SYDNEY Swans coach Paul Roos says a change to the draft system to reward teams that consistently reached finals should be looked at.

The Swans are making their sixth consecutive finals appearance, having won the premiership in 2005 and gone down in the grand final by a point to West Coast in 2006.

Roos took over for his first full season in 2003 and the Swans have participated in September football every year since.

"If you reward teams for that consistency of performance that would be a really positive step," Roos said.

"That would certainly be one way to make sure teams stay consistently competitive.

"There's not much reward for continually maintaining a high standard. We tend to reward teams that go down the bottom of the ladder.

"I can understand that system, I'm fine with that, but possibly there could be a way of helping teams that are consistently competitive.

"I haven't sat down and worked out how that system would work, but there is definitely some merit in it being discussed."

The success of the Swans is crucial to the AFL's profile in the Harbour City.

So with 'bottoming out' to achieve higher draft picks not an option, Roos has had to look at other methods of bolstering his list.

When he first took over at the helm of the Swans he inherited Irish recruit Tadhg Kennelly. Since then he's added Brendan Murphy from County Carlow to the Swans rookie list and the club has just signed promising teenager Kyle Coney from County Tyrone.

More recently the Swans have added Canadian rugby union player Mike Pyke in an attempt to further supplement their list outside the confines of the draft.

"There's no doubt that you have to work out ways to beat the system in a sense and stay competitive and I think a lot of teams will do that," Roos said.

He insisted that all eyes would be on clubs which had chosen to rebuild, and if they succeeded using new strategies, they could have lasting effects on the game.

"Everyone will be watching Carlton to see if they can win a premiership by going down the bottom three or four years in a row," he said.

"In a way that may be dangerous because, if they do, teams will strategise and try and put that (practice) into place."