List of Sydney Swans coaches

The following is a list of coaches who have coached the Sydney Swans at a game of Australian rules football in the Australian Football League (AFL), formally the VFL. They were known as South Melbourne prior to their relocation to Sydney in 1982.

Statistics current to the end of round 11, 2024.

# Coach G W L D Win% FG FW FL FD F Win% GF P Years
1 Charlie Ricketts 41 30 11 0 73.17 2 1 1909–1912
2 Bill Thomas 39 26 12 1 66.67 0 0 1910–1911
3 Harvey Kelly 19 14 4 1 73.68 0 0 1913
4 Vic Belcher 53 31 21 1 58.49 1 0 1914–1917
5 Henry Elms 33 27 6 0 81.82 1 1 1918–1919
6 Herb Howson 33 27 6 0 81.82 1 1 1918–1919
7 Arthur Hiskins 16 7 9 0 43.75 0 0 1920
8 Artie Wood 16 5 10 1 31.25 0 0 1921
9 Roy Cazaly 52 12 38 2 23.08 0 0 1922–1938
10 Charlie Pannam 108 54 54 0 50.00 0 0 1923–1928
11 Jim Caldwell 4 1 3 0 25.00 0 0 1929
12 Fred Fleiter 14 6 8 0 42.86 0 0 1929
13 Paddy Scanlan 36 18 18 0 50.00 0 0 1930–1931
14 Johnny Leonard 19 13 6 0 68.42 0 0 1932
15 Jack Bisset 80 63 17 0 78.75 4 1 1933–1936
16 Brighton Diggins† 2 2 0 0 100.00 0 0 1935
17 Herbie Matthews 90 27 62 1 30.00 0 0 1939–1957
18 Jack Baggott 18 7 11 0 38.89 0 0 1940
19 Joe Kelly 68 35 33 0 51.47 0 0 1941–1944
20 Bill Adams 70 39 30 1 55.71 1 0 1945–1948
21 Jack Hale 28 9 19 0 32.14 0 0 1948–1949
22 Gordon Lane 55 24 29 2 43.64 0 0 1950–1952
23 Laurie Nash 18 9 9 0 50.00 0 0 1953
24 Ron Clegg 36 15 21 0 41.67 0 0 1958–59
25 Bill Faul 36 12 24 0 33.33 0 0 1960–1961
26 Noel McMahen 54 9 45 0 16.67 0 0 1962–1964
27 Bob Skilton 35 16 19 0 45.71 0 0 1965–1966
28 Tommy Lahiff† 1 0 1 0 0.00 0 0 1965
29 Alan Miller 38 11 25 2 28.95 0 0 1967–1968
30 Norm Smith 87 26 61 0 29.89 0 0 1969–1972
31 Graeme John 66 15 50 1 22.73 0 0 1973–1975
32 Ian Stewart 111 49 61 1 44.14 0 0 1976–77 / 1979–1981
33 Des Tuddenham 22 9 13 0 40.91 0 0 1978
34 Ricky Quade 57 25 32 0 43.86 0 0 1982–1984
35 Tony Franklin† 1 0 1 0 0.00 0 0 1984
36 Bob Hammond 8 3 5 0 37.50 0 0 1984
37 John Northey 22 6 16 0 27.27 0 0 0 0 0 0 1985
38 Tom Hafey 70 43 27 0 61.43 4 0 4 0 00.00 0 0 1986–1988
39 Col Kinnear 66 23 42 1 34.85 0 0 0 0 0 0 1989–1991
40 Gary Buckenara 25 3 21 1 12.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 1992–1993
41 Ron Barassi 59 13 46 0 22.03 0 0 0 0 0 0 1993–1995
42 Brett Scott† 2 0 2 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 1993
43 Rodney Eade 152 81 69 2 53.29 8 3 5 0 37.50 1 0 1996–2002
44 Paul Roos 202 116 84 2 57.43 16 9 7 0 56.25 2 1 2002–2010
45 John Longmire 318 199 116 3 62.58 25 12 13 0 48.00 4 1 2011–present
source

Key:

# Number of coaches
G Total games coached FG Finals games coached
W Total wins FW Finals wins
L Total losses FL Finals losses
D Total draws FD Finals draws
Win% Overall winning percentage F Win% Finals winning percentage
GF Grand Final appearances: number of AFL Grand Final appearances achieved by the coach
P Premierships: number of premierships achieved by the coach
† Caretaker coach