A tireless effort from the Swans backline played a leading role in the team’s 37-point win over Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium yesterday.

Despite Hawks forward Jarryd Roughead kicking five early goals and the team trailing by 20 points at half-time, the Swans were able to regroup and keep Hawthorn to just two goals for the remainder of the match.

Led by outstanding efforts from Ted Richard and Rhyce Shaw, the Swans were also able to keep Hawthorn’s star forwards Lance Franklin and Cyril Rioli to 29 disposals and one goal between the pair for the entirety of yesterday’s game.

Richards’ efforts against Franklin were outstanding, with the reliable defender keeping the reigning Coleman medallist to 14 disposals.

Richards, who was among the Swans best, quietly collected 17 disposals, including six kicks, 11 handballs and six marks for himself.

He also managed to keep Buddy off the scoreboard, with Franklin failing to score a goal and kicking just three behinds for the match.

Speaking to SwansTV after the match, Swans defender Alex Johnson said Richards’ defence in the second half of the match was outstanding.

“At the start we let Roughhead slip a bit, and he kicked five in the first half,” he said.

“Teddy did an amazing job on Buddy, and Teddy and Reg (Heath Grundy) managed to keep Roughhead pretty quiet in that second half as well.

“It really helped us to go on and win the game.”

Rhyce Shaw’s defensive efforts against Hawks’ danger man Cyril Rioli also caught the eye.

Much like his performance against North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey last round, Shaw’s mental concentration and physical application saw Rioli only briefly threaten to break the game open.

In another unselfish game by Shaw, the defender kept Rioli to one goal and 15 disposals and restricted the player’s impact up, drawing praise from midfielder Craig Bird.

“Rhyce has been amazing, doing those jobs,” Bird told SwansTV after the game.

“It’s not the easiest thing to do out there, playing on Cyril and Harvey, (who are) very dangerous players. It’s a massive thing for the team if he can shut down those players, we’ll go a long way to winning the game.”

Bird, and Josh Kennedy, were relentless through the middle, amassing 18 tackles between them for the match as the Swans led the all-important contested possession count by 18 in the second half.