This week our focus through the midfield is pretty clear - it’s about the boys winning the contest, getting the footy and going forward. Against GWS we weren’t great at getting the ball and getting it going forward, which meant we didn’t give our forwards enough opportunities to get their hands on the ball and kick goals. We need to make sure when we line up against Collingwood this week that we have that attack on the ball and we drive the ball forward to give our forwards the best possible chance.

Similar to us this week, Collingwood will be looking to bounce back after losing round one, so we’re expecting a fierce contest. Just like us, they’re going to want to win the midfield contest, so it’s going to be up to our boys to lift and to bring a far better effort than what we brought last round.

The Collingwood midfield has a lot of talent and it is going to be a great test for our guys. They’ve got some class in there with Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan as well as some real depth with Dayne Beams and Steele Sidebottom. We need to have that will to win the footy and to really go after it, which we lacked against GWS, so hopefully we can really step it up.

Looking at our own midfield, we’ll regain the services of co-captain Kieren Jack, which is a huge positive for us. His ability to play different roles inside and outside is a huge benefit and he brings back a bit of hardness inside and that ball-winning ability, which will be something really important for us this weekend.

We’re expecting to see even more improvement from our young mids this week including Tom Mitchell, Luke Parker and Harry Cunningham. The three of them have all had terrific pre-seasons and were standouts in the NAB Challenge. Harry in particular has had a great start to the season and has been one of our most-improved players over the summer.

The ruck is going to be another interesting battle this week, with our boys coming up against the Pies’ young ruck combo of Brodie Grundy and Jarrod Witts. Mike Pyke played well against GWS for the majority of the game last round and he’s going to have to put in another four-quarter effort again. This week we’ll also bring Tom Derickx into the side, who comes in as another genuine ruckman. He and Pykey will rotate through the ruck and up forward, so we’re looking forward to seeing how their combination works.

Tomorrow night is our first home match of the season, so we want to see as many Swans fans as we can out at ANZ Stadium. Collingwood are going to come out firing, so we need the support of the fans to help us hopefully put our first win on the board.