Collingwood: 4.4 7.4 9.8 11.14 (80)
Sydney: 1.1 5.7 7.11 11.13 (79)
Goals - Collingwood: Fasolo 4, Varcoe 2, Crisp, White, Greenwood, Treloar, Hoskin-Elliott Sydney: Hayward 3, Jack 2, Fox, Hannebery, Kennedy, Reid, Florent, Newman
Best - Collingwood: Adams, Treloar, Reid, Grundy, Fasolo, Phillips, Hoskin-Elliott, Schade Sydney: Parker, Kennedy, Hayward, Hannebery, Grundy, Smith
Umpires - Matt Stevic, Mathew Nicholls, Sam Hay
Crowd - 35,310 at the SCG
What was supposed to be a year of redemption for the Swans is fast turning into their annus horribilis after a one-point defeat to Collingwood on Friday night - the first time since 1999 they've lost their opening three games of the season.
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Collingwood defeat Swans in one-point thriller
The Pies dominated from the outset against the Swans as the home side struggled to bring things level.
Celebrations of Lance Franklin's 250th AFL were put on ice as the Magpies eased the pressure on embattled coach Nathan Buckley with a superbly determined effort in a pressure cooker at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ex-GWS Giant Will Hoskin-Elliott kicked the match-winner with less than five minutes on the clock, marking 40m out hard up against the left boundary line before going back and threading the needle.
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The Swans pressed hard after Hoskin-Elliott's goal with Nic Newman slotting home from the goal square after Franklin had marked, but the clock ultimately cut short their comeback. Franklin was left goalless in his milestone match, after collecting four apiece in the opening two rounds, while fellow spearhead Sam Reid finished with just major.
"We've got enormous respect for him [Franklin]Â and I think most clubs spend a fair bit of time in their match committees working out how they're going to handle him, and making sure they've scored the direct opponent or the back six up on taking away his time and space," Buckley said.
"Even tonight he looked very dangerous at times which is probably why we're so proud of Henry [Schade] and his job on him and the rest of the team to be able to quell his influence.
"Schade's been fantastic, he's earned his spot there. It's a lot better feeling when you're on that side of the ledger."
Collingwood was led by Alex Fasolo's superb four-goal first half, and a hard-running midfield of Taylor Adams, Adam Treloar, Hoskin-Elliott and the ageless Scott Pendlebury.
Schade and Tyson Goldsack also did their jobs admirably on Franklin and Reid respectively.
Sydney were favoured as one of the major premiership contenders in season 2017 after losing last year's decider to the Western Bulldogs - the Swans' second grand final loss in the past three years. But nothing has gone right for the red and white.
Friday's loss to the Magpies, which can be largely blamed on an insipid opening quarter, follows defeats already to Port Adelaide and the Bulldogs.
The club boasts a growing casualty ward that already includes stars Dane Rampe, Isaac Heeney, Jarrad McVeigh, Kurt Tippett and Tom Papley, while embattled board member Tim Worner resigned on Thursday night.
All of a sudden the AFL's most consistent club over the last two decades, certainly in terms of finals appearances, faces a monumental battle to fight their way into the top eight this season.
"It's a really tough one with the things you can't control, whether it's compartment syndrome or glandular fever or a bloke tripping over a fence," Longmire said.
"The aim was always to be as competitive as we could possibly be for that first month and that's still our aim.
"Sometimes you can worry about that but in the end I've just got to focus on the things I can control and who is available and who's playing and make sure we get the little things right for longer during the course of a game.
"The problem was we lost the first quarter by 21 and that certainly had an impact.
"We were a bit rushed and not as composed as we should have in the first quarter. We tried to play on too much and we were under the pump.
"We addressed it after that after quarter time and adjusted quite well. We won the scoreboard from that point onwards we just didn't get our noses in front."
The Swans' opening term was quite possibly the worst quarter of football the club has produced since John Longmire took over as head coach in 2011.
It was uncompetitive to the point of being unbelievable, and as un-Sydney like as one could imagine.
The inside-50s read 23-2 in Collingwood's favour. The Magpies marked the ball 28 more times, had 147 disposals to 85 and six more clearances.
That the visitors only managed to kick four goals amidst such dominance was a minor miracle. Fasolo booted three in that quarter alone including a brilliant banana bender late on, while Jack Crisp also helped himself to a six-pointer.
Franklin touched it three times in the first term, and two of those possessions led to shots on goal. Robbie Fox converted a set shot for his first in AFL football, while Callum Sinclair's long shot from hard up against the boundary was punched onto the post for a behind.
Sydney started turning the wheel after the first break, and forced their way back into the contest, sending the ball into their forward 50 on 12 more occasions than Collingwood in the second term.
Fasolo popped up for another goal while ex-Swan Jesse White dobbed a pearler from hard up against the boundary line to a volume of jeers from the home side, but it was two late goals by Kieren Jack that just about swung the momentum going into the main break.
And that's how the second half continued to play out. The Swans desperately tried to reel in the margin that had been stretched too far at quarter time, but Collingwood kept doing just enough to repel the home side.
Reid did his best to get Franklin involved in the third term when he marked 25m out from goal right in front and gave a looping handball over the top to Buddy in the goal square.
Collingwood's defence had also spied Franklin loose on his own, and were able to apply enough pressure to worry him into a behind. It summed up Franklin's night.
Right on three-quarter time he broke free on the wing, and charged towards goal before unloading a typical long bomb from outside 50. It narrowly missed, scraping through for a behind instead - his third of the night.
All Australian defender Nick Smith was dispatched to shut down Fasolo after the main break and he remained goalless from then on.
Second-gamer Will Hayward was a shining light in a losing team, kicking three goals as one of the Swans' best but his best efforts weren't quite enough.
Longmire's Swans have now lost four games in a row for the first time under his tutelage with a daunting trip to Perth against West Coast to come, while Buckley can now take a momentary breather from the ravenous blowtorch being applied to his coaching ahead of St Kilda next week.
VOTES Sydney v Collingwood
(James Buckley)
Taylor Adams (Collingwood) 8
Adam Treloar (Collingwood) 8
Luke Parker (Sydney) 7
Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) 7
Will Hoskin-Elliott (Collingwood) 7
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