The versatile 28-year-old, who has undertaken a number of different roles for the Swans this year, began the season as an attacking midfielder, leading the team’s goal kicking after five rounds, before moving into a running defender role off the half-back line in place of the injured Rhyce Shaw.
Now with Shaw back in the side, McVeigh is confident he will return to the midfield at some stage, but just not right away.
“I think that will evolve over the coming weeks,” McVeigh told media at the SCG on Friday morning.
“When Shawy gets more match fit we’ll probably be changing it around, but at the moment it’s been working pretty well.
“It probably good now that we’ve got a few different options to throw at different teams and we’ll see how that pans out, but at this stage I’ll still be down there for a little bit.”
While McVeigh admitted he was looking forward to returning to a midfield role, the co-captain said he felt his overall game had benefitted from his time spent in defence.
“It’s been good and has been a challenging and different role for me and I’m learning a different position,” McVeigh said.
“I think I’ll be getting back into the midfield as soon as I can so I can run around a bit more up there.
“It’s nice to kick a few goals, but it’s been good (in defence) because you get to see the game from a different perspective down there and try to help the boys down the field in different ways.”
The Swans’ side will be bolstered for Saturday night’s clash with Collingwood at ANZ Stadium with the return of small forward and leading goal kicker Ben McGlynn, who missed the last three matches serving a suspension for striking.
McVeigh said McGlynn, who was among the Swans’ best in their 47-point win over the Magpies in round 9 with 17 disposals, two goals and six tackles, was an important inclusion for the side this week.
“He’s our leading goal scorer for the year and puts on a lot of good pressure and he’s a really hard runner,” he said.
“He played well against Collingwood last time so he’s a handy inclusion for the group.”
The co-captain also praised the recent form of young forward Jed Lamb, who was the unlucky player to make way for McGlynn this weekend.
“(Jed) knows where he’s at and he’ll still be the emergency this week in case something happens, but he’s been in great form and I’m sure he’ll get back into the team over the next few weeks,” he said.
“We really rate the way he goes about it and he’s a really smart player and he’s had a good year so far.”
Despite winning the last two matches against Collingwood, McVeigh said the Swans’ recent victories over the visitors had little bearing on the team’s preparation for Saturday night’s match.
Instead, the co-captain said the team has focused on the Magpies good form, including their 79-point win over Essendon last week.
“That’s last year and it’s been and gone,” he said.
“We look at their last month of footy and the way that they’re playing.
“We had a bit of a look at what we did last time against them and then their last three weeks.
“They played really well against Essendon and got back to that high-pressure game style of a lot of tackles, running hard, and their good players are playing well.
“We look at that and we also look at our game and how we go about it and try and implement our game plan as best we can.”
