DESPITE Saturday night’s 27-point loss to Geelong, Sydney Swans coach John Longmire believes the club is closing the gap on the competition's leading sides.

The Swans matched Geelong in all areas of the match - besides the scoreboard - leading the contested possession count, tackles and clearances.

Geelong did however record almost twice as many marks and were more accurate by foot and hand.

Longmire said the club will take a lot out of tonight's match but know they need to improve.

"Did we take a step forward tonight? At times we did but it's about being consistent against the best who play that way for four quarters," Longmire said after the match.

"I think at times we did tonight but at times we just put our foot off.

"Some of our contested footy was really good from us but sometimes we weren’t great at it.

"I think for parts of the game tonight we were really good and we really matched Geelong."

In wet conditions, Josh Kennedy and Kieren Jack led from the front collecting 29 and 26 disposals respectively while also making ten tackles each.

Although the Swans' ill-discipline in the first half, which gifted the Cats four goals from free kicks, ultimately cost them four premiership points.

"In the first half there were some things there in regards to free kicks that we've just got to get better at as a team," Longmire said.

"When you're playing well you've got to make sure you get those easier goals that we should have got and you don't give away easy goals.

"I thought we let the pressure off a bit at times, especially in the second quarter giving them some easy goals."

The Swans now sit with two wins, a draw and a loss after the first four rounds.

They have a bye before playing Carlton in their first Friday night game since 2003.

Longmire said he couldn't be happier with the commitment from the players in his first year in the coaches box.

"I think the effort from the players [in the first four rounds] has been super," he said.

"I think their effort over that period of time has been very good but we know effort alone will only get you so much and we need to work on a few things and against a team like Geelong you need to be more consistent at that.

"I think the first month has been a real positive for us. We've had a few kids debut, which is a positive for the footy club, but we know we've got Carlton here in a couple of weeks time and that won't be easy for us.

"We'll lick our wounds tonight and get going Monday."