Swans coach John Longmire said he is refusing to get caught up in any finals hype.

While the Swans sit atop the AFL ladder after 16 rounds, the coach said July is just too soon to be thinking any further ahead than the next round of football.

“We don’t get caught up (in premiership talk). It is only the middle of July and there is still plenty of footy to be played this year,” he said.

“If we take our eyes off St Kilda this week we know that we’re going to get a horrible result out of it.

“Everyone outside the footy club and our supporters can talk about whatever they like, but internally we just need to worry about the Saints and that’s all the players and coaches are worried about.

“Anything different and we sort of set ourselves up for a fall.”

The Swans face the Saints this Sunday, who were the last side to defeat Sydney before their current six-game winning streak.

Longmire said Sydney’s round nine loss to St Kilda was a result of inconsistent football.

“We thought we played well in the first quarter and the last quarter against St Kilda, but our second and third quarters were really poor,” he said.

“It was just pretty basic stuff like our contested ball and our tackles, and all the stuff we really rate ourselves on, we got beaten in.

“Those are the things we need to make sure we have improved upon, and we think we have improved since we last played St Kilda, but we need to put it into action this week.”

But the coach said he has been impressed with the Swans’ last month of football, which Longmire believes has shown considerable improvement.

“One thing I’ve been pleased with is that I think we’ve improved our consistency over the last few weeks and that (putting in a) four quarter performance is something I think we’re starting to get a bit better at,” he said.

“Five or six weeks ago we were playing a half or three quarters, and we weren’t playing the full four quarters, so I’m really looking forward on building on that four quarter effort that we’ve been putting together.

“We’ll need to do that against St Kilda because last time a half wasn’t good enough.”

While the club is keeping finals talk to a minimum, Longmire said he encouraged Swans fans to enjoy the success and style of football the Swans have been putting out on the park each week.

“People can certainly talk about (our finals hopes), that’s terrific, and if our supporters want to come and see us then that’s what we’re really after,” he said.

“Hopefully (our supporters) can get some excitement about seeing our players play, but internally inside the four walls of the football club we just put one foot ahead of the other.”

He added that there was no better time to come out and see the Swans in action than Sunday’s clash with the Saints at the SCG at 1.10pm.

“We’ve been able to play good, strong, consistent footy over that period of time and the players have been getting some results for their hard work,” Longmire said.

“Hopefully our supporters can see that and get along to the game this weekend.

“It’s a massive round of football in the AFL this weekend, and there’s a lot of teams playing each other looking for top eight spots.

“St Kilda against the Swans here at the SCG is something we’re really looking forward to.”