagles' final desperate shot at goal.

[151] The conclusion of the 2007 trade saw the loss of Adam Schneider and Sean Dempster to St Kilda, the delisting of Simon Phillips, Jonathan Simpkin and Luke Vogels, and the gain of Henry Playfair from Geelong and Martin Mattner from Adelaide.

[155] Former North Melbourne premiership-winning forward John Longmire took over as coach of the Swans as part of a succession plan initiated by Paul Roos in 2009 prior to the beginning of the 2011 season.

The Swans eventually finished the regular season in third place after losing three of their final four matches, all against their fellow top-four rivals (Collingwood, Hawthorn and Geelong in Rounds 20, 22 and 23 respectively).

After a loss to North Melbourne in Round 4, the Swans' won twelve games in a row, including victories against 2013 grand finalists Fremantle and Hawthorn, Geelong by 110 points at the SCG and then ladder leaders Port Adelaide.

They bounced back to win against top spot North Melbourne, and the Hawks at the MCG, with Lance Franklin booting 3 goals, including a bomb from 80 metres.

After leading by a scant 2-point margin at half time, the Bulldogs pulled away towards the end of the fourth quarter to hand Sydney their second grand final loss in three years.

This included a 30-point win against Geelong in Round 2, which involved Lance Franklin kicking his 1000th career goal, sparking one of the biggest pitch invasions in AFL history.

After a mid-year slump, in which the Swans lost winnable games against Gold Coast, Port Adelaide and Essendon, they finished the home-and-away season with seven wins in a row, securing a top-4 berth for the first time since 2016.

[11][217] Since the 2016 AFL season, the Swans have played all their home games at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a 48,000 capacity venue located in inner-east suburb of Moore Park.

[238] Despite finishing last in its debut season, the women's team had the 4th highest average home attendance in the league, with 3,773 playing out of the North Sydney Oval and Henson Park.

Between 2001 and 2002, the Swans affiliated themselves with the Port Melbourne Football Club in the VFL, sending most of its reserves players there, while also retaining the Redbacks in the Sydney AFL as a junior development team.

72 spread staff across 9 facilities manage 550 selected underage players from age 10 up with regional hubs in Illawarra, Central Coast, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Northern Rivers.

[184] Legend: Premiers   Grand Finalist   Finals   Wooden spoon Sydney announced its team of the century on 8 August 2003: Peter Bedford David Ackerly Jack Bisset Mark Browning Rod Carter Jared Crouch Paul Kelly William Faul Barry Hall Herb Howson Barry Mitchell Bill Windley Bob Skilton Ron Hillis Tadhg Kennelly Craig Kimberley Denis McKay Tony Morwood Michael O'Loughlin Charlie Ricketts Bruce Sloss Len Thomas Greg Williams Jimmy Young Peter Burns Paul Roos Bernard Toohey Dennis Carroll Stuart Maxfield Len Mortimer Leo Barry Craig Bolton Jim Caldwell Roy Cazaly Andrew Dunkley Fred Goldsmith Gerard Healy Herbie Matthews Graeme John Brett Kirk Laurie Nash Adam Goodes Harry Clarke Ryan O'Keefe Ted Richards David McLeish David Murphy Rick Quade Lewis Roberts-Thomson Mark Tandy William Thomas Paul Williams Stephen Wright Graham Teasdale Edward Johnson John Rantall Terry Brain Bernie Evans Barry Round Mark Bayes Ron Clegg Jude Bolton Bob Pratt Warwick Capper Jim Cleary Henry Elms Jack Graham John Heriot Tony Lockett Jim Taylor Vic Belcher Bill Gunn Billy Williams Bob Skilton Medal (Club best and fairest) Brownlow Medal (League best and fairest) Norm Smith Medal (AFL Grand Final best on ground) Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFLPA Most Valuable Player) Coleman Medal (Leading Goal Kicker) AFL Rising Star (Best player under 21) During the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, Sydney Swans supported the Yes vote.