PAUL Bevan is one of the most mild-mannered Swans off the field, but he has shown during the pre-season that he'll put politeness aside and do whatever it takes to secure a spot in the team in 2010.

After a disappointing 2009 season where he felt he went backwards, Bevan has been desperate to impress in the intense pre-Christmas training period.

He certainly did that during the team's final training session before the break. The boys played a 15-a-side practice match and Bevan, playing in the forward line, was one of the liveliest players on the field.

The 2005 premiership player took several diving marks, tackled hard, had three shots at goal, and gave plenty of niggle to his opponent, rookie-listed Taylor Gilchrist.

"It was nothing too serious," Bevan laughed. "We've picked up some really good players so it is going to be very tight for spots come round one, so I've got to play well in the lead-up games.

"We have been doing a lot of skill training and it was good to put it into a game situation, and I'm trying trying to learn the craft up forward at the moment," he said. "That is where I've been practicing so I will hopefully play there in the pre-season games and see how I go."

Bevan, 25, has spent most of his 108-game career in defence. He played 19 games in 2009, but didn't perform at the level of the previous year when he was equal sixth in the Club best and fairest voting.

Now the pressure is on. "I didn't have a good year in 2009 so I'm pretty hungry to play well in 2010. There are plenty of areas I've got to improve on. I took a couple of backward steps on the year before so I'm working with the coaches on a few things.

"In the end it's confidence, and I've just got to get back to playing good footy," Bevan said.