Sydney Swans

In 2003, the Sydney Swans acknowledged that what they were doing wasn’t working. Coach Paul Roos brought in Leading Teams to examine their culture.

Together with Leading Teams founder, Ray McLean, the Swans redefined what leadership could look like. Players selected leaders based on behaviour, not ability. New teammates were inducted by peers, not coaches. A safe, inclusive, and self-governing culture emerged, and it delivered extraordinary results.

The team’s now-famous Bloods trademark emerged from that process, a nod to their South Melbourne roots and a symbol of the tough, selfless behaviours the players committed to live by.

Swans player Luke Ablett said: “In 2003 the club first started using the ‘Leading Teams’ model to establish the player-driven values that the club should adopt to become successful. This was the point at which the players started looking more critically at what we were doing, why we were doing it and what we weren’t doing right. That might all sound straightforward but for players who were set in their ways, it was not always a smooth process.”

But they persevered. In 2005, they won a premiership that changed the club’s trajectory.

The culture has held strong over generations:

• Broke a 72-year premiership drought within two years
• 6 grand final appearances and 2 premierships since 2005
• Player-led culture embedded across generations
• AFL’s most successful coaching succession plan