MOST midfielders in the league would shudder at the thought of renowned Geelong stopper Cameron Ling sidling up to them at the start of a game.

The Cats skipper has built a stellar career on his ability to negate the opposition's most damaging players while winning his own share of the ball.

But Sydney Swan Jarrad McVeigh relished the thought of renewing acquaintances with Ling when the two sides clash at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

"If you're in good form, you want to be tagged because you know you're playing well. It's a great challenge against a very good player," he said.

"The last couple of times, I've had Cameron Ling come to me but they've got so many different midfielders. It's more just about lining up on someone who's a similar player and just trying to beat them - that's how we've approached them in the past."

Despite the emergence of Josh Kennedy and Dan Hannebery as effective AFL midfielders, and Ben McGlynn as a dangerous running half-forward, McVeigh said his role hadn't changed a great deal in 2010.

Rather, the Swans were benefiting from the greater depth in their midfield ranks, allowing McVeigh and Lewis Jetta to play damaging outside roles.

However, the slick ball movement and clean skills that has characterised the Swans' best form in 2010 was sadly absent in their last outing against Melbourne in round 17.

The Demons inflicted a 73-point hiding on the Swans, who had scored their best win of the season a week earlier against Carlton.

McVeigh said the dramatic form reversal had left a sour taste in the entire group, but particularly in the midfield where Melbourne had enjoyed near-complete dominance at the stoppages.

"We were flat, obviously, and embarrassed and filthy with our own performance. Personally, I was terrible and a few of the other guys have come out and said they were also," he said.

"Obviously Monday and Tuesday were very flat, but you've got to get past that. We're playing against the best team this week so you've got to quickly see where you're at and then push on forward."

The mantra coming out of the SCG this week has been consistent and concise - it’s all about effort - and McVeigh repeated it when asked how the Swans intended to address their sudden form slump.

"What we want to get across is just absolute effort for 120 minutes of the game. Tackling and pressure is what you need because they give you that for the whole game. We need to match them or better them in that area," he said.

"If we can get back to the way we played a couple of weeks ago, we'll be in for a shot."