THE SYDNEY Swans may have received a face-lift at the end of last season but - as highlighted by Jude Bolton and Brett Kirk's 24 tackles in their team's 40-point win against North Melbourne - underneath the renovated skin is the same old blood and guts.

While coach Paul Roos and veteran Bolton are keen to talk about the injection of youth at the club, possibly overlooked in Saturday's win at Etihad Stadium were the performances of Bolton and Kirk.

Their combined two-dozen tackles is a staggering amount of work and it proves the Swans are still dancing to the same successful tune - and that tune, as Bolton constantly acknowledges, is hard work.

Incredibly, when afl.com.au spoke to Bolton following the game, he still had work on his mind.

"I try and set my standards really high and I keep working on my game and adjust to different roles at different times," Bolton said.

Bolton discussed his own work rate over the past few weeks - where his excellent form from last season has continued - and he talked about the team's work rate.

"We're just really starting to gel as a team as well and we're working together but we've still got plenty to work on," he said.

It is not surprising the Swans have performed so admirably for almost a decade with only the odd down year.

Hard work has been the club's mantra. Bolton and Kirk are obsessed by it, and no one at the club accepts anything less than the standard set by these two tackling machines.

So when North Melbourne challenged the Swans in the first half, naturally Bolton and his teammates felt like they weren't working hard enough.

"It was really frustrating in the first half and that's why they were in front," he said.

"I think we took a while to sort a few things out and our intensity and pressure wasn't there and they were smashing us in and around the stoppages and on the spread. But once we sorted everything out it sort of opened up," he said.

While work still remains the ingredient for the Swans' winning ways, what has changed, in particular for Bolton and Kirk, is the team's midfield depth.

"It's just good to have plenty of midfield options to go through there at the moment and it is certainly good for Kirky and I to look at guys like Lewis Jetta on the outside and let them run," he said.

"[Jetta] is electric. And we've got some really good players in the reserves who are pushing for selection like Gary Rohan and Ted Richards and Nick Smith, so the list is looking pretty healthy."

HMAS Sydney II Commemorative Football Game
Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles
Saturday 24 April, 2010, SCG, 2:10pm
Tickets from Ticketek