JOHN Longmire says the Sydney Swans' recent record against Collingwood will count for little on Friday night but hopes his players can draw confidence from their preliminary final breakthrough over the Magpies last year.

The Swans have lost 11 of their past 12 clashes with the Pies, dating back to round 12, 2006.

They snapped that run in September last year with a 26-point preliminary final win at ANZ Stadium that saw them through to their successful Grand Final against Hawthorn.

"Hopefully it gives us some confidence. We don't spend much time thinking about records," Longmire said after the Swans touched down in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.

"It's largely irrelevant to what we do and as far as we prepare for our games.

"We just look at the team we've got now and the team Collingwood's got and the form both teams are in, and that's what we concentrate on."

Defender Marty Mattner won't play, with the hip that caused him to withdraw from last week's clash with Fremantle still troubling him .

Youngster Tom Mitchell travelled but Longmire said he was likely to be an emergency and had come for the experience, although he admitted he was moving close to his first game.

The Swans last played at the MCG in round seven for the Grand Final rematch, which was their first game at the ground since last year's decider.

This time, the Hawks prevailed in a 37-point win.

"Hopefully we bring our best tomorrow, that's our challenge. We didn't last time we were down at the MCG against Hawthorn, we were pretty disappointed with our start in particular," Longmire said.
 
Gun midfielder Dan Hannebery was particularly disappointed with his performance, managing just 19 disposals.

Longmire said it was Hannebery's competitive nature that saw him return to form in the draw with Fremantle the following week, collecting 27 touches on Saturday night.

"He was dirty on himself last time he played here at the MCG against Hawthorn," Longmire said.

"He wasn't happy and I didn't have to say anything to him the next week and he came out and played a great game for us last week.

"He's a fierce competitor, he wants to win and he's got a terrific work rate so those combinations in a player are pretty valuable."

Forward Sam Reid had a moment in defence last week where he saved the Swans from defeat, marking a Michael Johnson shot at goal in the last 10 seconds that would have broken the deadlock.

Longmire said Reid was more likely set for a battle with his brother, Collingwood defender Ben, on Friday night than spend more time in the backline.

"We know he's got the flexibility to go down back and that's something we'll certainly look at at different times – we did it last week, we've done it a couple of times this year," Longmire said.

"He's still learning the game. He's only 21 and as a key forward, he's still learning the centre half-forward role, let alone learning about what to do when he goes down back.

"We thought he made a really good, smart decision last week and it was a pretty simple one, a pretty crucial one for those two points.

"We'd expect him to be playing in our forward line [on Friday night]."