Yet another lapse by Barry Hall into his amateur boxing past could not dissuade Sydney coach Paul Roos from making optimistic noises about his club's future following a 16-point loss to Adelaide.

Hall's jab to the chin of his opponent Ben Rutten is set to result in another lengthy suspension and raise further questions about his playing future beyond this year.

The Swans' list is widely thought to be in decline, as several years of topping up the squad to maintain a finals presence have prevented a comprehensive rebuild.

There has been talk of what a "bottoming out" Sydney could mean for the AFL's future in the highly demanding NSW market, but having watched a team missing numerous notables push the Crows to the finish line, Roos was able to speak with a little more confidence about what lay ahead for his team.

"I think it's a really good gauge that we can still be really competitive with a young team and that's what we aim to do for the next nine weeks," Roos said.

"You've got Nick Smith, Christian Thornton, Ed Barlow, Craig Bird, Kieran Jack's been one of our better players, Heath Grundy and Jesse White, so that's OK, that's where we're at.

"It's good we can show we can compete but we've got to play those young guys, give them experience, similarly to what Neil Craig's been able to do over the last couple of years with some of their younger guys."

Roos reckoned in the end it was fatigue more than skill that saw the Crows squeak past the Swans, in a match where Sydney came closer to beating Adelaide than they have for some time - the Swans have lost six games in a row to the Crows since 2005.

"We're playing against a team that's pretty seasoned and pretty experienced, with six or seven kids it's always going to be hard, so I was really pleased the way our guys fought it out," he said.

"But there's a fair difference in fitness from Canberra footy league to AFL and in terms of fitness we know the Crows present a very fit team."

A timeframe for Sydney's return to the sharp end of the league is hard to quantify, but Roos was mindful of his club's unique place in the AFL spectrum.

"We know it's a different market, we know there's a second team, we know there's some ramifications on all those sorts of things," he said.

"We had a bit of a discussion on it with our list management halfway through the year but it's certainly something we've got to be aware of.

"At the end of the year depending on where we finish we need to get a handle from the board on where the club is going, how the finances are going and all those sorts of things."

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