No-one could question the effort put in by Sydney in an attempt to finally find a way past AFL bogey side Collingwood on Saturday night.

After a poor start at ANZ Stadium, Sydney clawed their way back into the contest and led by a point early in the final term in a match co-captain Brett Kirk called the biggest of their season.

But the Magpies stormed over the top in the last quarter to win by 23 points and leave everyone at the Swans contemplating a stark reality.

Sydney, who are now 11th with a 5-7 record, simply lack the class of the better teams and are facing a very difficult second half of the season.

Man of the match Alan Didak and Leon Davis produced some moments of magic to turn the tide for Collingwood in the final quarter, but apart from Adam Goodes and perhaps a fading Michael O'Loughlin, Sydney are more blue collar workers than fleet-footed magicians.

"The class of Collingwood was just better than the workmanlike performance of the Swans and that was the difference in the game, really," coach Paul Roos said.

"(We made) far too many errors to beat a quality, class team.

"Teddy (Richards) handed them a goal at the end of the third quarter - you just can't win games of footy like that.

"We had blokes who had a lot of the footy but might as well not have had a lot of the footy. Their effort was super but the execution was just poor."

The statistics backed up Roos' assertions, with Sydney dominating the possession count 417 to 335.

But Sydney fans were often left tearing their hair out as handpasses missed targets, kicks to a red and white teammate regularly found a nest of Magpies and simple, seemingly obvious options were ignored.

Youngster Ed Barlow was a guilty party in the final quarter, repeatedly blazing away at goal when Sydney had all the momentum, rather than passing to teammates in space.

Sydney are now facing their biggest challenge during a wonderful era which has resulted in six consecutive top-eight finishes and the 2005 flag.

They confront the Crows in Adelaide next week, followed by home games against North Melbourne and Essendon.

Some young Swans have been blooded this season and Kirk feels it is time for everyone to prove their commitment to the cause.

"We play Adelaide next week over there, another massive game and we'll see who wants to stand up and keep moving forward," he said.

"It doesn't matter if you're old or young. You're in there and you want to be committed - and we'll pick 22 guys who want to be committed to keep moving forward.

"No matter how old (or young) you are, if you're not committed there's no place for you here."

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