A strong display from the men waiting in the senior wings have spearheaded a 75-point win over Brisbane Lions in Round 8 of the NEAFL on Saturday.
In the absence of usual ball winner Dan Robinson who took his AFL debut in his stride on Friday night, the Swans' midfield depth came the fore with George Hewett and Craig Bird running rings around a powerless Lions at Newcastle Oval.
Hewett (34 disposals) and Bird (30) led from the front as the Swans ran away with a 16.14 (110) to 5.5 (35) victory.
After a slow-ish start the Swans kicked into gear after half-time, piling on 10 second half goals to three as the visitors failed to find any fluency aside from a couple of impressive end-to-end plays.
On the other hand, the Swans' run and carry was evidently stronger and gave the likes of Dean Towers (4 goals), James Rose and Toby Nankervis (3 goals each) scoring chances.
Rose was dynamic, creating numerous chances for his teammates while showing his worth in the air with three strong grabs in the final term including one hanger-like mark and goal which had the sizable Newcastle crowd clapping with admiration.
Despite of the dominance co-coaches Marty Mattner and Jared Crouch were left wanting more from their charges, an apparent lack of consistency and enthusiasm prompted the latter to give the boys a stirring rev up at three-quarter-time to ensure the game was finished strongly.
"We won pretty comfortably in the end but we didn't play the way we wanted to play, simple as that," Mattner said post-match.
"We didn't start as well as we would have liked and throughout the game we weren't playing to our strengths, so it's just that consistency of effort we were looking for.
"Saying that there were some impressive individual performances which were pleasing, to have the likes of Birdy and Deano (Towers) driving that midfield group was a bonus."
Abaina Davis stood up and collected a season-best 30 disposals with the Indigenous lad spending more time on the ball while the same liberty was given to Jordan Foote (24 disposals) to good effect.
Aliir Aliir was a pillar in defence as was Harry Marsh while the combination of Sam Naismith, Tom Derickx and Nankervis in the ruck allowed the Swans to dominate the stoppage clearances (27-18) and centre breaks (16-5).
The Swans' next match is a scheduled AFL curtain-raiser against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday, June 6.