Swans midfielder Dan Hannebery admits that it might be a cliché, but the Swans are taking it one week at a time.

Despite leading the competition after 16 rounds, the young midfielder said the Swans are not looking past this weekend’s clash with St Kilda - the last team to defeat them this season.

“There’s no greater example (of when to take it one week at a time) than this week with the Saints, who are a super outfit,” he said.

“(St Kilda) smacked Essendon a couple of weeks ago and had a really tough assignment of playing Brisbane in Brisbane and they won that, and now they will come up (to Sydney) this week full of confidence.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re on our game, because if we’re a bit off they are a good enough team to make us pay and they made us pay last time in Melbourne.”

The Swans certainly haven’t forgotten the events of round nine at Etihad Stadium, where the Saints handed Sydney their third loss of the season, by 28 points.

Hannebery said he and the midfield group are determined to make amends for their poor performance against St Kilda six weeks ago.

“We got smashed, especially in that second and third quarter,” Hannebery recalled.

“We got absolutely obliterated in the midfield and around the ground, so (St Kilda) are going to be pretty confident coming up here and matching us because they did it last time.

“I think just inside in that midfield battle (St Kilda) just purely and simply beat us.

“They were first to the ball and their superstars like Lenny Hayes were willing the team on.

“It’s going to be a big test of the midfield this week and hopefully we’ve got confidence out of the weekend and we’re up to the challenge.”

After notching up a career-best 42 possessions against West Coast last weekend, Hannebery said both he and the team had made significant improvements since the early stages of the season.

He said this Sunday’s rematch with the Saints at the SCG was the perfect opportunity for the Swans to test out just how far they have come this season.

“We’ve improved since (the early stages of the season) as a side and I think this week will be a good test to see how far we have improved against the St Kilda midfield,” he said.

“The guys are pretty hungry to get back on top of them.

“We know our strengths and weaknesses pretty well now and while we still have areas we have to work on still, we’re working well as a group and are really supporting each other out there.

“We’ve just got to make sure we remain unselfish and keep working with each other and so far it’s worked for us.

“We’ve got a massive task on our hands this week and it’s going to be a super game.”