SYDNEY SWANS midfielder Jude Bolton is concerned the physicality will be lost from the AFL in light of recent rule changes.

Speaking at the Swans' recovery session on Sunday morning, Bolton voiced his displeasure with rule interpretations he said encouraged a ‘hands-off’ style of football.

"I'd prefer to see really physical contests," Bolton said.

"I think that's what fans relish. I think that's the game I took up and I love playing."

"You just want to see two big forwards going hell-for-leather at the ball and I suppose that's what I don't want to see go out of the game."

It is not the first occasion Bolton has expressed this view. At the start of the year, he joined fellow AFL Players Association delegates at a meeting and used that forum to voice his concern.

"I said that I didn't want to be known as being part of an era when the physicality of the game went out of the game," Bolton said.

"I hate to think that after leaving the game it will be a bit softer than when we played."

Despite his frustration with the laws, Bolton believes it was the Swans' own performance which cost them Saturday’s game against Essendon.

"For us, it was mainly our performance.  The first half set the tone and we were really ordinary," Bolton said.

"We had our opportunities still, and that's what was disappointing.  The way we turned up to play was just really poor, and we got pushed aside."

"To play the way we did was really disappointing."