The Swans Reserves are looking to bounce back from their 63 point loss to Ainslie with a win over Eastlakes this Saturday afternoon at ANZ Stadium, when they play the curtain raiser to the main game against Geelong.

A bye last weekend gave Reserves coach Daniel McPherson ample time to prepare for the next game against third-placed Eastlakes.

“During last week we had a couple of tough sessions, including a boxing session. Then yesterday morning, when the senior guys were in Melbourne, our reserves blokes trained for a couple of hours. It was a pretty tough session,” McPherson said.

“It was about reinforcing the effort that we require. I think if we bring that, regardless of whether we’ve got 12 (listed Swans) players or 15 players or 18 players, then we’re a fair chance to win the game.”

McPherson said his team, especially those with seniors experience, didn’t work hard enough against second placed Ainslie.

“The majority of our players weren’t good enough the other day, they didn’t try hard enough, they didn’t work hard enough,’’ he said.

“Ainslie got a lot of easy goals which were probably a result of a lack of pressure from our guys.”

He said the team has focused on trying harder ahead of next weekend’s game.

 “The effort is the main thing we’ve spoken about. That’s what we’ll be looking for this weekend.”

McPherson said the bye will help his team be fresh for the game against third placed Eastlakes.

“The bye will help in terms of numbers because we’ll probably have a few extra guys coming back that were unavailable last week.”

Despite being disappointed with his team’s performance against Ainslie, McPherson was full of praise for some of his younger players and said he might lose some to the senior team in coming weeks.

“Sam Reid’s been pushing pretty hard in recent weeks, Lewis Johnston and Patrick Veszpremi have been around the mark. They still have time to push claims for the seniors up until the end of the year.”

With five rounds to go before finals, the Swans currently sit on top of the ladder with 10 wins, two losses and one draw.

Round 14 of the Canberra competition sees the Swans take on third placed Eastlakes at ANZ Stadium, starting at 3.50pm, before the seniors play Geelong.

McPherson said the large stadium doesn’t faze his players.

“We’ve played pretty well out there the couple of times we’ve played there this year. We’re fairly comfortable out there. We’ve played there enough that it’s fairly familiar for most blokes.”

After the game against Eastlakes, the Swans reserves face Queanbeyan, Tuggeranong, Ainslie and Belconnen.