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Sydney coach John Longmire says there's a lot of potential at his AFL club but that's not a trait they want to be known for in 2020.

John Longmire is winding the clock back.

Lance Franklin won't be unleashed in Pagan's Paddock V2.0 whenever he returns from knee surgery, but Longmire is going back to basics and embracing the "hands-on style of coaching required with younger players" in his 10th AFL season in charge of Sydney.

For Longmire, 2020 represents an unprecedented challenge.

Good friend Alastair Clarkson, whose tenure at Hawthorn started in 2005, is the only current coach to have sat in the box during more AFL finals than Longmire.

There is a sense of the unknown and unusual as Longmire plots a path back to September after the Swans failed to finish in the top eight for the first time under his stewardship.

Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Heath Grundy and Nick Smith all retired last year, leaving a void of some 1048 games worth of experience.

Dylan Stephens, Sydney's earliest (non-academy) draft selection since McVeigh went at pick No.5 in 2002, and other recruits created a buzz long before Christmas.

But none of them can be expected to manufacture miracles; all of them are still absorbing the club's famed culture.

"Our expectations are that we try to play a competitive brand of football every week. That's been my expectation ever since I've coached," Longmire told AAP.

"Where that takes us, we're not sure. Because there's so many variables involved.

"It just doesn't happen - like that - you don't click your fingers and it happens straight away.

"We think we've got some really good potential in our team but that's not a word you want to throw around too much. Because we're still about setting standards and maintaining standards."

The Swans made 12 changes to their list last year, coincidentally the same number that West Coast opted for in an overhaul that preceded their 2018 premiership.

Midfield depth was a priority, evidenced by impressive draftees Stephens and Chad Warner, while the club will hope its tradition of getting the best out of recycled talent is extended by small forwards Lewis Taylor and Sam Gray plus defender Kaiden Brand.

Longmire is coy regarding how many club debuts could be on the cards come March 21, when the Swans open their season against Adelaide.

"It's not about getting games into young players for the sake of it," the 2012 premiership coach said.

Longmire may have limited choice depending on your definition of young; Franklin, Josh Kennedy and Callum Sinclair are the only Swans on the wrong side of 30.

Franklin, Kennedy, Dane Rampe, Luke Parker, Sam Reid, Jake Lloyd, Isaac Heeney and Harry Cunningham are the only Swans to have played 100 games or more in the red and white.

Overseeing such a transition is notably different to what Longmire experienced in grand-final weeks of 2012, 2014 and 2016.

But the 49-year-old's face lights up while describing how exciting and rewarding it can be to help a stack of young guns trying to make the leap into stardom.

"It's about making sure you don't take anything for granted as coach, it's back to the core of your coaching," Longmire said.

"You've got to teach your players. If you get a couple of points through and see someone has grasped something, it really is great.

"It's essentially what you get up in the morning to do, to feel good about that. I'm getting a kick out of that ... I'm enjoying the hands-on style of coaching that is required with younger players."