HEADING into Saturday night's clash with reigning AFL premier Collingwood at ANZ Stadium, the Sydney Swans were given little chance of an upset.

They had lost all four previous match-ups with top four teams this season and were long outsiders in the betting.

When the Magpies built a 30-point lead in the third quarter, everything was going to script and the visitors appeared headed for a comfortable victory.

But the Swans hadn't read the script. Instead, they fought back to take the lead in the final term before just slipping to a one-goal defeat, 13.21 (99) to 14.9 (93).

The Swans won the contested possessions, they won the tackles and they won plenty of admirers.

"I think we were 30 points down against a really good team, I'm really proud of the boys tonight," co-captain Adam Goodes said afterwards.

"We showed a lot of ticker and the hard work we put in tonight over the four quarters, it would be nice to get reward for it.

"But that's why they're a good team and the reigning premiers.

"Right to the death they're going to keep going and they put the score on the board.

"We won a lot of the key areas, but still didn't get the four points."

Goodes was well held in a quiet first half, when he had just six touches, three marks and nothing on the scoreboard.

But the two-time Brownlow medallist lifted noticeably after the main break and was a key to his side's comeback.

He finished the game with three goals and 18 possessions as the Swans fell just short.

"I felt I was up and going first half but just wasn't in the game as much as I'd like," he said.

"I just kept working hard at it and thought the marks would come and hopefully the goals would come with that.

"I knew I was one that could lift in the second half and it's nice just to really lift and be able to kick a couple of vital goals in the last quarter."

While the Swans still have a zero in the win column against top four sides this season, they will take some added confidence from their performance against the premiers into next week's road clash with Adelaide.

"No doubt a win really tops that self-belief up," Goodes said.

"We'll review the game and see a lot of positives from it, but they still got the four points.

"We wanted to give ourselves a shot at winning the game, I felt we did that, but we didn't get the result.

"We're disappointed, but have to make sure we back it up next week."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the club