While rugby league may be preparing for one of the most anticipated State of Origin encounters this week, there is another state-versus-state clash in town this weekend.

The Sydney Swans are set to host the Brisbane Lions this Saturday at the SCG, in what is shaping up to be one of the matches of the round.

Sydney’s win in last Saturday night’s Sydney Derby marks the Swans fourth consecutive win and has kept the team in second place on the AFL table.

Similarly, the Lions are going through a purple patch at the moment, winning three of their last four matches including the top-four scalp of West Coast in round 10, and are edging towards a position in the top eight.

Swans coach John Longmire said there is no doubt that the Lions are a team to be wary of, with their form-curve heading in the right direction.

“They’ve won three of their last four, Brisbane, and that includes a win over the West Coast Eagles, and the only time they’ve been beaten over the last month was against Hawthorn,” he said.

“Their form is as solid as anyone going around in the competition over the last month and they’re playing really good footy.

“They are a strong ‘with the ball’ team, but they had 100 more uncontested possessions than Melbourne, so they run really hard as well.”

Longmire highlighted the performance of the Lions up-and-coming crop of talent as well as the value of their experienced players.

“In the last two years both teams have changed a lot, particularly the midfields now have a different look to them, particularly Brisbane,” he said.

“If you look at (Tom) Rockcliff and (Jack) Redden and those fellas that are playing the midfield and are playing big roles, and (Simon) Black is still an important part, but he is not the only part of their midfield.

“Obviously they’ve also put (Daniel) Merrett forward with (Jonathan) Brown, so they’ve got a couple of key position players that are two genuine targets in their forward half.”

But the coach pointed out that it’s not just the Lions players who are coming into form, with two key cogs in the Swans line-up also getting back to near their best.

“Mumford and Goodes are getting better,” Longmire said.

“I think that both players are getting back into a bit of form and we were looking at Shane’s game again on the tape and I think he played better than what I thought he did after the game, so he’s certainly getting better every week now.

“(Mumford’s) played four weeks of footy and now his attack around the ball and around the contest provides us with another midfield option when it hits the deck, and that’s what I think he’s really good at and that’s what he did on the weekend.”

Longmire said Goodes, who notched up 15 touches and two goals against GWS, recovered well from his second game back from injury.

The coach said he is expecting bigger performances from both Goodes and Mumford as the season progresses.

“After the game (Goodes) felt terrific and certainly today he is a lot better than what he was last week, so I expect those guys to be building on their form and fitness.

“They should actually be feeling pretty fresh because they haven’t had the big work rate in the first half of the year that some of the other players have had.

“Whilst it takes them a bit of time to get their fitness back, when they get that fitness back they should be feeling pretty good because they missed a fair bit of footy in the first half of the year.

“When you’ve got two of your more important players hopefully in the back of the year coming into a bit of form and fitness then it does help the others.”

In other Swans news, Longmire said he expects Swans midfielder Daniel Hannebery to recover from an ankle injury sustained in Saturday night’s win over GWS.

“Daniel Hannebery rolled his ankle and he’s probably the one at the moment who is a little bit sore … but hopefully he’ll be ok as the week progresses,” he said.

“We expect him to play, he just rolled his ankle and as always someone is (sore) on a Monday … but he’s walking around ok, so hopefully he’ll be right.”