The Swans have butted heads with a number of star midfields across the opening five rounds of season 2018.
But Sydney on-baller Luke Parker said the Swans would face the toughest midfield test in the competition when they meet the Geelong Cats at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.
“They have one of the best midfields in the competition and there’s probably no better test than down there against some of the stars of the game,” Parker said.
“It will be great to test ourselves and we’ll bounce back.”
Eight-time All-Australian midfielder Gary Ablett (hamstring) will watch from the sidelines, but one-time Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield and captain Joel Selwood will make for a steep challenge.
The two midfield lynchpins are both averaging 29 disposals per game ahead of the Round 6 clash, while Dangerfield (14) is sitting in seventh for average contested possessions.
Their ball-winning abilities were instrumental to Geelong’s 44-point win over Port Adelaide last Saturday.
Dangerfield wins a lot of ball in congestion, can burst away from the pack with immense power and impacts on the scoreboard.
He has kicked a number of five-goal bags as a Cat and in 2011 booted six majors in Crows colours against the Suns.
Selwood wins a lot of contested and uncontested possession and reads the play with expertise.
But 26-year-old Sam Menegola quietly achieves in the shadows of Ablett, Dangerfield and Selwood and finished with 27 touches against the Power on the weekend.
Parker said the Swans midfielders would have to be at their best.
“For us it’s about getting back to basics,” Parker said.
“I was down on form against the Crows and Josh Kennedy was down on form as well. We can’t have too many players having an off game in the one game. We had a pretty low percentage of tackles against Adelaide and lost the contested ball and ground ball. When you get those things wrong or lose those battles it goes a long way to losing the game.
“That’s where we will need to improve but I don’t think it’s a crisis – it’s a pretty easy thing to change.”
Parker has spent a lot of time as a forward since the AFL reduced the substitutions cap from 120 to 90 in 2016 and he could be set for more time in the forward 50 against Geelong due to the absence of Lance Franklin (heel).
Young gun Isaac Heeney rotates through the forward line a lot himself, while forwards Tom Papley, George Hewett, Kieren Jack and Oliver Florent cycle through the midfield.
Parker said it was important every player made an impact when shifting through the forward line.
“With not having as many rotations from the bench you’ve got to go forward and rest forward and get dangerous down there rather than going off every four minutes and going straight into the midfield,” Parker said.
“We want to become dangerous up forward and make sure we’re not just resting forward and not providing an option, but make sure we’re making the most of it up forward.”
