Star Sydney Swans defender Aliir Aliir says it’ll take the side’s entire back six to negate a firing Essendon forward line at the SCG on Friday night.

The Bombers have hit a century of points on three occasions this season with towering presence Joe Daniher (2.3 goals per game) and the opportunistic Jake Stringer (two) the leading forces.

Either Sydney’s Dane Rampe or Aliir are expected to clamp Daniher for the majority of the Round 8 fixture, while Aliir will likely also spend time alongside Essendon’s small forwards, although the 35-game Swan says a defence-wide effort will be in order.

“It’s not just going to be one person on Daniher or Stringer; it’ll be down to our whole back six to stop them,” Aliir said.

“I know I’ll find myself on Daniher and I’ll find myself on some small forwards too. It’s just about helping each other out and sticking together down back. They’ve both had a strong start to the year and it’s going to take our whole back six to stop them.”

Sydney will tackle another game without seasoned defenders Jarrad McVeigh (322 matches), Heath Grundy (256) and Nick Smith (211), who are all overcoming injury concerns.

The weighty loss in experience has seen Rampe and Jake Lloyd lead a young Sydney backline rounded out with Aliir, Callum Mills, Lewis Melican, Jackson Thurlow and Tom McCartin. 

Sydney has won just one game from the opening seven rounds of the season, but Aliir says the team is confident it can strike back under Friday night lights.

“I’ve got full faith in our group. If we can bring that pressure for four quarters, which we brought in the second quarter last week before it dropped off, we give ourselves every chance,” Aliir said.

“There’s still a lot of energy around the team. Tom Papley and a lot of other young boys have been leading that. We’re trying to bring a lot of energy to training and are putting some strong work into our skills.”