Sydney Swans midfielder Ryan O’Keefe has described Saturday’s 44-point victory over Essendon as close to the team’s best win for the season.

The victory saw the Swans climb into third place on the AFL ladder after ten rounds, with seven wins, two losses and a draw for the season to date.

Speaking from Sunday’s team recovery at the SCG, O’Keefe said the Swans’ convincing win over the Bombers in the wet was another step in the right direction for the team.

“It would be up there (as our best for the season), definitely,” O’Keefe said.

“It was a solid performance and everyone played well in the conditions and Essendon are a terrific side and have got a lot of good players.

“To be able to win like that and in those conditions was pretty good and it gives us a lot of confidence.”

Saturday’s win saw another consistent performance from the Swans, following their 47-point victory over Collingwood in Melbourne the week before.

O’Keefe, who went head-to-head with Essendon captain Jobe Watson, said he hoped the Swans’ four-quarter effort on the weekend would spur the team on leading into the round 11 clash with Adelaide at AAMI Stadium this Saturday.

“It was good to get a bit of form,” O’Keefe said.

“I think over the last three weeks, even though we did have a draw against Freo, we thought that we played some good footy that we wanted to play and obviously last week and (Saturday) night was something that will hopefully keep the ball rolling.”

O’Keefe said the Crows would be determined to score a home win over the Swans following a close call against Fremantle at AAMI Stadium at the weekend.

“They are a good side, a very good side, especially over in Adelaide,” he said.

“They nearly won the game (on Saturday) and Freo are a terrific side, so it’s going to be a pretty tough battle.

“Every time we go to Adelaide it’s always a good challenge.

“Their coaching staff is pretty good and their players are pretty determined, so I think they are going to come at us pretty hard.”

The Swans round 11 clash with the Crows also marks a significant milestone for the Swans, with the match marking the final game of new recruit Kurt Tippett’s 11-match suspension.

While O’Keefe said Tippett’s availability after the bye was an exciting prospect for the Swans, the midfielder said the return of some of the club’s other stars including Sam Reid, Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Rhyce Shaw would be equally as significant.

“It’s not just him, we’re going to get a few players back hopefully,” he said.

“We’ll get LRT back, Shawy back and then there are guys like Gary Rohan who we might see in the back end of the year.

“We’ve had a few injuries like every other club so we’ve been really relying on our depth at the moment.”