ANOTHER sub-standard performance by the Sydney Swans at the MCG has left coach John Longmire searching for answers after his side fell to a 29-point loss at the hands of Richmond.

Since defeating Hawthorn in round 11 of the 2007 season, the Swans have managed just one win and a draw in 14 games at the home of football, despite making the finals in all but one of the ensuing seasons.

"I'm sitting here at the moment thinking about it and our players are thinking about it as far as why we didn't play well at the MCG," Longmire said.

"We played poorly here last year - they're the facts we can't escape."

Longmire maintains the size of the ground, which is substantially larger than the SCG, is not a factor.

"Aurora's bigger than the MCG, Subiaco [is too] and we played there last year and won," he said.

"Clearly the only way you can stop getting asked about it is to win. That's the most obvious way to do it."

The Swans were smashed by the unheralded Tigers midfield from the outset and were only able to mount a challenge in the third quarter after an opening term that saw them record 77 fewer possessions than their opposition.
 
"It was the complete opposite of the way that we wanted to play, which was obviously the most disappointing part of the game," Longmire said.

"That first quarter and the uncontested possession difference made it really tough to catch up from there.

"We didn't play as well as we wanted to defensively. We clearly didn't put enough pressure on the opposition the way that we wanted to and it took us until quarter-time before we made the decision to … try and get back on some sort of even keel."

Key forward Sam Reid's run of outs continued as he registered just one kick and one mark and failed to hit the scoreboard on the night, taking his run of games without a goal to four.

Longmire agreed the young forward was lacking confidence, but said ankle and shoulder injuries had affected his ability to train in previous weeks and backed him to return to form now that he was free of injury and able to train regularly.

Reid's struggles made the absence of Adam Goodes inside attacking 50 all the more obvious, but Longmire refused to use the dual Brownlow medallist's absence as an excuse.

"He's a reasonable player, but the reality is that he played here last year and we didn't play very well," he said.

"He's an important player for us, but there's no point in dwelling on it. We've got five or six weeks without him so it's just a matter of getting on with the job."

Luke Parker was subbed out at three-quarter time after suffering knee soreness following a clash of knees. Longmire said it was swollen after the game, but he was unsure of the prognosis.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs