SYDNEY Swans midfielder Jude Bolton says his side will use the knowledge gleaned from five years of playing with Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly to its advantage on Saturday night.

The blockbuster clash at ANZ Stadium marks the first time that Jolly will line up against the Swans since he was traded at the end of the 2009 season.

Bolton said his knowledge of Jolly’s preferred style of play would suit the Swans as they seek to break an eight-game losing streak against the Magpies.

“Hopefully he hits a few down my throat on the weekend - that would be nice,” he said.

“They’re obviously a similar style to us, I guess, because of Jolls’ influence over the midfield group. Just watching that, they have some similar setups so hopefully we’ll know what to expect on the weekend.”

Saturday night’s game is expected to be played on a sodden ANZ Stadium surface and Bolton’s most recent game in the wet resulted in a best-on-ground performance against Essendon in round 11.

“I’ve been doing my raindance this week and as you can see, it’s pouring outside,” he said with a laugh.

“I don’t mind either conditions. I grew up in Ballarat and it’s one of the wettest parts of Australia, so I don’t mind it. It gets back to pretty basic football.

Bolton said the Swans were motivated less by the prospect of breaking their drought against the Pies, than the prospect of claiming their first big scalp of 2010.

All of the Swans’ seven wins have come against sides currently in the bottom half of the ladder and they fared poorly in their clashes against premiership contenders.

“Freo, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs really showed us up and we just want to take one of those scalps,” he said.

“Collingwood’s right up there, they’ve been playing some great footy this year and we’d love to beat them this weekend.”

With two wins and a narrow loss to an in-form Hawthorn heading into the break, Bolton said the Swans’ formline augured well for a strong performance on Saturday night.

“There’s a different feeling around the club; a lot better morale. We played some pretty ordinary games through that stretch of four losses,” he said.

“Coming into the break, we played two good-quality games and got some form behind all of the guys. That’s given the guys a lot of confidence and we’re ready to attack Collingwood.

“It’s a huge game. Obviously the busloads of the Collingwood army will be coming up but hopefully we get a big Sydney supporter base out there this week.”