Sydney Swans defender Nick Malceski says versatility has been a major strength of the backline so far this season.

Malceski said the defensive group, coached by Swans assistant John Blakey, has found the right balance of players on the team’s last line.

“I think we’re pretty versatile down there, which is good and we’ve got a few blokes back there who can come in and fill holes,” Malceski told sydneyswans.com.au.

“We’ve got a few players who can play on talls and smalls.

“We’ve got Teddy Richards, Heath Grundy and Alex Johnson who can play on the taller-type players, and any of those guys can play on smaller type players as well.

“Me and Marty (Mattner) and Shawy can all play on smaller or medium-sized players, so there is good versatility down there and I think Blakes has set us up pretty well.”

Malceski highlighted the performances of Rhyce Shaw and Alex Johnson, and said the Swans backline also had a good combination of youth and experience.

“It was good to have Shawy back (against Fremantle) and have that experience on field,” he said.

“He brings some good energy and voice to the group and leadership, and he had a role on the weekend which he perfected and shut out one of their key players (the Dockers’ Stephen Hill) and helped out the defence as well.

“(Johnson) is a young kid who really wants to learn and get better each week and that’s the one thing I’ve noticed about AJ, if he needs to work on something he definitely will work on it during the week and if he’s got questions he’ll ask.

“He’s been playing on good players last year and the start of this year, so he is very capable of doing that and I think having Teddy and Heath as mentors for him, they are solid tall defenders who he can learn a lot off.”

The Swans’ defence held strong last Saturday to fend off a fast-finishing Fremantle side and help the team secure a 13-point win at the SCG.

Malceski said he expected the Dockers to come back in the clash, and was happy the backline did well to lock down the match in its most crucial stages.

“(Fremantle) had a good win the week before against Geelong, so we knew they were going to come out,” he said.

“Every time we kicked it out of defence, it was always coming back in with Sandilands and Johnson taking marks outside their 50 and banging it back in, so we were under the pump a little bit.

“I think we held up pretty strong and we just had to keep our structure and I think it held up.”

The Swans travel to AAMI Stadium this Saturday afternoon to take on Port Adelaide in the team’s first interstate trip of the season. Click here for full match day information.