Shellshocked Sydney coach John Longmire barely knew where to start when asked what wrong for the Swans in Saturday’s AFL grand final.

They were slaughtered 300-163 in uncontested possessions, beaten in contested possessions and out-tackled in a 63-point loss to Hawthorn that no-one – least of all Longmire – saw coming.

But worst off all was the hardness.

Or more specifically the lack of it, from a Swans team that prides itself on going harder for longer than everyone else.

“If you’re hard at the ball and you’re hard at the man with the ball and you’re effective with your tackles and you’re working up and down the ground then composure tends to look after itself,” said Longmire.

“It wasn’t good.

“But there weren’t many aspects of our game that were good.”

The signs were bad early as Hawthorn skipped away to a 20-point lead at the first change, a margin they were able to increase in every quarter.

“I’m just so disappointed we just didn’t give ourselves a chance,” said Longmire.

“We didn’t apply the sort of pressure that we had to apply early and we couldn’t get it back.

“We didn’t play the sort of football we wanted to – we didn’t pressure the opposition when they had the ball and we couldn’t get our hands on it.

“When we did get our hands on it we coughed it up.

“When the opposition got it we missed tackles.

“We were on the back foot from the first bounce and unfortunately we weren’t able to wrest the momentum back at any stage.”

The Hawks had the match shot to bits when they led by 54 points at three-quarter time.

But rather than ease up and let Sydney narrow the margin in junk time, they banged another five goals in the final quarter to hand Longmire the heaviest loss of his coaching career.

“They didn’t slow up,” said Longmire.

“Whenever we got a goal they’d answer back and then some and that’s what good teams do.

“They’re probably beyond a good team now, they’re a great team.

“Anyone who wins back-to-back premierships has got to be known as a great football team.”